Mpls police and teachers

Minneapolis police officers have an average salary of $74,000 with a starting salary of $42,000 and this is higher than all but three states. Many officers have left the force in the past couple of years and the city is trying to hire. The first problem is to retain the officers they have so the city is proposing a raise along with a $7,000 bonus. The bonus will be received in two payments over the upcoming year. Concurrent with this the Minneapolis teachers are on strike. Their starting salary is $45,000 with an average salary of $71,500. The teachers want more money for themselves and aides. The teachers are asking 12% raise for starting teachers and 5% for themselves. The city is offering 3.2%. One thing both of these groups have in common is that it is very difficult to fire either a teacher or a police officer which means that bad officers and bad teachers remain on the job.