Seattle police, city reach tentative contract agreement

The Seattle Police Officers Guild and the City of Seattle have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.

Guild members have not yet seen the final contract, but a source reveals the agreement is for six years and will offer a “reasonable” cost of living increase.

The Seattle Police Officers Guild board unanimously approved to present the contract to its members, after urgent negotiations in the past week.

“It was a long ordeal, well over three and half years without a contract,” said SPOG Vice President Rich O’Neill. “But I think it is a good deal. Our board unanimously sent it to the membership. It will go a long way in helping to compensate the officers for all they have endured over the last three and half years and it will hopefully help with recruiting and retention, especially when the numbers are released and people can see where Seattle ranks compared to other agencies.”

In the next three days, the SPOG board will hold a series of informational meetings for members to review the contract, ask questions, and soon vote on whether or not to accept the terms.

“It’s hard to say how I really feel without knowing what the city took away and compensated us for, until I see the contract,” said one officer, who has been granted anonymity as they haven’t been authorized to speak on the subject.

“I’m personally still frustrated and can’t believe it took the city this long to work things out with us,” the officer said. “It feeds into the poor morale in our department. It would be nice if the city would actually come to us before a contract expires, so we can work with them to bargain a fair contract before it expires. We have lost many good officers to other agencies and now we will lose many more to retirement.”

This comes at a time where the Seattle Police Department is nearing a recruitment and staffing crisis and anger remains.

“The veteran officers are sick and tired of being unappreciated and held as suspects to OPA for frivolous things,” the office explained. “They would rather retire because they have been spit upon by the city (government) they served over their career. Hopefully the city can learn from this and attract officers that care and that want to do the right thing for Seattle.”

Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office responded:

“The City can confirm that we have reached a tentative labor agreement with SPOG. We will decline to comment any further until the details of this proposed labor contract have been presented to the men and women serving as officers and sergeants in the Seattle Police Department in the upcoming days.”

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