New York City Reaches $5.5 Billion Deal With Biggest Cop Union

New York Mayor Eric Adams reached a labor deal with the city’s largest police union, granting annual raises for uniformed officers that will cost $5.5 billion.

(Bloomberg) — New York Mayor Eric Adams reached a labor deal with the city’s largest police union, granting annual raises for uniformed officers that will cost $5.5 billion. 

The tentative agreement between the city and the Police Benevolent Association, which represents roughly 23,000 beat cops, stretches over eight years and is retroactive to 2017, according to a statement from the mayor’s office on Wednesday. 

The deal comes as Adams warns of budget constraints stemming in part from the city’s migrant crisis. This week his administration gave agencies until April 14 to cut their budgets by 4%, his third such directive taking office in January 2022.

“New York City will always support the men and women of the NYPD as they do one of the toughest jobs anywhere — and today, we’re proud to announce a historic deal with the Police Benevolent Association that will do just that,” Adams said in a statement announcing the agreement. 

NYPD officers will receive retroactive, compounding wage increases that will top out at 4% in 2024. That means the top pay for officers after five-and-a-half years of service will be $131,500 per year. 

The pay schedule doesn’t account for overtime, which can double an officer’s salary. A Bloomberg analysis found that in fiscal 2020 more than 1,400 officers worked enough overtime to take home a full year of extra pay. This year, the department is on a record pace for overtime spending, exceeding its budget by more than $100 million through February. 

The PBA had been without a labor contract for six years, and the union is the first uniformed agency to notch a deal in this round of bargaining. In February, Adams negotiated a deal with DC 37, the city’s largest union. That contract, which will affect 90,000 municipal workers, included 3% annual raises for the first four years and will cost the city an estimated $4.4 billion through fiscal 2027. 

Read more: Adams gets deal with NYC’s biggest union, will test remote work

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