In HHC, Schools
Raid on Local 237 Security Personnel

By REUVEN BLAU

A battle is brewing over which union should represent the city's School Safety Agents and Health and Hospital Corporation officers, with a small new labor organization laying claim to the uniformed workers and seeking to force an employee vote to decide the issue.

GIRDING FOR BATTLE: Kenneth Wynder (left), the president of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association, has angered Teamsters Local 237 Secretary Treasurer Gregory Floyd by seeking to persuade School Safety Agents and Hospital Officers to change unions. While Mr. Floyd derides the smaller organization, Mr. Wynder contends, 'If they were representing people like they are supposed to, I wouldn't be able to get my foot in the door.'

The titles have long been represented by Teamster Local 237, which recently persuaded the City Council to grant the city's approximately 4,000 School Safety Agents civil service status.

'Not Serving Them'

But Kenneth Wynder, the president of the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA), contends that that city's second-largest non-teaching civilian employee union has neglected its uniformed titles because Local 237 primarily represents housing positions.

"What I'm doing in the business is called union-raiding," he said. "But if they were representing people like they are supposed to, I wouldn't be able to get my foot in the door. These groups have special needs."

Gregory Floyd, Local 237's secretary-treasurer, blasted Mr. Wynder's move. "We consider LEEBA's charges groundless and salacious," he charged. "They don't have a contract for the members they represent."

In 2005, LEEBA gained the right to represent the city's 156 Department of Environmental Police cops. But the union has since struggled to obtain benefits and wages similar to those the city's other law-enforcement unions have negotiated this round of bargaining.

The contract talks appear to be tied to two major pending grievances concerning overtime payments and the use of the private security officers. Those complaints have gotten bogged down at the Office of Collective Bargaining, Mr. Wynder said.

Wants 'Police Contract'

"We are going to hold out for arbitration," he added. "The city doesn't want to give DEP what it deserves - a police contract. Until then, we won't take anything less."

In contrast, Mr. Floyd said that Local 237 has worked to establish a separate bargaining unit for School Safety Agents. That issue is currently enmeshed in the courts. "It went through the Appellate Division, but the Bloomberg administration is now challenging that to the Court of Appeals," Mr. Floyd said.

Mr. Wynder, however, noted that Local 237 accepted the civilian wage pattern during the last round of bargaining. "There has never been a collective-bargaining agreement tailored to your needs," he said in a letter to the officers. "You have never voted to elect a president who shares your law-enforcement needs."

In a phone interview last week, he added, "Their job duties have increased, but they haven't gotten more pay."

Mr. Wynder's main argument is that the officers should have a right to change unions. He's confident that the officers would overwhelmingly select LEEBA should the matter be put to a vote.

'A Civilian Union'

Local 237, he said, is a "civilian union," which represents 23,000 primarily housing titles. "That's like an agent for a baseball player negotiating a football contract, and the city knows they belong in a separate union for themselves."

Mr. Floyd countered that it's easy for someone on the outside to make unrealistic promises. "Here in Local 237 we will make every effort and a little bit more," he remarked. "But I'm not going to promise things just for the sake of them hearing it. I have to be able to produce."

Local 237 has delivered on its promise to gain civil service status for the school officers, Mr. Floyd said. "Now they have a fair promotional opportunity," he added. "Patronage doesn't factor into the job."

The civil service standing, which Mr. Floyd called "a historic event," will confer additional rights on the SSAs, such as specific disciplinary rights.

But the change also includes a process called a "voluntary recognition," which Mr. Wynder contends allows any union to object to the current grouping and move to hold a representational vote.

The Office of Collective Bargaining, however, said that it has not previously encountered an objection to a notice of voluntary recognition. As a result of the unique situation, OCB directed the parties to file written statements detailing their respective positions.

Local 237's brief argued that LEEBA is not a public-employee organization because the group also represents 48 security guards employed by Brinks, Inc.

LEEBA countered that it is an employee organization as defined by the Civil Service Law. "The private-sector security employees that LEEBA represents are separate and distinct from the public-sector DEP Police Officers," LEEBA's brief stated.

Local 237 also contended that its representation rights cannot be challenged under BCB's contract bar rules. Those regulations state that a representation petition must be filed between 150 and 180 days prior to a contract expiring or 30 days after a new contract is signed. Local 237's most recent deal expired on Sept. 22, 2006 and the new memorandum of agreement was signed on April 18, 2006.

'Rule Not Absolute'

LEEBA contended that the contract bar rule does not apply, citing the current "unusual and extraordinary" situation. "No rule is absolute in its application," LEEBA's brief said. The fledgling union also argued that an objection to a voluntary recognition "is outside the ambit of the contract bar rule."

LEEBA's effort to take over the city's 1,000 Health and Hospital Security Officers has also been stalled by that regulation.

According to Mr. Wynder, the city's Office of Labor Relations currently must negotiate with roughly 78 different bargaining units, down from roughly 400 such groups 40 years ago. OLR has maintained that the current setup eliminates multiplicity of bargaining with groups that have similar needs.

OLR representatives, Mr. Wynder said, have filed opposing briefs to practically every decertification petition he has submitted over the past three years. "Why do they care?" he asked incredulously. "They are supposed to remain neutral. The city doesn't like what I'm doing." Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley declined to comment.

Mr. Wynder, a retired New York State Trooper who worked as an instructor in the training academy, said that he decided to create a new independent labor organization after his union failed to properly represent him. He retired from the force with a 3/4 disability pension due to stress in 1999.

"They never even had a doctor examine me," he recalled. "That's never happened before. They just wanted to get rid of me. I was very vocal about how they treated the members."

After leaving the State Police, he went to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he received his bachelor's degree. He then briefly contemplated pursuing a law degree and interned with the Poughkeepsie-based law firm of Jordan and Dwyer.

At John Jay, Mr. Wynder said he met several disgruntled DEP cops, who gave him the idea of working to gain the right to represent their title. He took the suggestion and began to speak with the city's watershed cops, persuading them that he could do a better job than their current union.

Struggle Paid Off

They overwhelmingly welcomed his help, but were skeptical because two other groups had made similar moves in the past that ultimately failed to gain representation rights for the title. "They didn't know what they were doing," Mr. Wynder said, referring to those prior attempts.

The process, which began with submitting a petition signed by 30 percent of the officers to the BCB, took more than two years. "It was exhausting," Mr. Wynder recalled. "We wasted two years before a dime came in."

Money has been a key issue in the battle over the School Safety Agents. According to Mr. Wynder, Local 237 sends $2 million each year to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Local 237 also pays 30 business agents appointed by the union's executive board $75,000 annually including expenses and a car. Mr. Floyd earns $147,000 a year. In contrast, Mr. Wynder said he receives $43,200 annually.

'237' Counter-Attack

Mr. Wynder acknowledged that his salary stands to increase significantly should he win the right to represent the additional titles. He also admitted that he has had to increase DEP Police Officers' dues from $47 a month to $80 in order to help pay for attorney fees.

Local 237 officials have jumped on that hike, distributing literature claiming that LEEBA "would almost double your dues, to $60 per month." That flyer was titled, "Don't Buy LEEBA Snake Oil."

Mr. Floyd also argued that Mr. Wynder lacks the necessary experience to run a larger union. "I understand people trying to start a business, but I really take exception to people trying to start a business on the backs of workers who need it the most," Mr. Floyd remarked. "I want to wish him luck in his next career, because it won't be as a labor leader, because he's already failed. The first thing you do is don't lie to your membership."