Stay Under '237' Banner:
School Safety Agent Raid is Ruled Out

By REUVEN BLAU

The Board of Collective Bargaining has ruled that the reclassification of the city's School Safety Agent title does not allow a small new labor organization to challenge Teamster Local 237's representation of the title.

KENNETH WYNDER: BCB disallows challenge.

The position has long been covered by Local 237, which recently persuaded the City Council to grant the approximately 4,000 School Safety Agents civil service status, moving the title from the Non-Competitive to the Competitive Class.

LEEBA Saw Opening

But the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association (LEEBA) pointed out in legal documents that process included a "voluntary recognition" procedure. LEEBA President Kenneth Wynder argued that allowed any union to object to the current grouping, which would permit a new representational vote.

The BCB unanimously ruled, however, that "the fact that future employees in the School Safety Agent title will be hired from a civil service list does not raise a question concerning representation."

Local 237 President Gregory Floyd hailed the decision, but noted that LEEBA still had other plans to raid his union. "How many times are they going to file these petitions?" he asked. "One has to question what they are doing."

Mr. Wynder has argued that the city's second-largest non-teaching civilian employee union has neglected its uniformed titles because Local 237 primarily represents housing positions. LEEBA is currently working on collecting enough signatures to file a petition seeking to force a membership vote of which union should represent the group.

Cited Contract Rule

As for the BCB decision, Local 237 contended that its representation rights cannot be challenged under the board'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.

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."

The BCB noted that the contract bar rule has been applied to prevent a union from raiding an existing labor organization except during limited window periods. The board concluded that the "objection filed by LEEBA is not properly before us at this time."