Despite the overwhelming rejection of the City of Sioux Falls offer of a 1 and a half percent increase in a new collective bargaining agreement for police officers this week, the cops' lawyer is still optimistic.
Fraternal Order of Police attorney Tom Wilka told The Greg Belfrage Show this morning (Friday) that he's still optimistic the two sides can come together.
The FOP has taken the next step in the process and requested a meeting with the City Council. If that fails, then if negotiations are still stalled, the parties will call an impasse, according to Wilka. The negotiations then go to the South Dakota Department of Labor for an attempt at conciliation. If that fails, then the DOL holds a hearing and makes a recommendation. But the city can reject that, according to Wilka, and impose a collective bargaining agreement on the public employees.