Fiscal Crisis and Police Union Bargaining - The Case of New York

• NCJ Number: 83334
• Journal: Criminal Justice Review Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1981) Pages: 23-30
• Author(s): H L Schachter
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Adapted from a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, New York, NY, September 1981.

Annotation

This article examines the impact of financial crisis and bureaucratic retrenchment on the bargaining strategies of big city police unions and analyzes relations between New York City and its Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA).

Abstract

Relations between the PBA and New York City were examined from July 1974, when the PBA's 1-year contract expired, to August 1977, when the next agreement was ratified. Case study information was obtained from relevant newspaper articles, official documentation, panel reports, and decisions of the city's Board of Collective Bargaining. Review of the police union literature reveals a shift from predominant reliance on multilateral to collusive bargaining as an employee organization wins greater acceptance in the political system. Fiscal crisis and retrenchment necessitate intricate strategizing on the part of any police union, and the reactions of a given local will depend on factors in the political environment and the leader's own personality. Police bargaining in New York suggests that the likelihood of intense multilateral police negotiations during fiscal crisis is influenced by the nature of the givebacks the city demands and the time when sacrifice is demanded. Study of the situations in Chicago and Cleveland, where similar fiscal crises occurred, is recommended. Eleven reference notes, 12 footnotes, a chart of bargaining chronology, and 27 references are included.