Bolt After Nomination: New DC 37 Feud Over Trustee Spot

Bolt After Nomination
New DC 37 Feud Over Trustee Spot

VERONICA COSTA: Stirs the pot again. It seems no District Council executive board meeting is complete without controversy, and the Jan. 11 gathering was no exception. This time, tempers flared over the nomination of Local 1306 President Louis Moret as a trustee for the Cultural Fund, leading to a disputed end of the meeting.

Roughly two hours into the meeting, Local 1503 President Robert Schirmer put forward a motion to nominate Mr. Moret. The nomination was seconded, but DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery Costa - who chairs the board - ruled the motion out of order, citing the DC 37 Cultural Trust agreement to support the notion that a nomination may not go forward if it was not also made in writing.

A Cause for Shouting

The relevant portion of the agreement states: "The Union Trustees shall be appointed by the Executive Board of the Union in writing and in form designated for that purpose by the Trustees." At issue is whether the language of the clause requires that the nomination, or simply the appointment itself, be written.

Following Ms. Costa's tabling of the motion, a shouting match broke out between the chairwoman and Local 371 president Charles Ensley. Another board member made a motion to adjourn, and Ms. Costa called for a voice vote, ruled that the motion had passed, and seven of the board members left the meeting.

CHARLES ENSLEY: Costa fears democracy. Board members allied with Mr. Ensley then continued the meeting, and nominated and confirmed Mr. Moret.

Political opponents of Ms. Costa, a close ally of DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, expressed outrage over the events.

'Sunk to New Depths'

"My belief is that this is a chargeable offense under DC 37 rules," Mr. Ensley said. "These are the depths they have sunk to."

Ms. Roberts said the following day that the frustration stems from sour grapes. She noted that American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees President Gerald W. McEntee said Mr. Ensley's previous complaints against her conduct "[do] not provide any basis for concluding that there were improprieties" in a letter to Mr. Ensley last week. That letter was written by the head of DC 37's International union in reference to the ongoing battles over Ms. Roberts' salary.

LILLIAN ROBERTS: Ensley a sore loser. "You have to put in writing who you want to nominate," Ms. Roberts said during an interview in her office. "I asked them to submit it to the board in writing. We like Mr. Moret; he's a very nice man. But I think [Mr. Ensley] was humiliated. When you get compulsive about the negative stuff, you make mistakes."

Mr. Ensley, who said Mr. McEntee's letter represents "the same way he usually responds to my concerns," pointed out that the voice vote clearly was not in favor of adjournment, since seven members walked out, while 13 remained at the meeting.

"They do what they want to do," Mr. Ensley said. "They have no sense of democratic unionism. Democracy rules, but they have no sense of that - unless they are in the majority."

DC 37 Secretary Cliff Koppelman contended that when the voice vote was taken, those who were opposed didn't say anything, a claim disputed by both Mr. Ensley and Mr. Schirmer.

'Caught Off-Guard'

"They've certainly stood up to make noise when they disagreed with things in the past," Mr. Koppelman said. "I think they were caught off-guard."

Both Mr. Schirmer and Mr. Ensley said they plan to explore bringing charges against Ms. Costa.

"Suddenly she says 'motion to adjourn,' [and] they just got up and walked out," Mr. Schirmer said. "I never saw anything like it. If she gets away with this, there's nothing they can't do. If they don't have the votes, they can just get up and walk out."