Stanford University and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association (DSA) are putting the finishing touches on a new labor agreement that will be revealed and put to vote the first week of August.
The DSA represents 26 of the 65 employees working at the Department of Public Safety (DPS). The existing Stanford-DSA contract — which governs work conditions, wages and labor stipulations — is valid through July 31, 2010.
In an e-mail to The Daily, Chief of Police Laura Wilson said that the University and DSA “recently reached a tentative agreement on a contract.”
“Given the reductions, layoffs and furlough days that many government agencies are experiencing, I am pleased that the University was able to reach an agreement with the DSA that includes reasonable salary increases for DSA members without asking them for reductions,” Wilson said.
Still, the DSA membership must ratify the contract before it becomes official. At present, members have only seen the agreement’s highlights, presented in a joint memorandum by Stanford University and the DSA.
“We’re going to expose it to our membership on [the] first week of August,” DSA vice president Ken Bates said of the full agreement. “I think we should have a vote to ratification soon after.”
Bates, however, declined to comment on the intricacies of the new contract. He noted that the DSA is “not really in a position to talk about the differences between this tentative agreement” and the preceding one until its membership has “full awareness of what’s going on” and places a vote.
“It’s still a work in progress,” he said.
Bates also did not say whether last year’s budget cuts influenced the drafting process.
But these cuts clearly played a role elsewhere, as DPS took a sizable reduction to its budget last year. DPS eliminated unfilled, non-sworn positions, and reduced equipment and maintenance expenditures to absorb the effects of the budget cuts.
Wilson noted that her department was able to meet this cutback “without reducing the number of sworn personnel who patrol the campus.”
“We run a lean operation, which means employees have their schedules adjusted on a regular basis in order to meet the demands placed upon the department,” Wilson said. “This includes schedule adjustments to work events, participate in training and simply cover patrol.”
DPS officers are also often asked to change their schedules to deal with football games, weekends and dignitary visits.
“Stanford can be a demanding community to serve from the standpoint that people expect exceptional service and are not hesitant to let it be known when they are displeased,” Wilson said. “Some might consider this to be a negative aspect of working here, but I think the high expectations force us to be the best we can possibly be and not to become complacent.”