WASHINGTON (MyFoxDC) – The D.C. police union has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming Chief Cathy Lanier is obstructing its efforts to win raises for the rank and file and should be removed from the process.
Officers have gone without raises for the last five years and the suit argues Lanier shouldn't be involved in the process now that her contract has expired. But as you might imagine, the city and the chief have a different view.
The D.C. police union believes the reason they have been unable to win any traction in its negotiation for a meaningful raise is a clause in the chief's contract allowing her to directly bargain with the union over compensation. It is a clause the union believes expired last month along with Lanier’s contract.
But Chief Lanier says she is not directly involved in the negotiations and a spokesman for the mayor says the chief's contract has another year to go.
The union representing D.C.'s rank and file says in its lawsuit against the city that it is highly unusual for a department head to be directly involved in negotiations over compensation.
The union says Lanier has had that authority since she signed her first contract five years ago and has been nothing more than an obstructionist ever since.
"It’s been five years. There have been no raises or cost of living adjustments for officers,” said Union President Kristopher Baumann. “Lanier has increased her compensation by 35 percent to over $250,000 a year. We need her out of this process. The contract is expired so her exemption from being removed from that law is over now and she needs to move out of the process so we have a chance at actually getting compensation for police officers."
What Baumann is referring to is a law passed by former Mayor Anthony Williams which allows the chief of police to have management approval over working conditions, but leaves the raises to the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining (OLRCB).
But Chief Lanier told FOX 5 in an email, "I do not participate in the negotiations directly anyway. And, there has been no discussion around compensation yet and that will be handled by OLRCB. And, the Chairman knows this as he does participate.”
After looking over the lawsuit and the law from 2005, City Council Member Mary Cheh says she understands the union’s frustration.
"Not to get a raise for five years is significant,” said Cheh. “Though I would say with the economic circumstances, maybe that’s not that unusual. But in terms of filing a lawsuit, a lot of times when people are unhappy with how things are going, they try to enlist courts and use lawsuits as a way to make things go forward, so I’m not surprised the action. I don't know if it has any merit but I understand they are trying to move the ball.”
Phil Mendelson, Chairman of the City Council’s Judiciary Committee, had a similar take.
"There is a whole process set forward in the law for how public unions can bargain for compensation, and I just see this as part of the negotiating tactics to stir the pot by going to court," said Mendelson.
Baumann says the city is playing with fire by not agreeing to a new deal. He says the attrition rate is soaring and recruit classes are getting more and more difficult to fill.
Although the union believes the chief’s contract expired last month, a spokesman for the city says it still has one more year to go. That is because the City Council did not ratify the deal until a year after it was signed by the chief.
On another note, Wilson Building sources say Mayor Gray and Chief Lanier have agreed on a new five-year contract and the only thing it lacks is signatures from both sides.