The City of Akron claims the police union’s stance on wage increases would devastate the city financially for years to come.
The police union claims the city’s posturing crushes morale and the police department’s ability to recruit and retain officers.
More than four and a half months after the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Akron and the Fraternal Order of Police Akron Lodge No. 7 expired, the two sides have engaged in a standstill on major issues such as wages.
According to the fact finder report obtained by Signal Akron (embedded below) and statements from both sides, the main point of contention is, not surprisingly, money.
After Akron City Council emerged Friday evening from a four-hour, closed-door executive session discussion to reject an independent mediator’s “fact finding” report, the final terms of the collective bargaining agreement will soon be decided by a conciliator through the State Employment Relations Board.
Had Akron City Council not reached the three-fifths threshold of “no” votes on the proposal — only Council Members Jeff Fusco and Brad McKitrick supported it — the pro-FOP recommendations in the fact-finder report would have been final.
Police union pushes for 9% wage increase in 2025 — City of Akron offers 3%
The fact finder report shows:
- The City of Akron offered 3% wage increases for 2025, 2026 and 2027.
- The union sought a 9% wage increase for 2025, 6% increase for 2026, and 6% for 2027.
- The mediator proposed a 5% wage increase for 2025, a 4.5% increase for 2026, and a 4.5% increase for 2027.
“The City deeply values and appreciates the work of our officers and wants them, and all employees, to be appropriately compensated,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “But the recommended terms of the fact-finder’s report are financially untenable and would create unsustainable cost obligations, jeopardize staffing and service levels across all departments and put the City’s short and long-term fiscal health at risk.”
City of Akron Director of Finance Steve Fricker, in a statement, warned that the mediator’s recommendation would have required the city to generate new revenue sources, deplete the general fund or make deep cuts across departments — including public safety — in order to balance the budget.
“We would be facing fiscal caution by 2027 with less than 30 days cash on hand and by 2029, would need to cut between 100-180 city jobs,” Fricker wrote. ”The recommendations are not a sustainable path forward for our residents or our workforce.”
In October, the City of Akron and the Fraternal Order of Police began negotiating to replace the soon-to-expire CBA. Both sides made it clear early on they were not going to come to an agreement on major issues on their own, according to the fact finder report obtained by Signal Akron.
Negotiations broke down late last year.
The most recent CBA was implemented on Jan. 1, 2022, and expired on Dec. 31, 2024. Its terms remain in effect until a new contract is signed. The new terms will apply retroactively from the beginning of this year.
Akron police union leader passes out pictures of mayor attending rally
Ahead of negotiations, FOP members in late 2023 voted to replace Clay Cozart with Brian Lucey as president.
Since at least then, Lucey has frequently taken an openly antagonistic approach toward Malik, the city’s independent police oversight system, some members of City Council, police reform activists, and others critical of Akron’s police department.
During Monday evening’s City Council meeting, Lucey circulated images of then-Council Member Shammas Malik attending a rally that featured someone nearby holding a “defund the police” sign.
Malik campaigned for mayor on a public-safety platform and has since delivered city budgets allowing for the highest police staffing levels in years. More than half of Akron’s general fund bankrolls the police and fire departments.
Still, Lucey lambasted Malik over the union negotiations, along with City Council members who voted against the mediator’s report.
“After last Friday, now 11 of you also share some of that responsibility,” Lucey said at Monday’s meeting. “Akron needs leadership that prioritizes public safety and values its employees, so for those of you using police as a political talking point, stop doing it unless you are going to act on your word.”
Lucey, who, according to state records has been employed by the APD since 2014, represents 480 members in the police union, which excludes the police chief and deputy chiefs: 388 officers, 66 sergeants, 17 lieutenants and 10 captains.
City of Akron and FOP are at an ‘impasse’
The State Employment Relations Board established what is known as the Fact-Finding process for “parties in contract negotiations who are unable to reach agreement and are at an impasse.” That impasse occurred in December and both sides reached out to the SERB, which provided a list of five “fact finders” from a “roster of neutrals.”
According to the report, a Columbus-area attorney named Meeta A. Bass was chosen for this process. Bass held hearings March 18-20 and April 7 at Bounce Innovation Hub and issued findings on May 12, triggering a seven-day deadline for both sides to vote on recommendations.
The FOP approved the report. Akron City Council, as the legislative body for the city, rejected it on Friday, at the behest of Malik.
The disagreement over the mediator’s report moves the terms of the CBA through the conciliation process, which is a SERB-based “final offer settlement procedure” for entities still at an impasse after the fact finding report. A “conciliator” will be chosen from a list given to each side, and each side will submit position papers and present cases at a hearing.
Unlike the fact-finding process where the mediator issues recommendations on each disputed point, the conciliator “must choose on an issue-by-issue basis from each of the party’s final settlement offers.”
