By Doug Dalena
Staff Writer
January 13, 2006
STAMFORD -- Members of a union that represents nearly 150 city public works employees will vote next month on whether to sever ties with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
A group of dissatisfied members has garnered more than enough petition signatures to force a vote on whether to replace Teamsters Union Local 145 with the Connecticut Independent Labor Union, said Michael Kyek, president of a group of employees pushing to join the CILU.
The vote is scheduled for Feb. 8.
The Teamsters represent 146 employees of the Highway Department, Solid Waste Department, traffic and parking maintenance workers, and vehicle maintenance workers, as well as employees of the E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Course. The union has represented city public works employees since 1953, Teamsters Local President Michael O'Malley said.
A majority of employees are unhappy with how the Teamsters leadership handled contract negotiations with the city and grievances about working conditions and staffing levels, Kyek said.
More than 100 union members have joined the breakaway group, the United Municipal Employees Association, he said. At least that many have signed the petition, Kyek said.
The Teamsters did not dispute the number but said they may not be making an informed choice.
"Those people will sign anything that's put in front of them because they really don't look at it," O'Malley said. "I'm afraid
. . . these people don't read and realize what they're doing, or they believe the lies that these people are telling them."
O'Malley said Kyek's group is making promises it won't be able to keep if it wins the right to negotiate the union's next contract. The current contract is one of the best the union has negotiated, he said.
The new union would be more responsive and allow employees much more participation in contract negotiations, Kyek said.
"We've got a lot of intelligent employees out there," he said, "and when we start negotiations, it's really going to be in our favor."
A representative of the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations certified Wednesday that the association collected more than the 30 percent of union members required to schedule a vote, Kyek and Human Resources Director Dennis Murphy said.
State labor law allows union members to vote to eliminate or replace a union during a 30-day window that starts six months before each contract expires. With long-term contracts, the window occurs every three years.
The current contract, ratified retroactively last fall, runs from 2003 to 2009. In June, members rejected the first contract the union had negotiated, mainly because of sick-leave rules, union and city officials have said.
Murphy said the city doesn't care which union represents the workers.
"We stay absolutely neutral as to the outcome," he said. "We made clear that we would respect the results, but we also made clear that regardless of the results, we have a contract in place that is valid until June 30, 2009."
"That's absolutely fine with us," Kyek said, adding that it will give the new union time to establish itself and prepare for the next round of contract negotiations.
Another statewide union also has expressed interest in the election.
The United Public Service Employees Union, based in Meriden, filed a Freedom of Information request with the city last week seeking the names and home addresses of the Teamsters Union Local 145 members and a list of their executive board members.
Kyek said UPSEU had mailed cards to union members, but he did not expect much interest in any group other than CILU.
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.