In a dispute over wages and insurance costs, Lombard police officers have been working without a contract for the last seven months and want an arbitrator to settle the conflict.
Village officials have met with union representatives and a federal mediator twice over the time period, but have been unable to agree on a contract. Now, police union officials say the talks have stalled and have asked an arbitrator to step in.
The primary dispute is over how much of a pay increase officers will receive and whether that increase will make up for higher insurance costs, said Detective Scott Klecka, president of the Lombard Fraternal Order of Police.
“If your insurance increases at the same rate as your pay increase, you don’t see the benefits,” said Klecka. “We’re at an impasse as far as negotiating because we can’t agree on those main issues.”
Officers are working under the department’s old contract, negotiated in 2001, which expired in June. In 2001, the department got raises totaling 11.75 percent over three years. Starting salary for a police officer under the current contract is $42,789 a year, with top pay at $60,291, Klecka said. He declined to say how much of a raise officers are asking for.
This is the third time in seven years the department’s patrol officers have gone at least six months without agreeing on a new contract. When the officers’ contract expired in June 2000, a new contract was not approved until January 2001, six months after the old contract expired. Negotiations over the department’s contract in 1997 extended until May of the following year.
In both cases, the contract was settled without going to an arbitrator, and raises were retroactive to when the old contracts expired.
Police Chief Ray Byrne said the contract dispute has not affected department morale.
“These guys are professionals here,” Byrne said. “They understand it’s a contract process. I don’t believe anyone would let that affect their work.”
Klecka said officers are disappointed, however, that the village won’t agree to give them the pay they believe they deserve.
“The officers are discouraged when they’re told they’re a top department in the county and they perform at a top level, but they’re not compensated at the top level,” he said.
Village officials would not comment about details of the negotiations, but said they still hope a contract can be drawn without an arbitrator.
“There’s always a possibility either we or they can go back to the table and work this out,” Byrne said.
