I read with great interest your editorial (April 4) on management/employee relations at Oak Park Village Hall. I would like to inform you of the latest development. The Streets Department has worked nearly 2 1/2 years without a contract. There were a number of issues that contributed to this. First, relations between the union and the village were tense due to mistrust that had been generated by some unjustified firings of union members in the then-recent past. The resulting grievances continue to this day.
About a month before last year’s trustee elections, the village halted negotiations, stating that they needed to see who would win, and then get direction from the new board. It was eight months before negotiations resumed. After many meetings, an agreement was finally reached in late April of this year.
Unfortunately, the union was stonewalled for three weeks without an explanation for why a copy of the new contract was not sent for a vote among the members. A federal mediator contacted the village Human Resources director and was told that they did not want to give the Street Department retro pay, as was agreed to in the negotiations. The village said their negotiators “did not have the authority” to sign off on the agreement.
Local 705 is now filing an Unfair Labor Practice lawsuit. If the negotiators didn’t have the authority to sign off on an agreement, why were they in the room in the first place? When the agreement was reached, there were two federal mediators who witnessed it. I hear they are not pleased with the village’s about-face.
We are calling for an informational picket before the next village board meeting on June 5. We have worked without a contract for nearly 2 1/2 years. We haven’t had a raise in over three. We had a deal. We want to make sure that the staff at village hall live up to it.
We applaud Wednesday Journal’s call for a study of why employee/management relations are so volatile in the village. We think it is fair that the unions also be examined for any possible role in this sour relationship. I hope that the folks at village hall support it as well.
Scott Brinkman
Teamsters Local 705 Union Steward,
Village of Oak Park Streets Department