She Denies Involvement
Suspend Local 237 Insurgent for Decert

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has suspended Local 237 member Eunice Rodriguez, who narrowly lost the 2004 election to former President Carl Haynes, for allegedly trying to decertify the union.

EUNICE RODRIGUEZ: Says she's political victim.

Ms. Rodriguez is appealing the ruling and says that she consistently made clear to the union that tried to oust Local 237, the Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association, that she could not be involved in its campaign.

Says She Was Used

LEEBA's lawyer claims that Ms. Rodriguez told him to petition the city on her behalf to challenge Local 237's representation of School Safety Agents. Ms. Rodriguez asserts that LEEBA used her name without her permission to gain legitimacy in their campaign and that Local 237 jumped on the chance to disqualify her.

At the May 31 IBT Joint Board 16 hearing, the case came down to the LEEBA lawyer's word against Ms. Rodriguez's.

"The reason they went after me is political," said Ms. Rodriguez, who is currently a School Safety Agent and served on Local 237's executive board as recording secretary for 10 years. "They knew that I was the one who could beat Greg Floyd next time, and they did what they had to to take me out."

GREGORY FLOYD: Rodriguez trying to smear him.

Mr. Floyd, who was previously the secretary-treasurer, was elected to fill out Carl Haynes' term as president on March 30 by the executive board after Mr. Haynes retired. His spokesman, Scott Gastel, responded last week on his behalf.

'Got a Fair Hearing'

"We stand by the fair hearing that was afforded to her by Joint Council 16," Mr. Gastel said. "Since taking office, Mr. Floyd's been doing a great job fighting for his members' livelihood, and anything being said by Ms. Rodriguez seems to be politics and a smear against his good name and his hard work."

The Teamsters' Constitution allows disciplinary action against anyone involved in trying to cause "secession" from the union. Members are allowed to gather information about opposition unions and can express their opinions about whether the members should have the right to secede, but they cannot lend support to a challenging union without risking expulsion. Ms. Rodriguez, along with two other members, was suspended for two years, a penalty which if upheld will make her ineligible to run in the Local 237 2009 election.

KEN WYNDER: Won't confirm Rodriguez's account.

Last year, LEEBA began seeking to replace Local 237 as School Safety Agents' bargaining agent. More than 600 SSAs signed petitions requesting that LEEBA be given the chance to challenge Local 237. Ms. Rodriguez was never accused of signing a petition, organizing the half-dozen meetings that took place or distributing the literature that was handed out at workplaces.

She admits to attending one meeting to "see who LEEBA was and why the members were so interested in them." She also says that the president of LEEBA called her to try to get her involved, but that she told him she could not be part of the campaign. She cited her intention to run for president of Local 237 and noted that at the time she was a candidate for International Vice President, running on a slate that challenged General President Jimmy Hoffa.

'Why Would I Leave?'

"I was on the executive board; I was a business agent; I have one son who is a Peace Officer and another who is a Caretaker, and I believe I can win as president in two years, " she explained. "Why would I turn my back on the rest of the union and just go with LEEBA at School Safety? That was never what I wanted."

Last October, Ms. Rodriguez said she received a call from LEEBA's lawyer, Richard J. Merritt, asking her about a notice from the city that had appeared in the school. It stated that any organization that wanted to object to Local 237 remaining the bargaining agent for SSAs needed to petition the city. She said he asked her to read it to him and then fax it to him, which she did.

Mr. Merritt said that Ms. Rodriguez called him, told him about the notice, and asked that LEEBA file an objection to Local 237 continuing to represent SSAs under her name. Both parties say that phone call was the only time they spoke.

"I asked her if she wanted me to file a petition on her behalf," said Mr. Merritt in a phone interview last week, "and she said that's what she wanted me to do."

Wasn't Told of Hearing

In November, the Office of Collective Bargaining wrote a letter setting a date for a hearing and addressed it to Mr. Merritt and the two other Local 237 members who have been suspended. OCB officials acknowledged that they never sent a copy to Ms. Rodriguez and that she was not present at the hearing.

Ms. Rodriguez claims that she did not know that her name was on the request until four months later when she received notice of the charges against her from Local 237. "I called [LEEBA President] Ken Wynder, and I asked him, 'How did I get included in this?' and he said he didn't know, that he knew I didn't want to be involved and that he would talk to his lawyer and get my name removed."

Ms. Rodriguez says Mr. Wynder called her back and told him the lawyer could not remove her name. Mr. Wynder said he could not comment on the situation since he was not party to the original conversation.

The IBT Joint Council ruled that there was "overwhelming evidence" that Ms. Rodriguez knew LEEBA filed a petition on her behalf, noting that "there is no basis to accept the premise" that Mr. Merritt would misrepresent his relationship with Ms. Rodriguez. Ms. Rodriguez argued that LEEBA wanted her involved and used her name to give their campaign more credibility. "They knew how much support I had in School Safety," she said, "and they knew if they could get me I would bring in a lot more people."

Lawyer's Mistake?

According to city law, there is no need for a specific name on an objection petition. Mr. Merritt conceded that he believed at the time that Ms. Rodriguez's name was needed to file the petition. "I wasn't sure that LEEBA had the right to object," he said. "I thought we didn't have standing, and I told her it would be a much stronger objection if you would object; it would strengthen our case."

Two Local 237 members who say they were the main organizers for LEEBA, but were not brought up on charges, testified at Ms. Rodriguez's hearing that she was not involved in the campaign. They say they went to LEEBA because they were frustrated with their wages, which are lower than those for any of the other law-enforcement titles in the city. "I put the meetings together," said Juana Gonzalez, who has been an SSA for 12 years. "I'm upset with LEEBA, because she didn't want to be involved with this and she specifically said that."

Mike Waldo, an SSA shop steward, said he was also distressed about the situation. "The ones who did it were us," he said. "Her whole goal was to be president of 237."

Ms. Rodriguez says that she will appeal the decision, and if it is not overturned, she will take the union to Federal court for violation of due process.

"They did this to intimidate other people," she said. "Members might see this and say, 'Wow, if they got Eunice, who's next?' But this does not stop me. They can expel me, but I will never stop speaking out."