HARTFORD — The union looking to unseat another
in representing the state’s prison guards has filed paperwork with the state
Labor Department saying it has enough support to force a run-off vote.
The National Correctional Employees Union, based in Springfield, on Monday turned over its
documents to the state Board of Labor Relations.
The union is looking to replace the American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees Council 4 in representing the more than 4,500 prison guards
and other Correction Department staff in the state’s NP-4 bargaining unit.
Council 4 represents about 15,600 employees and is the largest among state employee
unions.
AFSCME leaders have dismissed the rival union as little more than a poacher
trying to capitalize on the state unions’ failed concessions and savings
agreement with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. A revised
agreement now is before rank-and-file union members for a second vote.
The NCEU turned over its paperwork Monday — just as voting
on the revised agreement started for Council 4 members. The NCEU has been
critical of the concession agreement, trying to capitalize on employee
confusion over the deal and some members’ distrust of union leaders.
The petition filed Monday says the NCEU collected signed “blue cards” from more
than 30 percent of the bargaining unit’s members. The cards aren’t public
information, because the names of workers who signed on for the change are
confidential.
The process is called “decertification.” Challenger unions first pass around
cards to get 30 percent of a bargaining unit’s membership to say they want a
switch. Then they must bring the cards to the Labor Relations Board for
approval. If the board signs off on the cards, the switch can go to a full vote
of the unit’s members.
Nancy Steffens, a spokeswoman for the Labor
Department, didn’t know early today when the board would have a decision.
At stake for the unions are members’ dues and a coveted seat in the State
Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, the group that negotiates health
insurance and pensions. At stake for the employees is which lawyers represent
them in negotiations, grievances, and other legal proceedings.
A spokesman for the National Correctional Employees Union
couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. Christopher Murphy, the union’s
executive director, said in an interview last month with the Journal Inquirer
that prison guards aren’t happy with AFSCME Council 4.
“The members overwhelmingly want a change,” he said. “They’re tired of AFSCME.
They’re feeling left out.”
The union has been attacking Council 4 in fliers distributed to workers.
“AFSCME legal counsel and some local stewards told the NCEU to get off state
property and to listen to the warden,” one says, “again proving that AFSCME is
in bed with management.”
Jon T. Pepe is president of AFSCME Local 391, which
represents prison guards and other prison staff in north-central Connecticut and is a
part of Council 4.
“They’re clowns,” Pepe said of the NCEU. “This is
what they do. They never come in when it’s the right time. Then they swoop in
when there’s chaos and people are unsure.”
The NCEU tried to make the same move several years ago, Pepe
said, but many of the blue cards didn’t match up with actual employees. He said
he didn’t know whether they were fakes or if correction staff gave fake names.
Pepe also
thinks the prison guards are better positioned being a part of Council 4,
rather than a part of a smaller union. “They would be this little tiny
voice,” he said.