DID VERONICA DESERVE THIS FROM HER UNION?

Veronica worked hard and well for her union for ten years.  She won some novel cases, worked nights helping to organize a couple of new units, made over 100 overnight trips away from her children despite being a single mom, and volunteered often to hand out flyers in the early morning as part of efforts to encourage employees to take action.  There was no doubt that she was outstanding at her job. A few  years ago, she was promoted to supervise a group of business agents, and that turned out to be the biggest mistake she ever made despite excelling at that as well.

About six months ago, Veronica got into an argument with an employee who worked in another union group.  Words were exchanged and the employee alleged that Veronica had discriminated against him because of his race. Veronica wrote up the incident immediately after it happened and noted that the employee acted like he did not have to take her advice because she was a woman.  When all this got to top union managers they investigated and fired both the employee and Veronica for violating its no discrimination policy.

The employee filed a grievance that the staff’s union took to arbitration.  After a two-day hearing where there was no dispute among the witnesses as to what the employee and Veronica said to each other, the arbitrator reinstated the employee with a one-day suspension. The arbitrator found that nothing the employee said was discriminatory.  However, because he also found that nothing Veronica said was discriminatory, he ruled that the employee had used poor judgment getting into a public argument with a supervisory official whose actions were well within her duties.

The employee got his job back and months of backpay as well as benefit coverage. He could not  have been happier.

Veronica, on the other hand, was still out of a job.  As a supervisor she had no recourse when the union’s national president fired her  without warning or even showing her what evidence it was relying upon.  She had gone months without a salary and the family had no health benefit coverage. When she did get a job, it was at a much lower salary doing things far below her skill level and without any connection to representing union members.

If that sounds unfair to you, it is because it is miserably unfair.  A stellar career, many contributions to the union that were above what was required, lots of personal family sacrifices for the union and all she got was ten minutes to get her personal things together and leave. Her union’s constitution did not provide non-unionized staff any rights despite the bargaining unit folks have the full protections of collective bargaining,  the members having the same protections and even the people who supervisor the union members having due process and appeal rights.

Why do union leaders feel the need to have overwhelming power over a few members of the staff?  Who knows?  Some can never admit when they made a mistake. Others can’t understand why they would ever limit their ability to treat people in an arbitrary and capricious way when nothing is forcing them to give up that freedom to abuse.  And still others really don’t believe in the core values of unionism that demand everyone be treated with dignity. They are hypocrites.

Frankly, we don’t see why bargaining unit employees don’t ban together to push the union membership to amend their constitutions to force union leaders to live by the same rules they expect agency executives and leaders to do.  We also do not see why agency’s would agree to contract provisions giving employees any protection beyond what the law and government-wide regulations require until the union leadership is willing to live by the same rules it demands at the bargaining table.

Until then, Veronica and a lot of people like her are making a big mistake leaving the protection of the bargaining unit.

P.S. Veronica is a composite of several union staff supervisors whose stories I have heard.