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Two Brookfield police officers have received notice that they will be laid off April 1 unless the village and police union can agree on a contract.
While the details about negotiations have not been made public, the village is likely asking police officers to accept a wage freeze for 2010.
The village has inked similar deals with three other bargaining units – public works, clerical employees and firefighters. In addition, all non-union village employees have accepted wage freezes for 2010.
Village Manager Riccardo Ginex confirmed that the layoff warning notices were sent to the two police officers. According to the union contract, the village must give union members 30 days’ notice before any layoffs can take place.
In this case, Ginex said, the village has given even more notice.
“We gave them a month and a half,” Ginex said.
Negotiators for the village and police union met Wednesday, Ginex said, and are scheduled to meet again March 5.
“We made good progress,” Ginex said.
The most recent police contract expired Dec. 31. A two-year deal, it was approved in December 2008 after going to arbitration to resolve an impasse about shift schedules. It was the second consecutive police contract that made it all the way to arbitration.
