Troopers Secure 10.5 Percent Pay Raise
Montana Highway Patrol troopers will get a 10.5 percent 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 The petition, which required support from 30 percent of employees, was withdrawn in late September after the association reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the Montana Department of Justice, which oversees MHP.
MFPE declined to comment on the petition to decertify. The Department of Labor and Industry initiated the protocol for decertification before the petition was withdrawn, though they declined to share with Montana Free Press the number of signatures on the petition.
On Oct. 10, highway patrol troopers officially ratified their collective bargaining agreement with the justice department, according to MFPE spokesperson Sam Telling. The contract includes a 10.5 percent raise and back pay through July 1, when the previous collective bargaining agreement expired.
House Bill 13, passed by the 2025 Legislature, secured a raise for public employees starting July 1, though union employees would not see the pay boost until negotiating a new contract. Those raises were either $1.50-an-hour or 4% percent raises, whichever was greater.
About two dozen law enforcement locals are affiliated with MFPE, in addition to Montana Highway Patrol, according to Telling.
The Fraternal Order of Police also has a presence in Montana — a handful of counties, mainly in northwest Montana, use the entity for collective bargaining services. Individual law enforcement officers are also eligible to join in exchange for specific benefits unrelated to union affairs. Montana- based representatives at the Fraternal Order of Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Montana Highway Patrol declined to comment on how the petition impacted negotiations.
