The St. Louis Police Officers Association sued the city of St. Louis for allegedly failing to bargain in good faith when it came time to renew their contract.
“There are two questions that we are asking the court,” said Jeffrey Roorda, St. Louis Police Offers Association business manager. “One is whether we are at a good faith or bad faith impasse and, if so, we're asking that the judge order the city to come back to the bargaining table and that he finds that our contract is still enforced until we reach a true impasse.”
When asked to comment, the public information officer for the City of Saint Louis Mayor’s Office Nick Dunne replied, “The current administration has inherited the impasse, and as such, Mayor Jones is not named in the lawsuit. To date, our office has still not heard from the Police Officers Association to restart negotiations.”
Mayor Tishaura Jones' term ends in 2025.
Other defendants named in the lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, are St. Louis police Chief John Hayden, former Mayor Lyda Krewson, and former personnel director Richard Frank.
“We're dealing with a fairly anti-union administration both in the mayor's office and the police department,” Roorda told the St. Louis Record. “I've heard people say that our union contract keeps them from disciplining officers and getting rid of the bad apples.”
While the city claims that two major St. Louis police union contracts have been invalid since April, Roorda argues the existing contracts remain enforceable.
“There's a provision there that says that if the contract expires, it will stay in full force until the parties reach a good faith bargaining impasse,” Roorda said. “We believe we haven't reached a good-faith impasse and that the impasse the city declared in April was in bad faith. They tendered their last best offer and withdrew it the same day. There is no offer on the table. So, our position is that the existing contract lives on.”
The contract in question, which was put into place in 2017, governs salary, discipline, and certain operations of the city’s police force, according to media reports.