PARK SLOPE — Mayor Bill de Blasio's morning routine was again interrupted Wednesday as police officers continued to protest outside his gym, and regular café in Park Slope. But this time, the mayor skipped the pre-gym croissant.
Members of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for salary raises during the second day of rallying outside the Park Slope YMCA and Colson Patisserie.
Union police officers have been working without a contract since 2012, the group said. Leaders have been trying for two years to negotiate a contract that would provide a market rate of pay to officers, PBA president Pat Lynch said.
Lynch criticized de Blasio for his trips to Park Slope's YMCA and the café on Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street.
"We understand that the mayor doesn't spend much time in City Hall. That he runs City Hall from the coffee shop and the gym. So that's where we are," Lynch said at the protest Wednesday.
Officers held signs that read "Just another dumbbell in the gym" and "Put some sweat into working on our PBA contract." They also chanted "pay us now" and "one-term mayor" as they waited for de Blasio to arrive.
"Our door has always been – and continues to be – open to the PBA to negotiate a long-term contract, as we’ve done with nearly the entire City workforce to date," Freddi Goldstein, a mayoral spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The PBA was offered the same seven-year contract through 2017 that was accepted by other police unions, according to mayor's office. The group took the case to a state arbitrator, which eventually ruled they served the same raise as other uniformed services.
It was the union's second day protesting in the neighborhood, though unlike Tuesday morning, de Blasio skipped his pre-gym stop at Colson Patisserie.
The mayor walked straight into the gym at around 8:20 a.m. sporting an orange T-shirt and cargo shorts.
The mayor just walked into the gym. No word to protesters or press. pic.twitter.com/zasmAtTeo2
— Nikhita Venugopal (@nkvenugopal) August 3, 2016
By 9 a.m. most protesters had dispersed.
"Enjoy your workout! We gotta work!" pic.twitter.com/YnBo72lwIb
— Nikhita Venugopal (@nkvenugopal) August 3, 2016
This week's protests coincidentally coincided with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton's surprise announcement that he would be retiring in September.
"We're grateful for the time Police Commissioner Bratton has spent with us," Lynch told DNAinfo New York. "We wish him well as he moves forward."
Lynch added that he looked forward to working with incoming commissioner James O'Neill.
"Our interactions with him in the past have been good. We hope it stays that way and we can sit down and he can help us solve the problems of the city of New York."
