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Hayden handed a 2nd contract rejection Baltimore Co. police officers say no to pact.

THE BALTIMORE EVENING SUN

Baltimore County police officers have become the second labor group to reject a pact with the administration of County Executive Roger B. Hayden.

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 recently voted 287-200 to reject a one-year contract, partly in anger that extra pay raises for veteran officers were not made permanent by Hayden, according to union president George H. Hokemeyer.

The FOP lodge represents about 1,400 county officers.

Hayden offered no across-the-board pay raises to any labor group this year. County firefighters already have rejected a similar one-year offer. Strikes are illegal for public safety workers. If no agreement is reached by the start of the new budget year July 1, the current contract remains in force.

Hokemeyer said the officers believed that pay raises negotiated last year with the administration of former County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen were to be permanent. These extra raises for patrolmen and lieutenants, who have reached the top of their pay grades but have not won promotion, were designed to keep veteran officers on the force.

The raises for patrolmen with four years of experience and lieutenants with at least two years in that rank would have averaged roughly 4.5 percent.

Hayden, however, approved these raises on a one-time basis only, and only for a three-month period beginning April 1 this year.

Hokemeyer said that "totally upset" his members. Combined with no general pay raise this year, Hayden's action convinced them to vote against any agreement, he said.

Hokemeyer said he hopes, however, to resume negotiations with the administration.

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