The Seattle Police Officers Guild union contract expired at the end of 2020 and negotiations have been delayed by nearly a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mass protests following the killing of George Floyd.
SPOG and its contract have been put under a microscope in the past year as some activists argue that officers have avoided accountability and the Seattle Police Department lacks transparency. Advocates were frustrated with the previous contract, which took years to negotiate, saying that it turned its back on accountability measures the city passed in 2017.
With negotiations set to begin this spring, the Community Police Commission hosted a public forum Thursday discussing the nitty-gritty of police contracts and the upcoming negotiations.
Here are 11 things CHS heard during the CPC forum:
- The general chain of events before negotiations begin, as laid out by a city labor rep, are for the city to get feedback from various related agencies, including the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) and the CPC, then the Labor Relations Policy Committee (LRPC) finalizes bargaining priorities before the city and SPOG identify their bargaining teams. The LRPC includes several city council members and other city officials. It is chaired by Council President Lorena González, who is now running for mayor.
- What if once they get to the negotiating table, the city and SPOG can’t come to an agreement? Then the two sides enter mediation and, if that isn’t successful, followed by arbitration. In that case, a neutral third party comes in to resolve and decide on contract disputes. Some participants at the Thursday conversation noted they want to see changes to this “interest arbitration” process. Continue reading
