Charges Keep Flying: Guild Hearings End, Bitterness Lingers

Charges Keep Flying

Guild Hearings End, Bitterness Lingers

The Civil Service Technical Guild of District Council 37 kept American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Judicial Panel Chairman John Seferian busy last week. The second day of the AFSCME hearing regarding charges against Housing Authority Chapter President Mitchell Feder, former President Uma Kutwal and Vaino Ader of the Department of Design and Construction, and their countercharges against President Claude Fort, took place Jan. 25.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SAYS HE ACTED APPROPRIATELY: Civil Service Technical Guild President Claude Fort (right) exits the hearing involving his charges that three political opponents disrupted the local's June meeting and their countercharge that he falsified the minutes from that meeting. He defended his actions and said one of his accusers may have doctored the minutes.

Multiple Hearings

The following day, Mr. Seferian heard charges made by Treasurer Ron Vega against Mr. Feder, stemming from a DC 37 delegates meeting.

In the AFSCME hearing, the charges against both Mr. Fort and Mr. Feder and his comrades, grew out of a June 15, 2005 meeting of the Tech Guild. During the meeting, Mr. Feder and co. attempted to introduce a resolution urging reinstatement to union membership of former president Roy Commer, who was forced from office following a refusal to adhere to a previous AFSCME judicial ruling. Mr. Fort did not let the motion come to a vote, claiming the resolution was out of order.

UMA KUTWAL: 'We proved our point.'

'Disruptive' Force

Mr. Fort claims that the men were a disruptive influence during the meeting, repeatedly keeping the executive board from accomplishing union business.

Mr. Vega had a similar basis for his charge, but made it in reference to a September 2005 DC 37 delegates meeting.

While the hearings are over, the charges continue to fly with increasing intensity. Each side continued to claim vindication.

"I think that we proved our points, I think we proved that we were not guilty of obstruction of the union," said Mr. Kutwal in a Jan. 27 phone interview.

"You should have a headline that says, Fort, Keller vindicated," Mr. Fort said in an interview that same morning at Tech Guild headquarters.

MITCHELL FEDER: Fort not credible. Much of the excitement from the Jan. 25 hearing took place over the testimony of Recording Secretary Leila Morat. Ms. Morat had a copy of the minutes from the June 15, 2005 meeting, which had been tabled at a September meeting. She then modified them before the Oct. 27 meeting, adding the point of order that Mr. Feder made to the chair, along with a seconding of the motion by Fred Newton. At issue is whether Ms. Morat was adding these items for the first time, or adding them again after they had been removed at the behest of Mr. Fort and Ms. Keller, a charge that both deny.

"They made a lot of noise," Mr. Fort said of his opponents at the June 15 meeting. "The motion was ruled out of order after I read a statement by a lawyer. They disagreed with me, but disrupted the meeting. The issue isn't that they cannot protest. They have no right to disturb the meeting."

Denies Alteration

As for whether the minutes had been changed at his behest, Mr. Fort claimed the hearing proved that charge to be false.

"It was revealed at the hearing that neither I nor Michelle ever talked about changing anything," Mr. Fort said.

But Ms. Morat admitted under questioning that she heard Mr. Feder's point of order through the commotion of the meeting, raising issues about why that point was not noted in the minutes prior to Mr. Feder's request for changes, and whether, as Mr. Fort claims, he did not hear it.

Mr. Fort insists that there was a single set of minutes, and he was not even aware of any changes made before the Oct. 27 hearing.

"No one knew that she was going to make unauthorized, borderline fraudulent changes," Mr. Fort said of Ms. Morat, who won election to her post on Mr. Fort's slate. "They may have made those changes themselves," he said of Mr. Feder and company.

'Flies in Face of Reality'

Mr. Feder was incredulous about Mr. Fort's version of events.

"Leila's first words at the October meeting were, 'I have the revised ones in my hands,''' Mr. Feder said. "We closed it nine people later, with [Tech Guild First Vice President] Jon Forster saying, 'The minutes are revised. Let's vote on it.' This just flies in the face of reality."

Tech Guild Financial Secretary Steve Cooper, a Fort supporter, theorized that Ms. Morat's friendship with Mr. Kutwal may have contributed to her remembrance.

"I go home with her after meetings, and one of the things she tells me is her relationship with Uma Kutwal," Mr. Cooper said. "She's a sweet woman, and she doesn't like difficulty and confrontation."

Both Mr. Kutwal and Mr. Feder strongly disputed that characterization of Ms. Morat.

"I was very impressed with Leila Morat," Mr. Kutwal said. "She was under tremendous pressure from all the presidents, vice presidents that were there. It was very honest, and very brave. It's not easy to work with them, and say the things they don't want you to say."

Racism Asserted

Mr. Feder noted that Ms. Morat had everything to lose and nothing to gain by making the statement she did, and objected to what he viewed as a racially motivated attack on Ms. Morat, given that both Ms. Morat and Mr. Kutwal are of Indian descent.

"What they are saying is a biased, racist remark," Mr. Feder said. "The idea that Indians are going to stick together is just not true."

In both the AFSCME case and the DC 37 delegate case, Mr. Seferian has 30 days to issue a ruling. But both sides have made it clear that the rulings will be only one chapter in the continuing acrimony.

"We're going to have to decide on what we want to do next," Mr. Vega said. "What we want to receive, win, lose or draw, is guidance from [AFSCME]. We will respect that decision.

'Nobody Wins'

"But no one's going to win on this. If they rule against [Mr. Feder], he will vilify the judicial panel. If they rule with him, he'll say it's a strike against us."

Mr. Kutwal reiterated his intention to run on a slate against Mr. Fort in this year's Tech Guild elections, though whether he will lead the ticket is unclear. Nominations for that vote begin in October.

"I don't know," he said of running for president. "I will be part of the group, hopefully to run with Roy Commer, and with Mitch."