San Luis Obispo Eliminates Binding Arbitration

Sep 7, 2011 by Dick.Thomson

The results of San Luis Obispo’s special election were certified Wednesday afternoon, and it means binding arbitration is no more. With more than ten thousand votes cast, Measure ‘A’ passed by 74 percent, allowing the City Council the power to reduce pension benefits for all city employees without going through an election.

Meantime, Measure ‘B’ passed with about 73 percent of the vote, repealing the police and fire union’s right to binding arbitration.

But while retirement benefits and salaries for police and firefighters took center stage in this election, the election has real ripple effects, even for locals who aren’t in either union.

The Damon-Garcia Sports Fields may seem far removed from the world of binding arbitration and pension formulas, but City Council member Andrew Carter says it all comes down to some simple math.

“For the city, just like individuals, there is no magic purse,” he said. “So one extra dollar in one area for public safety in this case means that there’s less dollars in the other area.”

Carter says the Damon-Garcia Sports Fields are just one example of a place that could use more money. He says the turf there is so overused, they have to close it sometimes to preserve it and that spending some extra dollars could replace it with Astroturf.

He also says in the ten years since binding arbitration has passed, there’s been a significant amount of increased revenue for the city, but it’s all gone toward employee pay and benefits while the city cut back in other programs.

He says San Luis Obispo needs to more money to go back to the city instead of officers’ salaries.

Neither the fire nor police union was available for an interview Wednesday, but the fire union released a statement Tuesday night saying, “While we are disappointed with the results of the election, we are grateful that this divisive campaign is now behind us and that we can return all of our focus to providing the best public safety possible to the citizens of San Luis Obispo.”

Binding arbitration, which was repealed Tuesday, means a third-party arbiter could make the final call in a negotiation impasse between unions and the city. It has been used once since its initiation in 2000.

The city could now go to a two-tier pension system, where new employees have fewer benefits than current ones do or employees could be required to pay a greater share of the cost in those benefits. Measure ‘A’ gives the council authority to make that decision.

The contracts for the police, fire and general employee unions expire at the end of the year, so some changes could be coming very soon.