First Town Supervisors Contract Wins RTM Approval

After more than two years of negotiations, the first contract for the Town Hall supervisors union was officially approved by a 15 – 7 vote of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) last night. Those opposing it, all Republicans, voted no for a variety of reasons.

“It’s a bad idea,” said RTM member James Stepanek. ​“Traditionally supervisors are not in a union. Normally supervisors and managers are leaders,” he said in rejecting the idea. Others who joined him, not necessarily for this reason, included Marc Riccio, Peter Black, Vincent Baglio, John Leonard, Cynthia Nargi and George D. Wells III.

The town’s top supervisors sought unionization with one of the nation’s leading unions in the aftermath of a politically divisive fight in the spring of 2012 over their salary increases by both the Board of Finance (BOF) and the RTM. The fight split the Board of Finance and members of the RTM. Click here to read about it.

The supervisors’ contract covers 12 department heads and ends in fiscal year 2016 – 2017. The union consists of 12 department heads, including the town engineer, the town planner and the town tax assessor, among others. 

In all, a total of 33 supervisors, including the 12 department heads and 21 associates, will become part of two units of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME,) one of the largest labor unions in the nation. AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO. The state has been involved in the process. The supervisors are members of Local 818 – 60 of Council 4 of AFSCME, AFL-CIO. Click here to read the July RTM decision unanimously approving a contract for the 21 associates. 

All the democrats voted for it, but before she did Rep. Maggie Bruno asked why indeed had the town’s department heads formed a union.

“Is there anyone here to answer that question?” she asked. But neither Joyce Forte, the town’s human resources director nor Jim Finch, the town’s finance director was present. However Forte and Finch did address various issues regarding this contract at an earlier RTM administrative services committee meeting. Neither Forte nor Finch is in this union. They remain at-will employees.

The Republican leaders, including Majority Leader Ray Ingraham, voted to approve the contract. Ingraham did not speak. First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove addressed the RTM, seeking approval for the contract. 

Cosgrove reminded the RTM that the supervisors ​“are already unionized. A lot of time and effort went into this,” he said. He called it a fair contract as far as salary increases are concerned. He said ​“it was also fair to the taxpayer as well.” Here he is talking with Republican RTM members before the meeting began. 

Republican Frank Twohill (pictured) voted with the majority to accept the contract, because if the RTM rejected it, he said, the contract would automatically go to binding arbitration. Twohill, an attorney, said ​“binding arbitration is the problem. Probably the town would lose because it has the money to pay for these raises,” he said. He urged the RTM to adopt it, adding that more health care costs ​“are now paid for by unionized employees.” 

Adam Hansen, the RTM Clerk, said the contract took a lot of hard work ​“back and forth.” Chris Sullivan, the Democratic minority leader, agreed. They are pictured here L to R with Moderator Dennis Flanagan. Hansen said ​“we have many talented people working for this town,” adding that the town had to be competitive.

Attorney William Ryan and Finch represented the town in negotiations with the union. Finch and another 20 employees, including some department heads, are not in the union. Those who negotiate separately include town officials whose appointments are made by commissions or who are themselves involved in contract negotiations or who perform other duties that involve confidential communications.

Why Town Hall Formed Unions

This is the last group of employees at Town Hall to seek union representation. Until now the town’s department heads and their deputies served as at-will employees, some for decades. Branford’s school supervisors, including school principals, assistant principals and others, have long been unionized.

The split over how his department heads were treated with regard to their salaries, especially when a different standard applied to the school system, so infuriated Unk DaRos, the former first selectman, that when town employees across the board sought to unionize he did not oppose the move. 

The formation of bargaining units will change the day-to-day operation of Town Hall. The first selectman will no longer have the authority to simply order top workers back on the job, as he did during Hurricane Irene or during snow storms. Not one of them said no in 2012 when they were needed, DaRos said back then. ​“They are repeat players,” he observed, ​“called out for every emergency. And there will be other legalities and rules that will change how Town Hall operates.

“What happens now is whole different scenario on how you do business. I can’t go out and immediately call them in. Now our system will be more convoluted.”

He said of the department heads back in 2012: ​“These were the people that we called out in the blizzards, in the hurricane that had no, no compensation whatsoever for any overtime they do. These are the ones who come to these meetings at night with no compensation. None. These were the same people I called up and said you need to report for work and some of those people did not return home for seven days during the hurricane. There is no compensation.”

The new contract is a game changer. 

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