Police Collective Bargaining Agreement Finalized In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Alexandria City Council took a step Tuesday night to finalize the collective bargaining agreement with Southern States Police Benevolent Association, which affects Alexandria Police Department officers. This is the first collective bargaining agreement reached under Virginia legislation that reinstated collective bargaining with local governments.

The agreement provides market-based pay increases and merit raises related to performance, provides specialty pay for positions requiring special training or experience, creates a labor-management partnership for training access, and forms a union committee. It runs from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026, according to a statement from the city government and police union.

City Council voted Tuesday night to commit funding in the upcoming budget cycle to implement the collective bargaining agreement. The police union's membership ratified the agreement a week before City Council's vote. After City Council's vote, City Manager Jim Parajon and the union's Alexandria chapter President Damon Minnix signed the agreement after the vote.

"This agreement recognizes the valued contribution of the police to our community," said Parajon in a statement. "It is a testament to the leadership of the Council in taking on the concept of fair and collective bargaining for our units."

"We took the historic step as the first police agency in Virginia since the 1970s to deliver this milestone under the new Virginia law," added Minnix, president of the Alexandria chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association. "This agreement puts the City in a far better place, and sets the foundation we have needed for decades to have a meaningful and legitimate process to voice our concerns."

According to the city and union's joint statement, the agreement seeks to improve recruitment by raising pay for new officers and providing increases during the length of the agreement. Alexandria Police and other police departments around the U.S. have been coping with staffing shortages. Over the summer, Police Chief Don Hayes announced adjustments to how officers respond to service calls due to staffing shortages.

The agreement also allows police officers in other localities to transfer to the Alexandria Police Department with market-rate compensation and providing a process for employees seeking promotions.

Alexandria's collective bargaining ordinance approved in April 2021 was the first passed in a Virginia locality for more than 40 years. Collective bargaining had existed in Alexandria and 18 other Virginia localities until a 1977 Virginia Supreme Court ruling stopped local governments from collective bargaining with their employees. The Virginia law that took effect May 1, 2021 allowed counties, cities and towns to adopt ordinances to recognize labor unions or employee associations as a bargaining unit and enter into collective bargaining.

"When we adopted this ordinance, we did so because providing a voice for employees [is] important," said Mayor Justin Wilson in a statement. "[During the bargaining process], we came to a place that was mutually agreeable – one that moves the needle forward and recognizes officers’ greatly valued work for our community and recognizing we are all in this together."

The Alexandria chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association had been elected by a majority of eligible police employees to be the collective bargaining representative with city government.