Collective Bargaining

The San Antonio Police Department’s Collective Bargaining negotiations have ended, and ACT 4 SA has outlined some questions and observations of concern throughout this negotiation process.

Neither City Staff nor City Council should agree on a contract if they do not address the areas of accountability highlighted by the community before negotiations began.

Questions

01.

With ongoing pay increases built into their contract, how can the City achieve their own goal of keeping public safety spending at 66% of our city’s General Fund?

Listed under their goals for the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the police union, CoSA states that “the City seeks to maintain public safety spending at less than 66 percent of the General Fund budget."
With a 15% increase to police officer pay over 5 years, and HB 1900 in effect (the new State law which imposes penalties if we decrease the police budget) how can our public safety budget remain under 66% without making cuts to other areas of public safety related to firefighters, mental health, violence interruption, and more? The math doesn’t work.

What is
HB 1900?

HB 1900 is a State bill passed in 2021 that financially penalizes the state’s largest cities if they cut their police budgets at all.

This basically makes any increases to the police budget permanent, meaning cuts may have to be made in other areas for a balanced budget.

01.

Remove arbitrator from appeals process and send appeals to the Civil Service Commission

02.

Revise the Chief's Complaint and Administrative Review Board (CCARB) or remove it from police union influence in order to create an independent office of civilian oversight (like Austin’s Office of Police Oversight)

03.

Reduce the Evergreen Clause which keeps the terms of the current police contract eight years after the contract expires if a new deal is not reached

04.

Include language to protect the names of the accusers/complainants from officers facing allegations of misconduct

05.

Prevent officers from using their discretionary time (holiday, vacation, or bonus days) to pay themselves while on unpaid suspension for misconduct

06.

Extend Major Misconduct timeline for officers to be disciplined beyond 2 years after the incident

Demands

While ACT 4 SA acknowledges the focus on discipline in these negotiations, we are still skeptical how seriously both the City and SAPOA have taken the community’s cries for accountability.

The City chose not to include the Evergreen Clause or revision of the CCARB in negotiations to begin with. Meanwhile, SAPOA is still creating a pathway for officers to get away with egregious misconduct by subjectively ranking the seriousness of misconduct. Not to mention the fact that this is proven racist behavior- something our city has spoken out against. If the City chooses to entertain or accept this proposal they will be discrediting the many lives lost or negatively affected by police misconduct in our community.

Let City officials know that these issues at hand are detrimental to police accountability in San Antonio and that they should NOT agree on a contract that does not address the wishes of the community.

Just a few quick steps to add your name and send a direct message to city leaders: