By Gayla Cawley
Boston Herald
BOSTON — The city and its largest police union, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, have come to terms on a new one-year contract that includes a 2% wage increase for all police officers, free gym access, and more stringent employee evaluations.
The collective bargaining agreement, announced by Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday and ratified by the police union on Oct. 29, carries over and builds on the significant reforms around officer discipline and overtime that were agreed to in the “landmark 2023 police reform contract.”
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“Every day, our police officers sacrifice so much to serve our communities,” Wu said in a statement. “Boston wouldn’t be the safest major city in the country without the dedication of our incredible officers. This contract represents our constant efforts to deepen trust between our police officers and our communities, while also ensuring they are supported to be their very best.”
Mayor Wu will soon file an appropriations order with the City Council for approval of the new contract.
The new agreement covers the period from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, at a total one-year estimated cost of $6.7 million. Under the contract, every officer will receive a 2% wage increase and 1% will be added to the hazardous duty differential.
The BPPA has roughly 1,600 officers, representing about 70% of the Boston Police Department.
The patrolmen’s union previously agreed to a five-year contract with the city in 2023, which included a retroactive period and expired June 30 , making this the second police reform contract reached between the two sides under the Wu administration.
City officials said the new deal is both a contract and an extension, and that it is a priority of the Wu administration to keep city employees under contract, while also avoiding a hefty retroactive payment, such as what occurred in prior years with reupping a series of expired contracts.
“Our officers do a difficult job,” Police Commissioner Michael Cox said in a statement. “It is important for them to know their work is valued, and for them to continue to embrace their role in building trust and fulfilling our mission of community policing. The mayor has repeatedly shown that the city values our officers and their families.
“This contract contributes to improving officer wellbeing, while also heightening standards for accountability and professionalism. This will make our department better and our city safer,” Cox added.
Under the terms of the deal, all patrol officers will be required to wear name tags for the first time, similar to the Superior Officers’ Federation. Wu’s office described the change as key for transparency and building community trust, at a time when federal immigration agents “are seen on American streets with masks shielding their identity.”
BPPA officers will also gain free access to the gyms in Boston Police facilities, rather than pay a monthly fee to access the department’s gyms, as previously required. Officers will also be granted 30 minutes to work out during their shifts, but supervisors will be allowed to deny workout time if it is a busy shift and police operations would be affected.
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Wu’s office said the change is representative of the city’s investment into officers’ wellbeing.
The contract also overhauls the process of evaluating performance of patrol officers, a key reform in pursuing accreditation of the Boston Police Department by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
Boston Police Academy field training officers will receive $40 per week in addition to their regular compensation for the duration of each field training program, which will run for a minimum of 12 weeks per academy class. Wu’s office said raising the pay from $10 to $40 will help to recruit experienced officers to participate in the program, bettering the training for recruits.
The contact adds further changes to the detail system, to better align detail shifts with regular department shifts. It shifts the clerical functions of distributing and assigning overtime away from patrol officers.
The agreement adds an additional two-week summer vacation period, with the aim of reducing the number of officers off during any two-week period and cutting down on mandatory overtime. It also allows officers to cash in an additional 20 days of sick time at retirement. Prior to this extension, patrol officers could sell back the equivalent of 80 days of sick time, but can now sell back 100 days.
“This contact represents a shared vision between Mayor Wu and myself: a police department with the necessary supports and resources for our officers and a commitment to the highest standards of policing,” BPPA President Larry Calderone said in a statement.
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“I’m grateful to Mayor Wu for her unwavering support for our police officers and for her administration for bargaining in good faith to deliver this contract for my members,” he added.
The new contract was reached after several months of negotiations, and while talks took some time, it was a shorter process than the last deal.
The 2023 contract was reached after 18 months of negotiations, and after the police union had filed for arbitration in December 2022 . The two sides were ultimately able to reach an agreement across the bargaining table.
That five-year contract included cost-of-living adjustments and significant reforms in discipline, paid details, medical leave, union release, officer retention, and educational incentives, and is line with the mayor’s commitment to police reform.
Negotiations on a new multi-year contract are expected to begin between the city and police union early next year.
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