Post by crudo on Dec 8, 2006 2:44:20 GMT -5
Union accused of unfair labor practice
Business agents take legal action when fired by local Teamsters boss
JOAN BARNETT LEE/THE BEE
Former business agent with Local 948 Jim Hicks stands outside the union hall on I Street.
JOAN BARNETT LEE/THE BEE
By CHRISTINA SALERNO
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: December 5, 2006, 04:55:32 AM PST
Six former union representatives say their boss at a Modesto Teamsters local fired them to break up a bargaining group they formed a decade ago to protect themselves from leadership swings in the organization. It's a case of a union busting a union, the fired workers say.
Sam Martinez, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 948 in Modesto, dismissed six of the 10 regular business agents in January on his first day in the elected position.
"It doesn't sit right that a union would do this to its own people," said Jim Hicks, one of the agents who was let go.
The business agents belonged to the National Association of Business Representatives, a union they created in 1997 to guarantee their full-time jobs remained safe whenever a new leader was elected.
The fired agents have filed unfair labor practice charges against Local 948, which represents thousands of cannery workers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
They claim Martinez replaced the six terminated agents with nine supporters, stacking the office in his favor and breaking their union.
"You expect that from a company, but you wouldn't expect that from a union. They are trying to bust a union within a union," said Al Oliver, a longtime business agent who founded the NABR.
David Rosenfeld, the attorney for Local 948, said the agents were replaced so the office could start fresh after last year's election, which boosted Martinez to the union's top post, a three-year position that pays about $87,000 a year.
"The membership of the Local 948 overwhelming selected new officers. Martinez wanted business agents who supported his new ideas and new administration," Rosenfeld said, adding that there were "complaints" about the agents who were let go.
"They can't expect to hold onto their jobs when the leadership has changed through the democratic process," Rosenfeld said.
Labor in tough times
The accusations that a union leader would use anti-union tactics on its employees comes at a difficult time for organized labor.
There have been layoffs in industries from autos to airlines and defections of member unions from the AFL-CIO. At the same time, unions have had little success organizing retailers such as Wal-Mart or immigrant workers.
Most unions have watched as membership rolls have declined in recent years around the country and in the valley. Local 948 in Modesto has suffered from the same trends, worsened by plant closures and mass layoffs in the food processing industry.
In 2004, valley cannery workers voted to merge three Teamster unions to beef up membership and strengthen bargaining power.
The Modesto-based Teamsters Local 748 combined with two Southern San Joaquin Valley unions: Local 94 in Visalia and Local 746 in nearby Kingsburg. The merger created Local 948, which has its headquarters on I Street in downtown Modesto, where Martinez and most of the business agents worked.
Hicks and the other business agents said the firings took them by surprise. Hicks was on disability leave when Martinez took office and Hicks received a certified letter informing him of his termination. The other agents were called into Martinez's office and told their services no longer were needed.
"Part of being a union person is that you are fighting for other people's rights, and at the same time we were trying to set an example," said Hicks, who left his job as a mechanic for Ball Corp. in Oakdale in 1995 to become a full-time business agent.
During his time at the manufacturing plant, Hicks said he was "always the one speaking up and defending people whenever someone was criticized," which occasionally jeopardized his own shot at advancement or a raise.
Business agents sought security
As a business agent, Hicks helped negotiate contracts for union membership and filed grievances on their behalf. Business agents earn roughly $40,000 to $50,000 a year, and receive health, welfare and pension benefits.
The jobs traditionally had been awarded to supporters, the campaign workers of whoever was elected secretary-treasurer. About two years after Hicks went to work for Local 948, business agents in Modesto decided to form a union to end that practice.
"We started talking and thought, 'Why do the members of the cannery have protection, but we don't? Every time a new regime comes, we could get fired.' So we decided, 'Let's organize,'" said Oliver, who retired from Local 948 in 2001.
They created the NABR and all seven business agents joined. Each paid a $100 initiation fee and $15 in monthly dues, on top of Teamsters membership dues.
The business agents used the newly formed union to negotiate contracts — including vacation time, sick pay and seniority — with Local 948.
Hicks said they believed their union would protect their jobs after elections by stipulating that an agent couldn't be fired without "just cause."
Chuck Mack, Western region vice president of the Interna-tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the business agent positions never were intended to be "lifetime" jobs.
Most union leaders are allowed to choose the business agents, he said. That practice exists so the union membership can remove the head officer and the business agents if they are not doing a good job.
"Unionization of business agents is very, very rare," Mack said.
"The (Local 948) is trying to make some changes in the system that the business agents have put in place, because they think it is not in accord with what the membership wants," he said.
Hoffa won't get involved
Mack said Teamsters officials have decided not to intervene.
Teamsters president James Hoffa wrote a letter to one of the terminated business agents, Lupe Juarez, reiterating that stance.
In the letter, Hoffa states that the Teamsters advocate the right for business agents to unionize because it is "the same right we advocate for every other worker."
But Hoffa declined to get involved, stating that the Teamsters would not "police the employment practices" at local unions.
Juarez went back to his previous job at the Del Monte cannery in Modesto after he was fired. Most of the other business agents have returned to their previous jobs, but a few, including Hicks, remain unemployed.
"I don't take it personally," Juarez said. "I'm just waiting to see what happens. I want to go back to work as normal."
Ralph Ramirez, another business agent who was fired, said he also hoped to return to his job at Local 948, which he joined after the 2004 merger.
"I've been involved with it for so long, and I've made it my life for almost 20 years to be a union representative — not only in the form of a business agent, but I came up from the ranks, and I was in the council and then I became the vice president," said Ramirez, who has returned to work at Del Monte in Kingsburg.
Charges filed with board
Earlier this year, the terminated agents filed two unfair labor practice charges against Local 948 with the National Labor Relations Board.
One claims Martinez has refused to bargain with the business agents union; the other says Martinez is attempting to break the agents union by filling the office with new agents.
The board is investigating the charges and likely will take action this month, said Mike Leong, assistant regional director of the NLRB.
Either the two parties will be asked to settle or the business agents must withdraw charges if the case has no merit, he said. But they can appeal.
The claims say Martinez replaced the terminated agents with seasonal business agents to purposefully undermine the business agents union.
The new agents signed a petition in September saying they did not wish to belong to the NABR. Soon after, Local 948 said it no longer would recognize the NABR.
Rosenfeld said the agents Martinez hired chose not to join the agents union because "they decided that NABR didn't represent the direction the local was going."
Hicks said he hopes a victory would encourage other Teamster business agents to unionize.
"It's not just about me anymore," Hicks said. "If we are successful, I'm going to do my best to get it known to every office staff and business agent. Why should you go through this every three years, worrying about the possibility of your boss getting defeated and losing your job?"
Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 238-4574 or csalerno@modbee.com.
Business agents take legal action when fired by local Teamsters boss
JOAN BARNETT LEE/THE BEE
Former business agent with Local 948 Jim Hicks stands outside the union hall on I Street.
JOAN BARNETT LEE/THE BEE
By CHRISTINA SALERNO
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: December 5, 2006, 04:55:32 AM PST
Six former union representatives say their boss at a Modesto Teamsters local fired them to break up a bargaining group they formed a decade ago to protect themselves from leadership swings in the organization. It's a case of a union busting a union, the fired workers say.
Sam Martinez, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 948 in Modesto, dismissed six of the 10 regular business agents in January on his first day in the elected position.
"It doesn't sit right that a union would do this to its own people," said Jim Hicks, one of the agents who was let go.
The business agents belonged to the National Association of Business Representatives, a union they created in 1997 to guarantee their full-time jobs remained safe whenever a new leader was elected.
The fired agents have filed unfair labor practice charges against Local 948, which represents thousands of cannery workers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
They claim Martinez replaced the six terminated agents with nine supporters, stacking the office in his favor and breaking their union.
"You expect that from a company, but you wouldn't expect that from a union. They are trying to bust a union within a union," said Al Oliver, a longtime business agent who founded the NABR.
David Rosenfeld, the attorney for Local 948, said the agents were replaced so the office could start fresh after last year's election, which boosted Martinez to the union's top post, a three-year position that pays about $87,000 a year.
"The membership of the Local 948 overwhelming selected new officers. Martinez wanted business agents who supported his new ideas and new administration," Rosenfeld said, adding that there were "complaints" about the agents who were let go.
"They can't expect to hold onto their jobs when the leadership has changed through the democratic process," Rosenfeld said.
Labor in tough times
The accusations that a union leader would use anti-union tactics on its employees comes at a difficult time for organized labor.
There have been layoffs in industries from autos to airlines and defections of member unions from the AFL-CIO. At the same time, unions have had little success organizing retailers such as Wal-Mart or immigrant workers.
Most unions have watched as membership rolls have declined in recent years around the country and in the valley. Local 948 in Modesto has suffered from the same trends, worsened by plant closures and mass layoffs in the food processing industry.
In 2004, valley cannery workers voted to merge three Teamster unions to beef up membership and strengthen bargaining power.
The Modesto-based Teamsters Local 748 combined with two Southern San Joaquin Valley unions: Local 94 in Visalia and Local 746 in nearby Kingsburg. The merger created Local 948, which has its headquarters on I Street in downtown Modesto, where Martinez and most of the business agents worked.
Hicks and the other business agents said the firings took them by surprise. Hicks was on disability leave when Martinez took office and Hicks received a certified letter informing him of his termination. The other agents were called into Martinez's office and told their services no longer were needed.
"Part of being a union person is that you are fighting for other people's rights, and at the same time we were trying to set an example," said Hicks, who left his job as a mechanic for Ball Corp. in Oakdale in 1995 to become a full-time business agent.
During his time at the manufacturing plant, Hicks said he was "always the one speaking up and defending people whenever someone was criticized," which occasionally jeopardized his own shot at advancement or a raise.
Business agents sought security
As a business agent, Hicks helped negotiate contracts for union membership and filed grievances on their behalf. Business agents earn roughly $40,000 to $50,000 a year, and receive health, welfare and pension benefits.
The jobs traditionally had been awarded to supporters, the campaign workers of whoever was elected secretary-treasurer. About two years after Hicks went to work for Local 948, business agents in Modesto decided to form a union to end that practice.
"We started talking and thought, 'Why do the members of the cannery have protection, but we don't? Every time a new regime comes, we could get fired.' So we decided, 'Let's organize,'" said Oliver, who retired from Local 948 in 2001.
They created the NABR and all seven business agents joined. Each paid a $100 initiation fee and $15 in monthly dues, on top of Teamsters membership dues.
The business agents used the newly formed union to negotiate contracts — including vacation time, sick pay and seniority — with Local 948.
Hicks said they believed their union would protect their jobs after elections by stipulating that an agent couldn't be fired without "just cause."
Chuck Mack, Western region vice president of the Interna-tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the business agent positions never were intended to be "lifetime" jobs.
Most union leaders are allowed to choose the business agents, he said. That practice exists so the union membership can remove the head officer and the business agents if they are not doing a good job.
"Unionization of business agents is very, very rare," Mack said.
"The (Local 948) is trying to make some changes in the system that the business agents have put in place, because they think it is not in accord with what the membership wants," he said.
Hoffa won't get involved
Mack said Teamsters officials have decided not to intervene.
Teamsters president James Hoffa wrote a letter to one of the terminated business agents, Lupe Juarez, reiterating that stance.
In the letter, Hoffa states that the Teamsters advocate the right for business agents to unionize because it is "the same right we advocate for every other worker."
But Hoffa declined to get involved, stating that the Teamsters would not "police the employment practices" at local unions.
Juarez went back to his previous job at the Del Monte cannery in Modesto after he was fired. Most of the other business agents have returned to their previous jobs, but a few, including Hicks, remain unemployed.
"I don't take it personally," Juarez said. "I'm just waiting to see what happens. I want to go back to work as normal."
Ralph Ramirez, another business agent who was fired, said he also hoped to return to his job at Local 948, which he joined after the 2004 merger.
"I've been involved with it for so long, and I've made it my life for almost 20 years to be a union representative — not only in the form of a business agent, but I came up from the ranks, and I was in the council and then I became the vice president," said Ramirez, who has returned to work at Del Monte in Kingsburg.
Charges filed with board
Earlier this year, the terminated agents filed two unfair labor practice charges against Local 948 with the National Labor Relations Board.
One claims Martinez has refused to bargain with the business agents union; the other says Martinez is attempting to break the agents union by filling the office with new agents.
The board is investigating the charges and likely will take action this month, said Mike Leong, assistant regional director of the NLRB.
Either the two parties will be asked to settle or the business agents must withdraw charges if the case has no merit, he said. But they can appeal.
The claims say Martinez replaced the terminated agents with seasonal business agents to purposefully undermine the business agents union.
The new agents signed a petition in September saying they did not wish to belong to the NABR. Soon after, Local 948 said it no longer would recognize the NABR.
Rosenfeld said the agents Martinez hired chose not to join the agents union because "they decided that NABR didn't represent the direction the local was going."
Hicks said he hopes a victory would encourage other Teamster business agents to unionize.
"It's not just about me anymore," Hicks said. "If we are successful, I'm going to do my best to get it known to every office staff and business agent. Why should you go through this every three years, worrying about the possibility of your boss getting defeated and losing your job?"
Bee staff writer Christina Salerno can be reached at 238-4574 or csalerno@modbee.com.