NYPD Sergeants Union Approves Tentative Contract

After a long, hard-fought battle that led to pleas for outside arbitration and Mayor Adams to step in, the Sergeants Benevolent Association has hammered out a new contract with the city, the Daily News has learned.

Key members of Mayor Adams’ staff, including Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry, ultimately helped finalize the deal after union leaders and the city’s Office of Labor Relations reached an impasse over pay and demands that sergeants start working 12-hour tours.

“At the end of the day, they were instrumental,” SBA President Vincent Vallelong said about the mayor’s staff Tuesday. “They listened to us and helped put this together.”

The new contract fixes an ongoing problem in the city where some sergeants were getting paid less than seasoned but lower-ranking officers under their command.

“We weren’t about to leave 1,275 sergeants behind,” Vallelong said about the pay disparity. “That was the main goal from the beginning.”

The new contract has no mention of 12-hour tours, but the union has agreed to allow 50 sergeants to work the extended shift — on a volunteer basis — as part of a pilot program that will end and be revisited in nine months, the union chief said. Vallelong and his negotiation team got the city to put in writing that it was a voluntary program and that the new contract wasn’t linked to the 12-hour-tour pilot.

“I’m very happy we were able to get this done,” Vallelong said about the grueling, two-year process. “Of course, I would have been happier if it took less time but bad contracts get settled quickly, and good contracts take time. You don’t get what you deserve, but you get what you negotiate.”

According to the deal, all sergeants in rank will be bumped up to top pay of roughly $135,000 a year.

The SBA hasn’t had a contract in two years because of an ongoing wage disparity affecting 1,275 supervisors that began when the city increased the salaries of rank-and-file police officers.

After the city boosted salaries of long-serving cops, the SBA union realized that many sergeants were now earning less than the officers they oversaw — a situation that makes no sense, Vallelong said.

As contract negotiations dragged on, the city’s Office of Labor Relations asked the union to agree to givebacks to fix a problem OLR created, he said.

Under the expired contract, the base pay for sergeants, who supervise several cops at a time while responding to 911 calls, starts at $98,000 a year and balloons to about $118,000 within five years. After the newest contract with the Police Benevolent Association, experienced police officers can earn about $115,000, SBA members said.

Negotiations for a new contract dragged on, with the SBA asking for an outside arbitrator to step in. A new contract had been hammered out in late March, but the process ground to a halt when it was learned the new contract couldn’t go forward unless NYPD sergeants agreed to work 12-hour tours as part of a city pilot program, union members said.

Union delegates voted twice on the issue and overwhelmingly weighed in against 12-hour shifts, Vallelong said.

On April 4, the SBA hand-delivered a request to the Mayor’s Office asking for Adams to intervene on the pay and 12-hour tour issue. In its letter, the union noted a city Department of Investigation report claims that cops working 12-hour tours led to an increased number of workplace injuries, vehicle collisions, risk of lawsuits and substantiated Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints.

In 2023, the PBA, which represents NYPD police officers, agreed in its contract to 10- and 12-hour tours. About 3,000 rank-and-file cops in 12 police precincts and 12 transit districts are currently working longer tours, city officials said.

Adams has often credited his administration with successfully negotiating contracts with unions representing nearly 97% of the city’s workforce. During a news conference Thursday touting major crime reductions in the first quarter of the year, he said the NYPD is “not going to cut pennies to save lives.”

“Whatever we need to spend to save the lives of New Yorkers and to keep the city safe, we’re going to spend it,” Adams said.

There are currently 4,300 sergeants in the NYPD, which has about 36,000 members. By July, 1,100 sergeants will have vested their pensions and would be free to retire, said Vallelong, adding that the NYPD hasn’t promoted anyone to sergeant since January.

Since January, 150 sergeants have retired, union officials said.

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