Milwaukee police officers have not received a pay raise for almost three years. The Milwaukee Police Association, the union that represents the department’s rank-and-file officers, wanted to ask Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson about that.
However, the city of Milwaukee moved to shield the mayor from being asked any questions this week in the contract arbitration proceeding between the MPA and the city, Wisconsin Right Now has learned. At stake is the contract for 2023-2025.
That’s not all. The city jacked up the rhetoric, accusing the MPA of trying to harass the mayor by seeking his testimony.
“The City has serious concerns that the MPA wishes to call the mayor as a witness in an attempt to harass and embarrass him, not elicit relevant testimony,” the city claimed in documents described to WRN.
The extraordinary claim by the city – essentially allowing the mayor to hide from questioning from the union representing police officers – shows how tense the stalled contract process has gotten behind the scenes. Many police officers have expressed great frustration and even confusion over why the city is balking at giving them a fair raise and the back pay they believe they’ve earned, especially in a tough year where they lost one of their own and against the backdrop of a recruiting crisis and staffing shortages.
Wisconsin Right Now has learned that the Milwaukee Police Association tried to subpoena Mayor Cavalier Johnson to “submit to an examination” by the MPA before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. The arbitrator ended up granting the city’s motion to quash the mayor’s subpoena, while leaving it open for him to potentially testify at the MPA’s asking on rebuttal.
The mayor has been trying to frame the stalled police contract issue as a difference in the raise percentages on the table. But the city’s proposed increase doesn’t include back pay for all years. In reality, that locks in years of lost wages, something no other city employees have been asked to accept. Officers believe the conversation shouldn’t just be about the size of the increase, but also about whether or not officers are fairly compensated for all of the years they’ve already served without a contract.
Officers tell Wisconsin Right Now the stalled contract has caused morale to plummet, and some officers have left the department as a result, especially because some suburban police forces offer more money and less dangerous assignments. The number of sworn officers on the streets has already declined sharply since the mid-1990s, and there is a recruiting crisis.
The subpoena was sent to the mayor at his City Hall address by the attorneys for the Milwaukee Police Association.
The subpoena commanded Johnson to appear before a notary public, court reporter, and arbitrator at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. It was sent on Sept. 15, 2025.
We have also learned that the city, through its attorneys Buelow, Vetter, Buikema, Olson and Vliet, LLC, moved the arbitrator for an order quashing the subpoena of Johnson and “precluding the mayor’s hearing testimony.”
The city argued that the mayor’s testimony at the “forthcoming arbitration hearing” would be “immaterial, irrelevant, and unduly repetitious.”
The city also said in its motion that quashing the subpoena would be consistent with various principles in state law, including one that protects witnesses from “harassment and undue embarrassment.”
The city’s motion says it appoints a labor negotiator to represent it, Nicole Fleck. She is a member of Johnson’s cabinet and serves at his pleasure, it says. “Hers is the final word on the city labor relations issue,” the city’s motion says, arguing that the MPA’s questions could be directed at her, not Johnson.
“The mayor is not the appropriate person to address conditions of employment in the Milwaukee Police Department,” the city motion adds, noting that labor contracts must be approved by the Common Council.
We have reached out to the union and the mayor’s spokesman to see if they want to make comment. The MPA declined to comment.
