DEP an Anti-Union Recidivist

The Department of Environmental Protection's Brooklyn Borough Superintendent has been found guilty of anti-union bias for the second time in less than two years.

Once might be written off as poor judgment. Twice amounts to an out-of-control manager who needs to be disciplined or pushed into retirement.

In April 2006, the Board of Collective Bargaining found that Borough Superintendent Louis DiMeglia trumped up an unsatisfactory performance review for an Apprentice Construction Laborer who sought his union's help after Mr. DiMeglia overruled the employee's immediate supervisor to deny him a vacation. In its ruling, the BCB noted that it was the first time in his 11 years in the position that Mr. DiMeglia issued a performance evaluation, and that he did so without ever directly supervising the employee, Frank Puglisi.

It was one of a series of cases in recent years in which DEP supervisors have been cited by the BCB for displaying an anti-union animus. At the time, we noted that the agency's Commissioner, Emily Lloyd, during her tenure as Sanitation Commissioner more than a decade earlier had a good working relationship with that department's unions, and so the problem might go no further than a few overzealous mid-level managers.

That can no longer be regarded as the case, however, in light of the latest finding against Mr. DiMeglia. His most-recent offense occurred two months after the initial BCB ruling and was directed against a union official who had helped Mr. Puglisi.

This case grew out of a dispute between a lower-ranking supervisor and Randolph Francis, a union shop steward who got into a minor accident, in which no one was hurt, while driving a DEP vehicle. After the supervisor discussed what had occurred with Mr. DiMeglia, the Borough Superintendent, without inquiring further, personally brought the complaint to DEP's central office.

His lack of curiosity about Mr. Francis's version of the incident before taking the unusual step of signing the disciplinary charges himself against an employee he did not directly supervise was evidence of anti-union bias, the BCB ruled.

DEP officials have not been anxious to talk about whether the latest rebuke will prompt disciplinary action against Mr. DiMeglia. That is not surprising; we'd be bashful ourselves if the city body that referees labor-management relations was suggesting we were a problem agency with at least one repeat offender.

But at this point, Ms. Lloyd is no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt based on her past tenure at Sanitation. If she doesn't land hard on Mr. DiMeglia, either she is condoning anti-union conduct or she is a figurehead who is not really running her agency.