SAUGUS — The Saugus Police Patrol Officers Union continues to seek a contract negotiation for 12 officers who have been working without one since July 2016.
Dozens of union members attended three consecutive Board of Selectmen meetings in September and October, using the citizens comment portion of the meetings to advocate for a fair contract.
The current starting salary for a police officer in Saugus is less than $45,000, said union member and police officer William Cash. He listed several specialized units the department is lacking because of funding, including specialized traffic safety, drug, and domestic violence units, and school resource officers.
“For whatever reason, over the past 10 years, your police department has lost focus,” said Cash. “While the town was moving forward, your police department was somehow left behind.”
The union submitted contract proposals that were comparable to surrounding communities, but negotiations with the town failed, leaving the state’s Joint Labor Task Force to determine the terms of the contract.
Teamsters Local 25 Business Agent Joan Corey asked selectmen and Town Manager Scott Crabtree to engage more fully in the collective bargaining processes. She pointed out that the town paid a labor attorney more than $78,000 in Fiscal Year 2016, $156,000 in Fiscal Year 2017, and $30,000 so far in Fiscal Year 2018.
“We again believe these contracts can be agreed upon and ratified but we need your help,” Corey told the selectmen. “Obviously, I’m going to continue to rack up legal charges with your community. It’s totally unnecessary.”
Cash asked selectmen and Crabtree to allocate necessary funding to protect the town’s youth. At a meeting on Sept. 27, he referenced the recently released results of a youth risk survey, taken by middle school students in the spring of 2016 and developed by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 10 percent of students responded that if they wanted to get marijuana, it would be very easy. Only 55 percent reported it would probably be impossible.
“If you wanted to get some, how difficult would it be to get cocaine, crack, and heroin and 56 percent believe they could obtain those drugs if they wanted to,” said Cash. “That number represents a failure in your police department. The town needs a plan to combat these numbers full force and without delay.”
Mediation with the Department of Labor will commence at the end of the month.
