Jail workers to vote Tuesday on joining Teamsters

Workers at the Lawrence County jail are poised to vote Tuesday on joining a new labor union.

About 32 full-time and nine part-time corrections officers and five cooks comprise the workforce considering joining Teamsters Local 261, housed in Neshannock Township.

The workers will vote by secret ballot between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. and between 2 and 4 p.m., accommodating crews working different shifts. The vote will be facilitated by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in the commissioners meeting room on the first floor of the courthouse.

The jail corrections officers and other employees have been without labor union representation since mid-January, when their former union, Construction and General Laborers Union Local 964, terminated their relationship and affiliation.

A public notice of Tuesday's election is posted at the jail.

The notice states that Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers Union Local 261, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, filed a petition with the state Labor Relations Board on Jan. 27, saying it represents more than 30 percent of county employees and requests a hearing and an order for an election to determine it as the exclusive representative for collective bargaining.

The Teamsters local headquarters is at 351 Northgate Circle.

The union filed the petition under the Public Employee Relations Act, Section 603.

A pre-hearing telephone conference was held March 17 when the union and the jail workers agreed to a memorandum of understanding. That was filed with the Labor Relations Board on March 29, stipulating the unit composition, the site for the election, the eligibility list and other matters pertaining to the conducting of the election.

The future bargaining unit, if approved, will not include the warden's secretary, the management-level employees, supervisors, first-level supervisors and confidential employees at the jail, according to the findings of fact.

If the workers vote to approve joining the Teamsters, negotiations will then commence with county government representatives to iron out a collective bargaining agreement.

The workers' contract with the Local 964 bargaining unit had expired Dec. 31 and negotiations with the county were stalemated. The employees continued to work under the old contract terms while negotiating with Local 964, until the union suddenly dropped the jail workers, an unprecedented action that left no future contract prospect at all.

The union manager had written a letter to the commissioners and the county prison board members, saying it no longer would represent the jail workers. A separate letter he sent to the workers from the union manager cited mistrust as the main reason for the breakdown of their relationship. Local 964 had represented the jail for more than 40 years.

Local 964 also sent a letter to the state Labor Relations Board, disclaiming interest in further representing the jail workers, according to the public notice.

In reaction to the severance from Local 964, the commissioners the next week approved a list of cost-saving personnel policy changes for the jail workers, which included switching them over to the county's health insurance plan under Blue Cross and Blue Shield and requiring the workers to contribute to their coverage — a potential savings of $25,000 to $30,000 a year.

County commissioner Dan Vogler declined comment, deferring to the president of the county prison board, David Gettings.

Gettings said Friday he prefers not to discuss the matter until after Tuesday's vote.

 

Source: New Castle News