Pennsylvania Convention Center Pa. hearing examiner won't recuse self

Memo to the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority from Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner Jack E. Marino:

Get over it.

Marino didn't use those words in his 18-page opinion, in which he declined to recuse himself from considering unfair labor practice charges filed against the authority by the Carpenters union after it lost working jurisdiction in the center in May 2014. But they convey his meaning.

"Unfavorable rulings are the very nature of our business," Marino wrote. "If unfavorable rulings were the only requirement to establish grounds for recusal, every judge ... in the country would have to recuse himself."

In May 2014, when the carpenters' leader refused to sign a new customer service agreement with the Convention Center by a management-imposed deadline, the union was shut out of the building and the carpenters' work was given to other unions.

The carpenters objected, protesting on the streets and filing unfair labor charges.

On Feb. 2, 2015, Marino wrote a letter to the Carpenters union and the authority saying he was cancelling future hearings because he was likely to dismiss the carpenters' complaint - handing a win to the Convention Center.

The center and the city's tourism industry rejoiced. They had blamed the union for canceled convention bookings and lost business.

Since the union has been out of the building, bookings have risen and tourism officials say the carpenters' return would hurt business.

But their rejoicing was short-lived.

On April 16, 2015, just shy of 11 weeks later, Marino decided not to dismiss the carpenters' unfair labor practice charges - giving hope to the union, which would like those jobs back.

The authority responded by raising concern that Marino had bowed to political pressures. It asked Marino to recuse himself and sought copies of his emails and phone logs, looking for proof of a lack of integrity.

"There is not one grain of evidence here to suggest improper statements were made," Marino wrote in his latest opinion, issued April 8.

Marino has scheduled a Sept. 22 hearing on underlying issues. Neither the authority nor the Carpenters union had a comment on Marino's latest ruling.

Source: Philly.com