SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL | Police officers in San Leandro stand to gain favorably from a new three-year contract to be approved Monday night by the San Leandro City Council.
The city will save over $560,000 over the life of the new contract through no wage increases during the first year and employee contributions to their pension in three percent increments over the span of the deal.
Approval of the new contract is virtually a done deal. For the council to vote against it could constitute a violation of the collective bargaining process.
The deal with the San Leandro Police Officers Association, however, constitutes another major setback for pension-busting Mayor Stephen Cassidy, who successfully used the issue to win election in 2010, but has since been unable to draw sufficient support from his council colleagues on this issue and others.
On the pension side, police officers, who previously did not contribute to their plans, will begin paying three percent starting this April and up to nine percent by 2015. The city will pay 100 percent of health care costs from Kaiser Permanente this year, up to $1,587-per-family. Over the two next years, police will contribution half of their health care costs.
Despite no wage increases in the first year, officers will receive bumps in pay during the next two years. Starting in 2014, they will be in line for across-the-board increases of four percent, followed by three percent raises in 2015. In addition, a $1,300 uniform allowance is included in the new deal.
Costs savings to the city will be approximately $153,924 this year, followed by $102,939 in 2014, and $304,519 in the final year of the contract.
Cassidy had advocated in the past for the police union and other large city employees groups to pay in upwards of 10 percent for their pensions. The suggestion was not all too absurd since no other neighboring cities had labor groups fortunate enough not to pay into pension plans. In contrast, Hayward city officials have openly had advocated for employees to contribute as much as 15 percent last year with significant pushback. Yet, the slow rollout of pension contributions by police, eventually to nine percent in three years, is a major concession by the council, which besides Cassidy, is normally viewed as pro-labor.
In closed session Monday evening, the City Council will also discuss on-going labor negotiations with the San Leandro City Employees Association and San Leandro Management Organization, which constitute the vast majority of its city employees.
ebcitizen.com 
I'm a San Leandro businessman who lives in the city and everyone I talk to who lives here agrees it was a good contract for both sides. Do you even live here? If you do, read the contract will you, and then you can talk intelligently on the subject instead of ranting like a right wing extremist.
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No, Anon 1:28 you're an idiot. No one in San Leandro is happy with this contract, unless you're a government workers suckass, Tavares or both.
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Anon 11:28–you're an idiot! Almost everyone in San Leandro is happy with this last contract.
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These donut eating, lazy cops in San Leandro are a joke. They milk the system for all they can. They don't live here, they live lives of luxury in Danville and expect San Leandrans to pay taxes up the wazoo for a City that is crime and gang infested. All you lazy government workers who are posting here need to get your sorry butts out from behind the computer.
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the_vw_man has been snookered by decades of propaganda from very rich people who want to steal the dependable Social Security earned benefit, which has saved untold millions of Americans from desperate poverty and helped finance lives of dignity in retirement. These sociopathic rich people want to take the billions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund and ship it to the stock market.
I don't trust my entire retirement security to the whims of the market. I also don't want all my money to be in the hands of the investment sector, which has shown itself in recent years to be a cesspool of unethical, flawed behavior.
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I live in San Leandro with my family, and the people in our city think this contract was good for the city and the police officers. BTW over the last 20 years PERS has earned an average of 8.1% and last year earned well over double digits. The stock market has returned and the economy is returning.
Social Security is fully funded till 2036 and if they do nothing, 70% funded thereafter. If they lift the cap it will be fully funded till the end of the century. Your money is safe!
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Is it fair ? They currently cant fund the PERS system now. So to make someone pay in to a system that has failed is insane. Look at Social Security I don't expect to see a dime of it, and I cant opt out. I should be allowed to plan my own future using my own money. If I make the wrong decision I take responsibility for it. I understand there can only be 1 of 2 out comes here Liberty or Tyranny.
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I'm hopeful the Mayor and Council will direct staff to conduct similarly reasonable negotiations with their other City employee Unions as well. These public servants have been contributing to reducing budget pressures by making concessions in recent negotiations. With the passage of Prop 30 and the improving economy, the very worst of the recent public budgetary problems are behind us, as is the worst of the anti-worker craze.
Paying workers poorly means that they have little money to spend at local businesses. One of the main reasons for the slow pace of economic improvement is that the business powers of the Chamber of Commerce and other groups have successfully undermined the bargaining power of employees, both private and public. They're killing the golden goose of the middle class as we speak.
For people who are supposedly skilled at understanding economic theory, the Chamber's actions sure are flawed. It appears that they're misguided people who don't understand the end game of what they're doing.
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San Leandro wage averages for Police Officers are right in the middle for the Bay Area which has the highest cost of living in the State. You have to retain good officers so you don't have to spend much more on training and replacements.
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From the SAC Bee on police and firefighter salaries.
I think you'll find that SL is significantly over the state average
“
See what California cities pay police, firefighters
By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 3, 2011 – 9:03 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 – 11:12 am
While their ranks have thinned due to layoffs, California police offices and firefighters typically earn far more than most Californians.
California police officers made, on average, $97,640, including overtime, incentive pay and payouts upon retirement during 2011, according to a Bee analysis of new data from the state controller's office. Firefighters and engineers earned, on average, $118,003. Average pay for police captains across the state was $163,558; for fire captains, it was $147,626.
Use this database to see the average pay for firefighters, police officers and their supervisors in nearly every California city and county. Updated Feb. 27, 2013 with 2011 data.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/03/3446569/see-average-police-firefighter.html#storylink=cpy“
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Thanks for the tips on text 911 and nixle!
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Cassidy supported the contract as did all the council. The vote was 7-0.
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Cassidy always anti police! Goodbye 1 term Mayor, u really do suck. Bye bye bye!!
Thanks SLPDS for keeping us safe.
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Thank you SLPOA for all you do to keep our city safe. Thank you City Council for voting to approve the contract. Thank you SLPD for making sacrifices in the new contract-a San Leandro resident.
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I love the fact that the Council did the right thing and approved the contract!
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Looks like a good deal for both sides–I live in San Leandro and most people feel it was fair.
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Under no circumstances were the SLPOA going to continue paying zero into PERS. That's a given. No other labor group is that fortunate in this area anymore.
If Cassidy's anti-union rhetoric had teeth and he was able to win support of his colleagues, the expectation would have been immediate 9% PERS from the SLPOA. Instead, it was phased in. I agree there was some good give and take, but Cassidy set the bar way too high for a mayor unwilling to cooperate with his colleagues.
I don't expect, the other two city employee unions to fair as well as SLPOA, but we'll see what they get soon.
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Don't forget the San Leandro POA hadn't had a raise since 2009, and I believe they took some furlough days a couple years ago and paid for half of their medical increases. This contract seems more than fair, and far better for the city of San Leandro than what other cities in the Bay Area have gotten when they negotiated their contracts.
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Read the Contract! The SLPD will be paying their 9% share of retirement which they weren't before. It will cost the city ~ 47k total for 3 years– sounds like the city got a good deal.
The San Leandro Police Officers Association (“SLPOA”) and the City of San Leandro have agreed on a three year labor contract for the 2013 through 2015 calendar years. The new agreement advances the shared interests of the City and SPLOA in providing reasonable compensation to retain valued officers and to recruit qualified new officers and in placing the City on a firm foundation for long-term fiscal sustainability.
Under the agreement, effective January 1, 2013, the 82 members of the SLPOA will receive no raise until 2014. Starting this year, the SLPOA members will commence paying the employee share of the City's annual pension obligations to the California Public Employee Retirement System (“CalPERS”). The employee contributions will be 3 percent of salary in 2013 and increasing by 3 percent each year thereafter until reaching the employee share of 9 percent of salary in 2015.
SLPOA members will receive a 4 percent raise in 2014 and up to 8 percent in 2015. Officers will also continue the 50/50 sharing of health insurance increases over the contract term and costs are projected to rise.
“We commend the San Leandro Police Officers Association for working diligently with the City to produce a new agreement that recognizes our shared goals of public safety and fiscal responsibility,” stated Mayor Stephen Cassidy. “San Leandrans are rightly proud of having one of the finest police departments in California. We deeply appreciate the service and dedication of our police officers to keeping San Leandro safe.”
“The San Leandro Police Officers' Association has great pride in the relationship and trust we have built with the San Leandro community. All of our members enjoy serving this great city and have recognized that our relationship is unique within the Bay Area. We know how dangerous our job has become and what it takes to be a police officer in the 21st Century. Our Officers have worked hard in keeping San Leandro a safe place to work, play and live and have done an excellent job in doing so,” stated Isaac Benabou, SLPOA President. “It is vital that this community demands the highest quality police officers in order to continue with the mindset that public safety is the number one priority. With that said, we recognized the fiscal restraints of the City and how important it was to reach an agreement. We listened to our civic leaders and the citizens regarding pension reform and responded accordingly. This contract will allow our community to retain and attract the best Police O
fficers in the state. On behalf of the 82 men and women of the SLPOA, I would like to thank City Manager Chris Zapata and the City Council during this collaborative process and recognizing the importance of ensuring competitive compensation for our officers. Together we can move forward on keeping the City of San Leandro a safe place and enhance the quality of life for all.”
While the City's revenues have improved as the City and state have emerged from the Great Recession, the City's general fund remains constrained. SLPOA members have not received a pay increase since 2010. The agreement will save the City of San Leandro approximately $153,924 in 2013, approximately $102,939 in 2014. It will cost the City approximately $304,519 in 2015, the final year.
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I am wondering if you meant the SL will contribute $1,587 per month for health care. Or will they contribute $1,587 per year?
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11:10…Doing a job you wouldn't want to do has nothing to do with how a job should be compensated.
In a fairer world, the city would pay just as much as needed to draw fully qualified candidates.
No more, no less.
I wouldn't want to be a taxi driver, but that doesn't mean taxi drivers should be paid $100K a year.
Over the past 15 years, almost all Bay Area cities went on a spending spree, boosting salaries and especially pensions way above what they would otherwise be if tied to a inflation index.
Police and fire personel of today make far more than similar officers did 15 years ago, (after making all adjustments for inflation)
In other words, policing is a more lucrative profession than it was back in the 80s.
After 1999, pensions in particular got way out of hand. Especially when they made all the changes retroactive for all prior years of service.
People right at the end of their careers got huge boosts to what they had agreed to for the prior 25 to 30 years. A form of Golden Parachute that amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollar over a retirement.
For some it could come close to a million dollars of extra retirement compensation.
For many $300K to $500K extra during their long retirement from age 55 or 57 to age 82 and beyond.
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It sounds like a fair contract to me. They are doing a job I wouldn't want to do.
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This was a win, win contract. Both the police officers and the city did O.K.
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