NYPD sergeants earning less than some of the police officers they supervise are urging Mayor Eric Adams to come to the table to renegotiate the glaring pay disparity.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) last spoke with the city Office of Labor Relations in August, just weeks before City Hall descended into chaos with federal agents targeting top members of the Adams administration in a series of raids.
“They feel as if they’ve been abandoned,” said SBA President Vincent Vallelong of the 1,243 sergeants currently making less than about 18,000 police officers.
“You’re taken into the rank … and being given so much more responsibility, and then you’re making less money,” Vallelong told The Post.
Under the current salary structure, sergeants earn about $98,000 until they reach top pay of approximately $118,000, a process which can take approximately five years. Meanwhile, some rank-and-file cops are racking upwards of $115,000 a year, the union said.
Further complicating the pay structure is a contract technicality that’s left newly-promoted sergeants making more than those who were promoted earlier. The new sergeants are allowed to go right to the top pay after paying their dues.
This has created “resentment among the ranks,” said Vallelong.
In May, two sergeants got into a shoving match after one made a snarky comment about the union contract, sources told The Post at the time.
Vallelong noted that Adams previously worked as a sergeant so should be sympathetic to the issue.
He claimed it is costing the city up to $150 million to promote sergeants to top positions rather than creating a step program in which sergeants would work up to higher pay of about $118,000 a year.
“But I’m just getting no answers from City Hall right now,” Vallelong said.
The contract frustrations come as the Adams administration has seen a number of high-profile resignations and the mayor himself was slapped with a bombshell five-count federal corruption and bribery indictment.
Facing growing calls for his resignation, Adams has been adamant the city will run as normal.
“We do not comment on the details of ongoing negotiations,” a city spokesperson said when asked about the contracts Monday.
“We hope to come to an agreement with the SBA that is fair to both the workers and city taxpayers.”
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