Dismiss HA Union Official's Beef Agency Played Politics; Cited Transfers Prior to Vote

An improper practice petition brought by Civil Service Technical Guild Chapter President Mitchell Feder against the Housing Authority alleging interference in a union election was dismissed by the Board of Collective Bargaining Aug. 13, even though it discounted most of management's arguments against his case.

MITCHELL FEDER: Disappointed with ruling.

Mr. Feder filed the petition on Jan. 1 claiming that the HA and its Assistant Counsel for Labor and Employment had attempted to interfere with his campaign for re-election as president of Chapter 25 of the Tech Guild, which is Local 375 of District Council 37. He contended that the Housing Authority had delayed a Step II decision on an out-of-title grievance he had filed in an attempt to obstruct his upcoming election race, and that he had been given new duties multiple times that did not correspond to his skills as a form of "union-busting."

BCB: Assuming, Not Proving

The HA responded that Mr. Feder's charges were filed too late and thus moot. But the BCB ruled that the claim "was timely, not moot, and should not be deferred to arbitration." However, the board stated it could not rule in favor of Mr. Feder, because "his claims rest on surmise and conjecture."

"I'm disappointed in the decision," said Mr. Feder, asserting that the BCB glossed over the frequent shifts in his assignments by the HA to concentrate on his complaint about the grievance being deferred to interfere with his election chances.

On Feb. 20, 2004, Mr. Feder said, he was "forced transferred" for the first time from the Department of Design to the agency's Department of Development, which he said "only had about 15 Chapter 25 union members." Another transfer took place in December 2006, when he was moved to the Budget Department, which had no Chapter 25 members in it. Eight days later, he was shuttled to the HA Office of Business and Revenue Development.

'Want Me Replaced'

Mr. Feder said the transfers were designed to "keep moving me physically away from my members," alleging that the HA administration intended to "hopefully have me replaced as chapter president by someone else at the time of the chapter election that is less vocal and publicized than I."

Mr. Feder has been a persistent critic of his own union's leadership as well.

He claimed that the delay in responding to his out-of-title grievance was also unusual. "Why does it take more than four months for Labor Relations to review a simple out-of-title grievance that should only take four minutes or four days and at most four weeks?" he asked.