Troopers secure 10.5% raise, considered joining national police union during the bargaining process

Montana Highway Patrol troopers will get a 10.5% raise under a contract their union recently reached with the state Department of Justice. During negotiations, the troopers eyed joining a national police union and leaving the state’s largest public employees union, but in the end didn’t jump ship.

The cohort of the Association of Montana Highway Patrol Troopers filed a petition with the state labor department in late September to decertify from the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the state’s largest union representing a wide range of government workers. Instead, the troopers proposed contracting collective bargaining services from the Fraternal Order of Police, a nationwide coalition of law enforcement officers. The petition, which required support from 30% of employees, was withd