McAllen, police appear close to union contract

McALLEN — City Hall and McAllen’s police officers appear close to agreement on a four-year union contract that would end a long-running and acrimonious labor dispute.

Officers began voting on the contract Tuesday and results should be announced Saturday, said Sgt. Jose Garcia, president of the 221-member McAllen Police Officers Union. The City Commission must also approve the deal.

Pressure from City Hall and a renewed challenge from the department’s smaller union, the McAllen Professional Law Enforcement Association, helped push union officials back to the bargaining table after a roughly nine-month stalemate.

Meanwhile, at least one elected official, tired of the protracted dispute and angered by the resulting lawsuits, has said he would like to abolish collective bargaining altogether. The move would require a citywide referendum.

McAllen ratcheted up the pressure in mid-June, when City Manager Mike Perez, with the backing of city leaders, essentially took a red pen to the expired contract. McAllen removed the union’s bulletin board, curtailed vacation perks for longtime officers and reduced sick-time payouts upon retirement.

“When is enough enough?” asked promotional material from the smaller union. “Get wise, help save your futures and join us.”

Members of the McAllen Professional Law Enforcement Association, the smaller union, began circulating a petition to replace the McAllen Police Officers Union as the department’s bargaining agent. An attorney representing the smaller union said it has 80 to 90 members, but couldn’t provide an exact figure.

“Not one single member switched (unions),” Jose Garcia said. “We’ve actually gained members.”

The city manager’s actions, which drastically altered the status quo, not the smaller union’s petition, pushed both sides toward an agreement, Jose Garcia said.

“Yeah, it’s safe to say (that) did put pressure on us to some extent,” Jose Garcia said.

The New Contract

The four-year contract wouldn’t include built-in raises, but would automatically match raises given to other city employees. The McAllen Fire Fighters Association accepted a similar deal in May. With retail sales stagnant and property values falling, non-union city employees haven’t received raises in several years.

“When it comes down to salary increases, we’re no different than any other city employees,” Jose Garcia said. “That’s what it boils down to.”

It would also end what city officials often call a “sweetheart deal” for retired officers.

Under the current arrangement, officers who retire after 20 years with the department and don’t qualify for other health insurance through Medicare or other employment receive subsidized health insurance. McAllen covers half their premium payments until the officers take new jobs or turn 65 and qualify for Medicare.

A single retiree, who would normally pay $254 each month, splits the cost with McAllen. For a married retiree with children, the deal covers half the $607 monthly cost. All other city employees must pay full price.

All retired officers and police who retire before Oct. 1 would be grandfathered into the program, Jose Garcia said, and the deal also extends coverage to retired officer Harold Taylor. A city slip-up forced McAllen to end Taylor’s health insurance subsidy this year.

Two minor changes to the contract would also slightly limit the union’s activities. McAllen will no longer give union officials 15 days of paid leave to attend conventions, city meetings and other events. The McAllen Police Officers Union will also stop presenting information about the union to new recruits.

The Fallout

After a nasty contract dispute with police in 2007, city leaders decided to hire two law firms to handle contract negotiations in 2010, when both the McAllen Police Officers Union and the McAllen Fire Fighters Association were both scheduled to begin negotiating new agreements.

The move didn’t seem to help the city’s relationship with the police union, which filed a lawsuit against McAllen in late September, shortly before the police contract expired. City and union lawyers spent months arguing whether a local judge had the authority to force the expired contract’s terms on McAllen. The 13th Court of Appeals eventually ruled in McAllen’s favor, but not before both sides racked up hefty legal fees.

On July 2, Commissioner Marcus Barrera said he’d had enough.

“Unfortunately, if collective bargaining is allowed to continue in our city, sometime in the very near future our citizens will be forced to pay higher taxes to sustain it,” Barrera wrote in an email. “Collective bargaining has turned into a cancer that needs to be purged from our city.

“That’s why the voters and taxpayers in Mission, Pharr and Weslaco have voted against it. They know from watching McAllen suffer that collective bargaining would ruin their cities.”

In the past, both Mayor Richard Cortez and Commissioner John Ingram have also expressed reservations about collective bargaining and its cost to McAllen.

Eliminating collective bargaining would take a citywide referendum. About 59 percent of voters supported collective bargaining in 2000, when both police unions united behind the measure.

In the following years, the McAllen Police Officers Union has been the dominant union and represented officers during negotiations.

“It’s been a stormy and unproductive relationship, and that’s evidenced by the lawsuits that have been filed over the years,” said Roberto “Bobby” Garcia, an attorney who represents the McAllen Professional Law Enforcement Association.

Before taking a job with the smaller union’s statewide affiliate, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, Roberto Garcia represented the city’s larger union and handled the 2010 contract negotiations.

“People have pretty much dug in their heels and aren’t willing to look for middle ground anymore,” Roberto Garcia said. “It may have something to do with the personalities involved.”

He suggested the smaller union might bring fresh faces to the negotiating table and reset the police-city dynamic.

“This thing needs major surgery, but the patient's not dead yet,” Roberto Garcia said.

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Dave Hendricks covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4452.