Arbitrator: $115,000; Officers: 1%

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This decision means that New York City cops, with one of the toughest beats in the nation, will continue to be among the lowest paid in the nation. It’s the real war on cops—don’t pay them a fair wage, do everything possible to privatize the job, and decimate the unions.

Via the New York Daily News:

Arbitrator Howard Edelman was paid $ 2,500 a day to oversee a hearing between the NYPD and city. He ended up pocketing $ 115,000 and suggesting cops receive a 1% raise.

No wonder he’s a one percenter.

The arbitrator who raised the ire of city cops by suggesting a measly 1% raise for New York’s Finest took home a mammoth $ 115,000 paycheck for hashing out the deal.

Arbitrator Howard Edelman

Arbitrator Howard Edelman earned the sweetheart sum for the 46 days he spent on a 100-page decision that gave city cops two 1% raises over two years, records obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request show.

1% raise is official for cops in Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association

“Are you f—ing kidding me?” a flabbergasted officer said when told of the exorbitant amount the independent referee earned. “Oh, my God. What a f—ing joke! It’s a joke. It’s all cahoots, man.”

Edelman earned $ 2,500 a day and even charged the city for a full day’s work in June when a hearing was canceled.

The tab was split between the city’s Office of Labor Relations and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

The union slammed Edelman’s decision, arguing that the arbitrator sold out cops in the high-profile case so he could get more mediation business from the city.

“Howard Edelman clearly did not legitimately earn his pay in this arbitration,” PBA President Patrick Lynch said in a statement. “While sitting in judgment of the police officers’ contract, he accepted future work from the city, a clear conflict of interest, and failed to inform the PBA.”

But Lynch and his members were the ones who voted to go to arbitration after negotiations with City Hall broke down in 2014.

PBA President Pay Lynch Rallies NYPD officers outside Gracie Mansion to protest 1% pay raise

Edelman’s binding resolution, which was approved by a state Public Employment Relations Board panel, led to protests in November outside the arbitrator’s Upper East Side penthouse where about 1,000 union members rallied holding signs reading, “We don’t flip burgers, we chase burglars.”

Protesters said Edelman was treating police officers worse than city fast-food workers, who expect to see their salaries increase to $ 15 an hour by 2018.

PBA honcho Patrick Lynch leads protest in Nov. after Howard Edelman suggested a 1% raise for cops

Lynch, at the time, called Edelman’s recommendation a slap in the face.

“All we are asking for is to be treated and paid like the professionals we are,” he said.

The union, which also protested outside Gracie Mansion, labeled the veteran arbitrator “the poster boy for the wealthy one-percenters.”

Edelman’s 1% solution was in step with what other city police unions, including the Sergeants Benevolent Association and the Captains Endowment Association, received in their negotiations with the city, officials said. The raise only affected the years between 2010 and 2012.

The PBA and the city will have to go back to the bargaining table to discuss back-pay raises for 2012 through 2015 as well as future raises.

Police union members express their displeasure for Edelman’s contract ruling

“It was not the City’s choice to go to arbitration and the arbitrator’s decision ended up following the pattern accepted by all other uniformed unions,” said Mayor de Blasio’s spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick. “Our door has always been — and continues to be — open to the PBA to negotiate a long-term contract, as we’ve done with nearly the entire City workforce to date.”

Edelman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The arbiter’s per diem rate of $ 2,500 was public information prior to the deal, and PBA officials signed off on him as judge. Officials close to the proceedings said the rate was common.

“It’s not out of this world, and not out of line with prior bills,” a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Union members even used a coffin to express their frustration for Edelman’s contract decision

“I looked at my check a couple of days ago, and there was, like, 37 more dollars in it. That’s about 60 extra bucks a month,” the cop, who declined to give her name, said. “How am I going to feed my kids on that?”