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Hartford Council Approves New Police Union Contract

By JENNA CARLESSO

May 29, 2012

HARTFORD — — The city council on Tuesday approved a new, six-year labor agreement for the Hartford Police Union, which has been working under an expired contract for two years.

The new contract includes for wage freezes for the two fiscal years since the last agreement expired at the end of June 2010, and raises in the upcoming four fiscal years. The contract runs from July 2010 to July 2016.

The 456 union members will receive 3½ percent raises each year during the 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 fiscal years and a 3 percent raise during the 2015-16 fiscal year.

The council's approval was the final hurdle for the contract. The union voted 361-11 in favor of the deal last month. The mayor had reached a tentative agreement with the union's leadership about two weeks before the vote.

But those familiar with the deal have said negotiations went on for months before that.

"It was a long, arduous journey with a lot of long hours," Richard Holton, the union's president, said Tuesday. "We worked hard, and in the end it's good to see the fruits of your labor paid off. The city is making a step in the right direction."

The city's $540.3 million budget for 2012-13, which was adopted Tuesday, includes $1 million that Mayor Pedro Segarra said he would get through union and non-union concessions, which could include furlough days.

Holton said Tuesday that the new police union contract does not include concessions, but that the process involved " a lot of give and take" between the parties.

Segarra could not be reached for comment Tuesday.