Opinion: There is good reason to believe this new contract marks a cessation of hostilities between the union and city hall.
Two San Antonio police officers ride their bikes along Commerce Street crossing the San Antonio River.Is the era of bad cops in San Antonio using arbitration to handcuff the police chief and keep their jobs finally coming to an end? In particular, will Black and Mexican American citizens feel safer and less fearful of encounters with the police?
On the other side of the table, city negotiators quietly but firmly stuck to their guns and won hard-earned changes to disciplinary measures that subverted authority in the department year after year. The real test of the new contract will not come with its ratification. The real test will come when MacManus is confronted with an officer whose unprofessional conduct merits termination. Will the process happen as city negotiators envision? I’m an optimist.
I’d point to other reasons. Sculley had the temerity to challenge the police and fire unions and runaway health care costs that eventually would have proved unsustainable for the city. Hers was the first real challenge to the unions in decades, and Sculley soon found herself on the front lines alone.