They give you parking tickets. They break up on-campus parties. But they also let you into your room when you are locked out, come to the rescue in emergencies, and maintain campus safety. Now, the Tufts University Police Association (TUPA), the collective bargaining representative for the police officers of the University, is asking for a increase in compensation for their services.
Last week, off-duty police officers distributed Tufts University Police Association leaflets on the Medford and Grafton campuses. The leaflets were entitled, "Labor Relations Update Volume I," and were in regard to the current negotiations over a new collective bargaining contract with the University.
Negotiations began last spring to replace an old contract that expired on June 30, according to Director of Public and Environmental Safety, John King. King adds that it is not unusual to go through continued negotiations after a contract has expired.
King believes that the two groups will come to an agreement soon.
"The relationship with the University and the union has always been good, after negotiating over a period of time, we'll ultimately have an agreement, come to a resolution, and sign a contract," King said.
The TUPA includes only University police officers, and does not include supervisors, like King.
Vice President of Operations John Roberto also stated that such negotiations after a contract has expired are routine. "[The University] has a series of contracts with the association," Roberto said. "We are in the process now currently in negations for a successor agreement."
Both Roberto and President Bacow's contact information are listed at the bottom of the newsletter, as the TUPA asks the community to contact these two individuals to show support for the TUPA.
Neither King nor Roberto would confirm the specifics of the newsletter - namely the salary comparisons to officers at neighboring schools such as Harvard, MIT, Boston College, and Boston University - but the newsletter points out that the University's campus police officers receive a lower salary compared to neighboring schools such as MIT, BC, and BU, while providing the same kind of public safety service.
According to the TUPA's newsletter, the TUPA has "reached an impasse" in their negotiations with the University.
TUPA president, Sean Donlon, says that Tufts police officers are only trying to earn salaries that are marginally competitive with other Boston schools. Of the aforementioned universities, Boston College police officers receive the lowest salaries - $20.50 per hour. The TUPA is asking for $20 per hour, and only for officers who have completed a five year program with the department. According to the recently distributed newsletter, the current TUPD salary of a full-time police officer is $400 to $500 a week after taxes.
"We're trying to catch up," Donlon said. He adds that TUPD officers are all as well trained as other area university police officers, and some have special training in certain fields such as emergency medical procedures. The department varies; some officers have been with the TUPD for as long as 20 years, and some for only one year.
Donlon says that the purpose of the newsletter was to garner support from members of the University. "[The TUPA is] appealing to the public to support us, we feel we have a good relationship with the community on all three campuses, and hope the administration will meet with us somewhere [in the negotiations]," Donlon said.
While some may compare these salary negotiations with the very public negotiations between campus custodians and the University, the TUPA emphasizes that their negotiations date back to the end of the last academic year. Still, Roberto believes that the University's response to the custodians may have sent a message to the TUPA.
"Clearly the University is committed to the negotiations," Roberto said.
According to Donlon, the TUPA will continue to hand out leaflets to bring the issue to the public's attention. Both sides hope to achieve a resolution at the mediation session planned for the end of February.
"[The mediation] is not a binding meeting, [but] hopefully something will be resolved by it," Donlon said.
