Sarasota Police Union Concerned Over Lack Of Progress In Negotiations

SARASOTA, FL — As contract negotiations between the city of Sarasota and its police department personnel hit the six-month mark in June, the police union president expressed concern about “the lack of progress.”

The current three-year contract for Sarasota Police Department employees who are members of the International Union of Police Association Local 6405 expires Sept. 30. But union leaders are worried the two sides won’t be able to agree on a contract by that deadline.

As talks between the parties continue, their biggest areas of contention have been compensation and the addition of an anti-discrimination policy, Eric Urbain, president of Local 6045, told Patch.

“The officers here are very concerned with staffing shortages that worsen every week as officers leave our department,” he wrote in an email. “The city does not have any sense of urgency to address these issues, which is why we are getting the word out now.”

In a statement provided to Patch, the city said, “Since February 2022, city management representatives have regularly participated in multiple negotiation sessions with the IUPA bargaining unit. From the beginning, we have negotiated in good faith and in accordance with Florida Statute 447, which outlines collective bargaining practices. We have been active participants, responded to numerous proposals and listened to the IUPA members during the negotiations. We will continue to do so, as we do not see this as a win/lose proposal, but an opportunity for both sides to present information and come to acceptable agreements.”

The union’s negotiating team first reached out to the city in mid-January to set up conversations about the contract. They held their initial meeting in mid-February.

At that meeting, they introduced the addition of an anti-discrimination policy, which they thought would be “a slam dunk,” but the city “flat-out rejected it,” Urbain told Patch.

The proposed policy incorporated language similar to those adopted by St. Petersburg and Sarasota County Schools police unions and was “all encompassing, from race, creed, religion and orientation to protecting military status,” he said. “It’s important to maintain a diverse agency.”

Discrimination claims could be costly to the city and aren’t easy to investigate, he added.

Negotiators with the city pointed out that Sarasota’s code of conduct, as well as local, state and federal laws are in place to combat discrimination.

“The city of Sarasota does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability or marital status,” the city said in a statement. “These classes are already protected under state and federal law as well as local ordinance, and the city abides by those regulations in all its employment-related decisions.”

But Urbain and other union leaders believe a separate, additional anti-discrimination policy would provide additional protections to police department employees.

Since then, their meetings haven’t accomplished much, he said, noting that the first meeting “honestly has sort of set the tone for negotiations from there on out.”

The union president said, “We’d regularly propose articles to them…They’re return them across the table with strikethroughs. ‘Now. We don’t like this.’ They’d require explanation from us on why we’re proposing things, or they don’t explain (their thoughts) or provide a compromise.”

Wages and compensation have been another sticking point for the two sides. Over the years, salaries for Sarasota police have fallen behind other law enforcement agencies in the area, according to Urbain.

In a statement, the city said, “Sarasota police officers, sergeants and criminalists received pay increases in each of the past three years that were negotiated and agreed to by the IUPA union.”

At a time when there’s a national staffing shortage, “we're not trying to line our pockets,” Urbain said. “However, we are trying to be competitive and the reason we want to be competitive is for recruitment and retention. We want a first-class police department.”

In June alone – before the month even ended – five SPD employees left the department, three of them seeking better pay and benefits with other agencies, he said.

While the department is authorized to hire 180 employees, there are about 147 actually available to work when you remove deployed military members or those on leave, he added. Fifteen years ago, the agency had more than 200 workers.

The Sarasota City Commission recently “approved the unprecedented addition of 10 new police officers, an investment of approximately $1.2 million,” the city told Patch. “Our budgeted strength of officers is at its highest level since 2008, and we continue to recruit and develop a qualified team of professionals dedicated to serving our community. The public can rest assured that we will respond whenever we’re called.”

The union submitted a compensation pay scale similar to the Tampa Police Department that was turned down by the city, Urbain said.

Patch has asked him for a copy of their proposed compensation package. This story will be updated when that information is provided.

According to the 2019-2022 pay scale provided by the city, the starting pay for:

• police officers with a minimum of one year of service was $55,826;
• sergeants with a minimum of five years of service was $78,034;
• lieutenants with a minimum of one year of service was $91,052;
• criminalists with a minimum of one year of service was $36,648 and
• senior criminalists with a minimum of one year of service was $51,661

All officers, sergeants, criminalists and senior criminalists received a 3 percent base wage increase each year, according to the contract. Those who worked the entire 12 months of fiscal year 2017-2018 and had less than five years of service also received a one-time $1,500 lump-sum payment each in 2019, while those with five or more years of service each received $3,000.

The negotiating teams will meet again July 22 for a partial session and another meeting will take place in August. All meetings are open to the public.

“We respect and honor the service of all our employees, and we look forward to additional professional and productive negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement,” the city said.

With their current contract about to expire in months, Urbain is worried the union might be forced to declare an impasse in negotiations, sending the matter to a mediator appointed by the state.

He hopes that negotiations will be more “amicable” so they can avoid dealing with a third party.

“We don’t feel that it’s right for the visitors, the residents and businesspeople in this city to have someone who’s not a stakeholder in the community…decide what’s best for the city,” the union president said.