Sergeant You Glad Neither Side Can Agree On A Contract?

The idea that an arbitration panel is to blame for what seems more and more like the worst contract ever* seems hard to believe:

With city cops among the worst-paid police in the nation, NYPD officers are increasingly turning down promotions to sergeant — because the pay raise isn’t big enough.

Under the contract imposed by a state arbitration panel in 2005, rookie cops are paid $25,100 a year while in the academy. Their maximum base pay tops out at $59,588 after seven years.

Cops promoted to the rank of sergeant earn just $61,093 — not even $2,000 a year more to compensate them for the increased responsibilities.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday the pay scale has had “significant ramifications.”

“What’s happened is all the raises have been compacted. They’ve been stretched out. So the desirability . . . of moving ahead in the ranks has been, I think, impacted,” Kelly said.

Of the 20,867 officers eligible to take the Feb. 3 sergeant exam, only 3,856 sat for the test — and just 255 passed.

By comparison, 7,154 of 22,927 eligible officers took the test in December 2003, the last time it was offered before the current police contract was imposed. From that pool, 1,729 became sergeants.

. . .

A cop who recently passed the sergeant exam said he considered not taking the test because of the poor pay. “It’s like, what’s the point?” he said.

The reluctance of many cops to seek a promotion comes as officers are leaving the NYPD in large numbers for other departments that pay more.

And the best news:

City Hall and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association are battling over a new contract. But the talks broke down repeatedly, and the negotiations are now in arbitration.

*See also, for example.