Paul Bass Photo
Poindexter with city Building Official Jim Turcio.
The Harp administration Thursday notified department heads that state labor department has determined that city officials violated the Municipal Employee Relations Act by “harassing and retaliating” against city management union President Cherlyn Poindexter and the bargaining unit.
The ruling is months old. It included a requirement that city officials disseminate the findings — which occurred Wednesday.
On April 13, 2015, AFSCME Local 3144 filed a complaint with the state Board of Labor Relations alleging that the city violated the act by harassing Poindexter for “engaging in protected activities,” according to a recently released ruling.
The union claimed that Poindexter “vigorously” engaged in protected activities and was punished by being banned from the city’s Information Technology area, by excluding her from an annual holiday party, disconnecting her phone at work and removing her union campaign flyers. City officials also were found to have supported her opponents in a union election.
In addition to those findings, the labor board further determined that punitive measures extended to the bargaining unit as a whole including the “withdrawal of certain parking benefits, removal of a take-home car, imposition of discipline, denial of access to the union’s website, and commencement of proceedings to remove positions from the unit itself,” according to the ruling.
For its part, the city admitted that “certain of its representatives may harbor personal animus as to Poindexter but denies the existence of any illegal anti-union animus and contends that its actions were reasonable and necessary at all times.”
The board agreed that such incidents “viewed in isolation” wouldn’t have been enough to establish a discrimination claim, but it did find that collectively they constituted a violation of the law.
“In particular, the timing of [former fire chief Allyn] Wright’s parking memo, [Chief Administrator Michael] Carter’s role in eliciting Rosado’s ‘troublemaker’ comment, the discontinuance of the telephone line Poindexter customarily used, [Controller Daryl] Jones’ imposition of discipline on Petrillo, the filing of the clarification petition, blocking access to the Union’s website, Jones’ removal of campaign flyers, and the campaign support to Poindexter’s opponents — in our view are a basis for inferring improper motive,” the board wrote. “We find particularly significant that shortly after a meeting with the mayor in which Poindexter alleged retaliation by specific officials, the City filed a petition seeking to have numerous persons, including Poindexter’s efforts to attain another term as Union president.”
While the board found some merit in the city’s defense that implementing stricter security measure in the IT department, preserving limited spaces at the fire department headquarters and reducing the number of telephone lines and rescinding an employees car were all things it was going to do no matter any union animus, it was ultimately was unconvinced that the city had not violated the law.
“The record does not, however, establish a sound basis for a defense to the Union’s showing that the City interfered with Poindexter’s campaign in order to retaliate against her for engaging in protected activity and to secure her defeat in the October election,” the board wrote. “Jones had multiple clashes with Poindexter during the events in question and even a good faith belief that Poindexter’s flyers somehow defamed the City did not afford him the right to engage in self-help on the City’s behalf and interfere with otherwise protected speech.”
The board ordered the city to cease and desist from harassing or retaliating against Poindexter or any other member of the bargain unit in response to Poindexter’s actions as union president. It also ordered the city to post the decision and order for 60 consecutive days in a place where employees can see it and to notify the board when it has received the order and complied.
Not surprising at all...the State's Board of Labor Relations rarely sides with any management...
Management has to be malleable while the Unions mold them to their best interests.