Police get 14% hike in pay in contract

A new four-year contract would give Boston police officers a 14 percent pay hike but require them to pay more for health care, city officials said yesterday.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino called the contract, which will be retroactive to July , "a win for both sides."

The contract, which the city and union negotiators agreed on Thursday, would also allow officers to live outside the city after a decade of service , shift about two dozen officers from behind their desks to the streets , and toughen drug testing rules.

Menino said that while the city had sought a lower pay hike, it had settled for 14 percent because the union's 1,400 officers would shoulder an increase in their contribution for health insurance costs, from 10 to 15 percent.

State troopers also pay 15 percent , which is less than the 20 percent most city employees pay, said John Dunlap , the city's director of labor relations .

"That was a big part of what we were seeking," Dunlap said. "Ten to 15 years ago, healthcare was the backwater of labor negotiations, but today, it is at the top of the list of issues."

Yesterday, the terms of the contract were presented to the board of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which represents all officers in the city, and it unanimously voted to present the contract to the union at large June 18 for ratification, according to association president Thomas Nee.

Menino "had issues he valued, and we had issues we valued, and there are always consequences in that give and take," Nee said. "But we're pleased with what we came away with."

Police were among the highest-paid city employees last year, according to city figures released to the Globe earlier this year. Of the 125 highest-paid employees, all but one were police officers. In 2006, the average uniformed police officer made $113,617 , including $35,600 in detail and overtime. But union officials maintain that the overtime and detail pay are not part of an officer's normal pay and can fluctuate.

The contract's pay increase and residency provisions are similar to those in contracts recently ratified by the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees , which together represent about 2,200 city workers.

Dunlap predicted the loosening of the residency rule, which has been on the union's wish list for a long time, would not translate into an exodus of officers from the city.

Under the current contract, an officer who fails an annual drug test is suspended for 45 days without pay, must enter into a rehabilitation agreement, and must submit to random drug tests for three years. Under the new contract, the officer would have to submit to random tests for the rest of his or her career.

The new contract also calls for civilians to take over desk jobs held by 23 officers, freeing them to patrol the streets.

City and union negotiators met in at least 25 bargaining sessions since the last contract expired in June 2006 . Along the way, Menino and Nee mended a once-frayed relationship. A highly publicized, bitter dispute between the two had resulted in police picketing outside the Democratic National Convention in 2004 , and an arbitrator was called in to settle the terms of a contract, awarding the officers a 14.5 percent pay raise over four years.

"He understands it's not about the past, but about the future," Menino said of Nee. "We both agreed it was time to work together because we all want the same goals. A few years ago there were some real issues there but not now."