With contract negotiations at a standstill, the Stockton Police Officers Association (SPOA) has turned to binding arbitration to secure a new contract after five months without one.
Patrick High, president of the union representing Stockton police officers and sergeants, said Wednesday, Nov. 19, that the union has been left with no choice but to declare an impasse and proceed to arbitration.
The city rejected SPOA’s last, best and final offer without providing a counterproposal.
Measure N, passed by voters last year, allows Stockton’s police and firefighter unions to take contract disagreements to an independent board of arbitrators for a binding decision. The three-member board consists of one member chosen by the city, one member chosen by the union, and one neutral member who resolves any disputes between them. The board’s decisions are final.
“The SPOA is committed to ensuring that the Stockton Police Department remains a premier law enforcement organization, one that embraces modern training, technology, and community engagement,” High said. “Achieving this requires retaining the skills and experience of officers and sergeants who have invested years in the community, as well as offering competitive compensation that encourages qualified local applicants to join our diverse ranks.”
This is the first time SPOA, which has supported Stockton’s sworn officers since 1914, will use the measure voters approved last year.
City officials had no immediate reaction.
The Stockton City Council opposed Measure N in a resolution passed in July 2024. The council said binding arbitration “is extraordinarily unusual and undesirable in the municipal context” and exists in fewer than 4% of California’s 482 cities.
The city argued that binding arbitration is “extraordinarily unusual and undesirable” because it removes the power of elected officials to weigh the city’s overall fiscal needs. The city said arbitration can lead to automatic increases in public safety pay without considering the impact on other essential city services.
The city also said binding arbitration would prevent voters from holding anyone accountable for the results of labor negotiations with well-paid public safety unions. City officials warned that Measure N could push Stockton back toward the kind of fiscal crisis that led to its 2012 bankruptcy, a decade after emerging from it, and primarily benefit the public safety unions.
The city said that from 2014 through 2025, it provided public safety personnel with cumulative cost-of-living and market adjustments totaling 121.95%, along with benefit increases and additional incentives worth an estimated $123 million. The city added that voters, through the council’s reauthorization of Measure A, granted represented police officers an additional 4% cost-of-living adjustment, a 2% market adjustment, and other benefits and incentives valued at about $17.4 million, effective in 2024.
According to the California State Controller’s Office, 79 of the 100 highest-paid Stockton employees in 2023 were in public safety.
Despite this, High said the police department has faced severe understaffing challenges that city leaders are aware of, affecting not only sworn personnel but also the telecommunications center.
“When staffing in the telecommunications center has previously fallen, patrol officers have been reassigned to work as dispatchers, thus pulling them from our streets,” High said. “This may not concern those who view us as replaceable or unnecessary, but it matters deeply to those of us who serve every day, and it certainly matters to the residents who call 911 and receive a busy tone. Working conditions like these significantly hinder our ability to attract new applicants.”
The union on Friday, Nov. 21, shared an email Police Chief Stanley McFadden sent to Mayor Christina Fugazi and councilmembers in early November. In the email, McFadden warned that “the absence of a contract is no longer just a labor issue; it poses a critical threat to the morale, stability, and operational effectiveness of our entire department.”
“The impact of this contract lapse is immediate,” McFadden said. “Department morale continues to decline, and our ability to function as a unified, effective force is being undermined. With each day that passes without resolution, we risk losing exceptional officers and the trust essential to successful policing.”
McFadden noted that since January, 11 sergeants and 63 officers had sustained work-related injuries while performing their duties.
“Just three years ago, our department was on an upward trajectory, motivated and feeling valued and appreciated by a shared vision for a safer, stronger Stockton,” McFadden said. “That hard-earned process is now in jeopardy due to ongoing contract delays. I urge you, as leaders committed to public safety, to make resolving these negotiations your top priority.”
Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton police warn morale at risk as union turns to binding arbitration
Reporting by Hannah Workman, The Stockton Record / The Record
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