Sides Being Taken in DPW contract Dispute

And so, it has come to this.

There is still no collective bargaining agreement between the town and Local 1471 of AFSCME.

Mayor Jason McCoy on Monday signed about 50 layoff notices for union workers - laborers for Department of Public Works and Parks and Recreation and some Water Pollution Control Authority operators - in that bargaining unit, saying that an unsigned contract has left a health savings account  $113,000 short.

The notices are effective Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 and 2, right when school starts. 

The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against McCoy and the town.

And three political opponents laid into him at Tuesday's Town Council meeting.

Yes, the rhetoric if flying faster than a speeding lawnmower blade, but it seems without an agreement, no one will leap over or into any buildings anytime soon,

At least to clean them.

At the council meeting, Michelle Arn, a Democratic Board of Education candidate, said the layoffs were the mayor's, "latest bullying tactic,'' and, " a new low,'' for McCoy.

Sitting Democratic council member and re-election seeker Michael Winkler, a political sparring partner of McCoy's anyway, used the occasion to point out that rejecting a contract under collective bargaining standards is something that is protected by law while adding McCoy's strategy seems to count on "the state Board of Labor Relations being a toothless tiger.''

Winkler is an experienced labor negotiator.

In a Wednesday morning e-mail, Democratic Council candidate Edie Chernack said, "McCoy found money to give his recent department head hires merit raises when people who had worked for the town for years got nothing and that if he looks hard enough, I'm sure he can find the money for our hard-working town employees who haven't gotten raises in years."

She attended the council meeting.

Jim Tedford, the president of AFSCME's Local 1471, said in a statement released today that, “The layoff notices have definitely negatively impacted team morale."

"There are crew members have expressed this is the thanks we get after a long winter clearing snow and ice from our public roads and buildings. Working through the night providing all emergency vehicles the ability to respond is part of our job and now this,'' he said. "The layoff notices leave us with the impression that we are not important, but we’re still optimistic we can remedy the situation.”

A temporary agreement was rejected on Friday by the union. McCoy said the two-year contract on the table calls for a 2.5 percent wage increase each year and a 5 percent drop in employee heath care contributions

Union representatives said they will not discus particulars, by McCoy said that departmental transfer language is one major item being disputed. McCoy, a lawyer, said he has done "nothing illegal.''

"There is a shortfall in the budget as a result of this and we have to make it up,'' he said.

Larry Dorman, spokesman for Council 4 of AFSCME, the umbrella under which Local 1471 falls under, said the union will be seeking a court injunction to prevent layoffs.

“The mayor’s actions are clearly retaliatory and, in our view, illegal,'' he said. "This is no way to treat workers who provide the services that make Vernon a good place to live and work. The mayor needs to demonstrate maturity and leadership in his relationship with town employees. It remains our hope to reach a fair agreement at the bargaining table. But if the layoffs proceed and there are no town crew members to respond to a serious problem, this could very well be defined as a mayor made disaster.”

McCoy said he believes booth sides will return to the bargaining table.

He added, "It is not retaliatory.''

McCoy and the council discussed the negotiations at length in executive session on Tuesday.