Union members sue Local 884 and leader

07/24/2007

William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Nineteen civilian employees at the Police Department and Board of Education have sued their union and its local president, asserting Local 884 failed in its obligation to adequately represent them, and at times their president exhibited outright hostility and discrimination. The suit accuses union President Ronald Hobson, a police dispatcher, of a litany of professional improprieties in his union role.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by attorney Patricia Cofrancesco of East Haven, at times, Hobson has refused to file grievances requested by his members; failed to pursue job reclassifications that would have benefitted employees; openly humiliated and degraded employees, and in one instance, helped the Board of Education build a disciplinary case against one of his union members.

For some time, there had been complaints from civilian employees in the Police Department about their work environment, hours and mandatory holdovers, driven at least in part by short staffing and changes in work requirements. Cofrancesco acknowledged that much of the employees' frustration is directed at the city, but noted that it's the union's job to "take the city to task."

"From our perspective, they have all together fallen down on the job," said Cofrancesco. "That's why, out of desperation, these people brought this lawsuit." She said the lawsuit was filed as a last resort. The lawsuit paints a bleak picture of Hobson as the president.

Among the plaintiffs is Dolores Robinson, former vice president of the union, who alleges she was called a racist by Hobson for, in his mind, advancing interests of white union members over those of minorities.

Both Hobson and Robinson are black.

In another situation, the lawsuit alleges, when employees complained about work conditions and workloads, he referred to them on occasion by using a vulgar term and claiming they "regularly complain about such issues."

Hobson and Local 884 are named as plaintiffs. A message left for Hobson on his cell phone Monday was not returned.

Larry Dorman, a spokesman for Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, of which Local 884 is a member, confirmed he was aware of the lawsuit but declined comment.

The suit is seeking in excess of $15,000, and a refund of union dues for any period of time that the court found the defendants breached their duty of fair representation.

Fourteen of the 19 plaintiffs are Police Department records clerks. Two are data entry clerks, one is an account clerk and the other two are security guards for the school board.

"The contempt with which these people get treated by the union president was in large measure the reason why we did this," said Cofrancesco, noting duty of fair representation complaints are rarely brought because of the high threshold plaintiffs must show. The conduct must be shown to be willful, wanton and with malice.