White collar contract talks at standstill in Kinnelon #IBEW By DEBORAH WALSH There appears to be a disconnect between the borough and the union that represents the borough’s white collar employees. At the Sept. 18 Borough Council meeting, Mayor Robert Collins recognized that there is some frustration among the council members when it comes to trying to negotiate a contract with the white collar employees bargaining unit, which consists of roughly 18 to 20 employees. According to Collins, the borough has made every effort to negotiate, but the bargaining unit has not responded to its requests for negotiation. Collins said there might be some extenuating circumstances, but there is no excuse for the prolonged period in which the borough’s requests have gone unanswered. The white collar employees did switch their union representation from the Paramus-based IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Union Local No. 164 to the Clifton-based IBEW Union Local No. 1158 in July. There might be some mitigating factors, but this has gone on far too long, he said. The white collar workers’ contract expired on Dec. 31, 2012. The bargaining unit is working under the parameters of that contract, he said. Collins said he asked Councilman Clifford Giantonio to contract the borough’s labor counsel to have the attorney document the borough’s outreach to the white collar employees. We have tried to reach out to the white collar union representative to move this along, but they have not made themselves available and it is frustrating, said Collins when contacted last week. We are knocking on the door, but no one is answering and turning the light on. As the employer, we have the responsibility to negotiate, but we are getting stone-walled. Collins said he has asked Giantonio to write a letter to the union urging that it negotiate in good faith. Giantonio, who became a council member last April, said he has made attempts to determine who is negotiating on behalf of the white collar employees, but has not been given a name. Yesterday, Giantonio indicated that he has been in touch with Gail Bresett, a member of the borough’s white collar bargaining unit who also serves as shop steward, and she has had difficulty finding out who in IBEW Local No. 1158 will be representing the borough’s white collar bargaining unit. They changed unions recently. Gail has been very communicative with me. She has tried to find out from the union who will be representing them and has gotten no answers. She’s banging her head against the wall, said Giantonio. I would like to at least get the ball rolling, said Giantonio at the Sept. 18 Borough Council meeting. The white collar employees first unionized in March 2011, apparently as a reaction to the borough stripping two part-time employees of health benefits. The prior September (2010), the Borough Council adopted an ordinance that discontinued health benefits for two part-time employees. At the time, Collins, who was a councilman then, explained that the borough had not offered part-time employees health insurance for many years. When the State Legislature adopted a statute in 1996 that required municipalities to decide whether part-time employees would be provided with health benefits, the council opted to exclude any new part-timers from receiving health benefits, but grandfathered the eight existing part-timers. Over the years, the number of part-timers dwindled to the two workers who lost benefits as the result of the ordinance’s adoption. In 2010, Collins warned that the adoption of the ordinance would be a catalyst for the unionization of those municipal employees not already covered by other bargaining agreements, which ultimately could result in higher costs for the borough. Email: walshde@northjersey
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 06:44:32 +0000
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