SPOG Contract
Summary
Police unions have long used collective bargaining of their contracts to shield officers from accountability for serious misconduct against civilians. Without meaningful oversight, local jurisdictions and police departments cannot discipline or remove problematic officers and are left powerless to reform a broken system. Public trust in law enforcement is eroded as officers evade discipline for actions that are a violation of civilian civil liberties, assault or even death.
The City of Seattle has two law enforcement unions - the Seattle Police Management Association (SPMA) and the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG). Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) are negotiated separately for each union. In addition to typical employment matters such as wages, hours, and working conditions, these contracts also address elements of oversight and accountability. After the passage of the 2017 Police Accountability Ordinance, inclusion of the entirety of the legislation was not achieved at either the SPOG or SPMA bargaining tables and has led to the City falling out of compliance with the Consent Decree.
Importance
The most recent SPOG contract expired at the end of 2020, and the new contract will most likely not be finalized until after the new Mayor, City Council members, and City Attorney take office. All of these elected officials play a role in the negotiation and adoption of a new police union contract. This new CBA will determine whether the 2017 Police Accountability Ordinance will finally be put into effect as originally intended, as well as guide the future direction of policing in Seattle.
More Details
Because state law currently allows collective bargaining to happen behind closed doors, the public has little insight into how parameters of the accountability system are established or compromised. This lack of transparency can lead to a loss of community trust if a contract that is watered-down with regards to accountability results from negotiations.
The contract negotiation process:
Until a new contract is negotiated and ratified, SPD will continue to work under the previous contract’s provisions. The contract negotiation process has multiple steps. Each step has the potential to stall the process.
The City identifies priorities for the negotiations and receives parameters on what can be bargained from the Mayor and City Council.
The final decision on these parameters is made by the Labor Relations Policy Committee.
One side sends a notification to open negotiations, at which time each side freely selects its bargaining team, which usually consists of several negotiators, subject matter experts, and budget people.
Negotiations are confidential and closed to the public.
Once an agreement is reached, the Seattle City Council votes on whether to ratify or reject the contract.
If ratified, the Mayor signs the contract.
If both parties cannot reach an agreement during negotiations, they go through mediation and eventually through interest arbitration.
During interest arbitration, an independent arbitrator conducts a hearing, decides which proposals are up for discussion, and then makes the final decision to adopt a contract proposal from either party or develops a compromise. The process of interest arbitration can take 6-9 months to complete, and the result is final and binding.
Examples
Details and critics emerge for new Seattle police contract
In the wake of Charleena Lyles' killing by police officers, SPOG argued that body cameras would have to be negotiated as part of CBA instead of just mandated as department policy. Subsequently, it was an issue that was leveraged for pay raises in the 2018 negotiation. As stated above, constitutional policing should be a minimum requirement, not a bargaining chip.
Judge vacates arbitrator's ruling in Adley Shepherd case (UPDATED)
The SPOG led petition for reinstatement of Adley Shepherd specifically points to CBA's as a reason why he shouldn't have been terminated. It took a Superior Court Judge to overturn the arbitration decision that would have reinstated Shepherd. The Federal Judge enforcing the 2012 Consent Decree also felt that the way SPD handled the Shepherd termination was indicative of the department no longer being compliant. This is an example of SPOG's use of CBA's as their main line of defense when evading enforcement of accountability by City, County, and Federal authority.
Acronyms
CBA - Collective Bargaining Agreement
SPD - Seattle Police Department
SPOG - Seattle Police Officers Guild
SPMA - Seattle Police Management Association
Additional Resources
It is important to understand that the right of collective bargaining is important to the labor movement.
However, it is not the right of officers to use collective bargaining to infringe upon the civil liberties of citizens.