Arbitrator sides with new North Liberty police union on wages

NORTH LIBERTY – North Liberty police officers walked away with a victory in their first collective bargaining agreement as a unionized force.

After an extended negotiation process, an arbitrator recently released his decision siding with the union on several issues, including wages. The one-year contract will bump the average officer's pay from $18.45 an hour to $20.58 an hour starting July 1, said Joe Rasmussen, business representative for Public Professional and Maintenance Employees Local 2003.

His union represents 10 full-time patrol officers on the North Liberty force. The town also has a police chief, one lieutenant and two sergeants, according to the city.

North Liberty is one of the fastest growing cities in Iowa and has a population of nearly 13,400 people. That has led to the city having to expand services in recent years, including law enforcement.

The officers sought to organize in 2009 because of disagreements they had with the city's wage scale, Rasmussen said. Other area law enforcement agencies already were represented by unions, many of them by Rasmussen.

Contract negotiations took more than a year and included a formal complaint by the union that the city was delaying, which the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board dismissed. After an impasse, the matter went to binding arbitration.

“To say it was difficult negotiations would be an understatement,” Rasmussen said.

City Administrator Ryan Heiar said in a statement that the city was disappointed in arbitrator Lon Moeller's ruling on wages because the city had developed a compensation and classification program for city employees.

“However, we're pleased the arbitrator maintained contract language that will not disrupt the day-to-day and management operations of the department and will hold benefit at status quo,” he said.

It was the pay scale officers took issue with. It included a wage schedule with 16 steps per pay grade, with raises based on evaluations.

The union argued, and Moeller agreed, that no comparable law enforcement agencies in the area have contracts with a performance-based step movement like what North Liberty wanted. As a result, officers will have an eight-step pay structure based on length of service.

North Liberty patrol officers' average pay has been up to $2 per hour less than the average starting salary at surrounding law enforcement agencies, and the pay increase will help recruit and retain officers, Rasmussen said. Two officers recently left North Liberty for higher-paying jobs elsewhere, he said.

Heiar said the city has never had problems attracting and keeping employees and said there were more than 40 applicants for an open officer position last fall.

Overall, Moeller sided with the union on eight of the 13 issues that went to arbitration.