NEW YORK CITY — The city has reached a contract agreement with the Sergeants Benevolent Association, breaking an impasse with one of the police unions that has been warring with Mayor Bill de Blasio for months.
The agreement for an 11 percent raise, which must be ratified by union members, also means that four out of five police unions have reached a contract with the city, leaving the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association as the sole group without a contract.
The mayor had a nasty public spat with the city's police unions in the wake of the death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner and the murder of two police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos.
Officers turned their backs on the mayor at the funerals of the two slain officers who were posthumously promoted to detectives.
De Blasio endured public and stinging criticism from PBA president Pat Lynch and SBA president Ed Mullins, who called the mayor a "total nincompoop."
"I've been called a lot worse," de Blasio said when asked about the slight at a City Hall press conference.
Mullins also criticized de Blasio's plans to Bring the Democratic National Convention to Brooklyn and many political observers believe the spat between the mayor and police may have contributed to the city losing the convention to Philadelphia.
"That ship sailed. It's no longer an issue," Mullins said when asked about his opposition to the convention.
"I'm not a big convention guy. I don't attend birthday parties," Mullins added.
The mayor said that he and Mullins were able to sit down and work out their differences.
"What matters is the ability to move forward," said de Blasio.
"The more Ed and I have spent time together the more we have found that common ground," the mayor later added.
Mullins agreed saying that he and de Blasio were "big boys enough" to put their differences aside.
"The issues facing the city of New York are much more important than Mayor de Blasio and Ed Mullins," said Mullins.
Under the terms of the seven-year contract, the 4,600 members of the union will receive an 11 percent raise.
Other changes under the new contract include allowing sergeants to take leave time in one lump sum instead of having to take it all before retirement and changing work rules to reduce overtime costs.
The total cost of the contract is $326.2 million, which is offset by health care savings of $74.1 million, bringing the total cost of the contract to $252.1 million from fiscal year 2015 through fiscal year 2019.
With this agreement, 76 percent of the city's workforce is now under contract. All municipal worker contracts were expired when de Blasio took office just over a year ago.
