NYPD Officers Protest 'Insulting' Proposed Pay Increase
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More than 1,000 NYPD officers took to the streets during Thursday's morning rush to protest a proposed 1 percent pay increase over the next two years.
The officers demonstrated in front of the Upper East Side home of state arbitrator Howard Edelman after he issued the preliminary recommendation.
"We marched in front of his penthouse -- this is a guy who gets paid so much money that he's living in a penthouse in Manhattan while our members can't move out of their parents' basement because of a 1 percent raise," said Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch. "Saying that New York City police officers should be the lowest-paid in the country in the atmosphere that we're working in is absolutely insulting."
The PBA opted for arbitration after negotiations with the city went nowhere.
Eleven other uniformed unions settled for similar agreements.
Lynch is crying foul.
"We asked an arbitrator to fairly do his job like we do each and every day on the street, and he said the lives that we've given is only worth 1 percent," Lynch said, adding the experienced arbitrator ignored certain criteria. "What this arbitrator didn't do is what three other arbitrators before him did, go by the criteria of the Taylor Law and get us on the way to a fair market rate of pay."
Lynch plans a challenge.
"We're researching every aspect we have to go after this," Lynch said.
When asked about a possible work slowdown Lynch added: "Our members are angry. They're going to do their job, they always have done their job, and they're going to do it professionally in a way that protects themselves and protects the public like they do each and every day."
