City, Austin police union to return to negotiations this week

Austin police contract negotiations

Negotiations between the city and the Austin police union are set to resume this week. APD officers have been working for almost a year without one.

AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin and the Austin Police Association have set a date to come back to the table and discuss a long-term police contract.

City officials and the union president said they’re confident an agreement will address community concerns and navigate the legal challenges, and will be approved by city council.

"I'll give myself an A on working to get us there," City of Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.

Watson graded himself on his efforts to get to the negotiating table with the Austin Police Association.

"We're all in agreement that the best way for us to achieve a real principal goal that we all have, of which is to fill vacancies that we have in the police department, is that we need to have a long-term contract," Watson said.

Austin police union, city negotiations

The City of Austin and Austin Police Association (APA) announced that formal negotiations on a new long-term contract are set to resume on March 13.

MORE CRIMEWATCH

APD officers have been working for almost a year without one.

"Our police force, a lot of folks were very demoralized because of things that had been done by people before I got here, so I inherited some real issues, and I immediately said I want to try to address those issues," Watson said.

In the absence of a long-term deal, city council approved two one-year ordinances.

"We gave a 4% pay increase, we also added to the benefits in that we added a full step of retirement so that somebody that wanted to stay with the police could stay and get extra money as a result of staying. We also built into that, that ordinance we built into that an incentive package so that if people would come into our cadet classes, they would get paid to come." Watson said.

He said those efforts worked to bring in cadets, but a long-term contract would help even more.

"So that there is some element of certainty for people that we're asking to be police officers. And, or we're asking them to stay as police officers," Watson said.

Council to vote on police pay w/o contract

Austin City Council will vote on an ordinance to secure officers' pay and benefits without a long-term contract, but only if the police union negotiates a contract with the city by the summer.

He said officers need to feel supported.

"Those police officers have our backs, and we need to show that we have their backs, so I'm looking forward to us all getting back to the table and trying to figure out what's the best course," Watson said.

Part of the delay in coming to a long-term agreement is a lawsuit about not implementing the Police Oversight Act approved by voters in May 2023. The union president said he thinks this is something they can all work out.

"Ideally, a contract is one of balance, right? It's one that recognizes protecting officers' rights and acknowledging the work that they do in a difficult situation is important, while also dealing with the accountability expectations that our community has," Watson said.

The first meeting for negotiations is Wednesday, March 13 and a second meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 20.