By: Purvi Desai
MILLSTONE The union representing three fired Public Works employees has filed unfair labor practices charges against the Millstone Township Committee, alleging the men were denied a fair hearing on the disciplinary charges against them.
The Communications Workers of America Local 1034, which represents 16,000 state and municipal workers in New Jersey, filed the charges with the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission in Trenton two weeks ago. The complaint alleges that the township, Mayor Nancy Grbelja and Township Administrator James Pickering violated labor laws in their handling of a harassment complaint made by a Department of Public Works (DPW) employee who still works for the township, according to a CWA press release.
The three employees who were terminatedfired Aug. 24 are Mike Magera, who had worked with the township for 10 years; Jay Hyland, who had been employed there seven years; and Stan Ulikowski, who worked at the department for two years, according to CWA staff representative Thomas Fagan.
Mr. Pickering said Tuesday that prior to their termination, Mr. Magera annually earned $38,130, Mr. Hyland, $35,352, and Mr. Ulikowski $26,146.
Strife among five DPW workers, two of whom were not fired, over job assignments led to the complaint, according to the CWA release. The union contends that the township knew of theabout the problem and exercised poor management by allowing it to fester.and allowed it to fester while failing to exercise proper management leadership to address the problem, according to the release
The union contends that the township knew of the problem and allowed it to fester while failing to exercise proper management leadership to address the problem. The CWA also claims the township has refused to elaborate detailedon the details of the disciplinary charges against the employees and has withheld pertinent information. In addition, the union has charged the township with failing to provide due process for the disciplined employees.
"It is almost three months since the three employees were put out of work and the town has failed to specify exactly what they did to warrant being fired," said CWA branch President Mr.Kevin Tauro. "The town has refused to provide a fair hearing as required by contract."
The township held a hearing to hear the workers’ testimony. Later, during a Township Committee closed session on Oct. 18, it heard additional comments from the union, Mr. Fagan said.
He said PERC is holding expected to hold a conference on Nov. 30, when it will hear the unfair labor charges, and assign an arbitrator to each of the five cases, including the two workers thatwho were not fired, according to CWA. Once PERC holds the initial conference, a list of arbitrators will be drawn up and mailed to both the union and township, as part of the specified state process, where both parties will have to agree on a common arbitrator through an elimination process, Mr. Fagan said.
The selection of an arbitrator by both parties will be carried out entirely through mailings and it will take approximately one or two months before one is chosen, he said. After the arbitrator meets and collects information from both of the involved parties, he will draw conclusions and has to power to reinstate the employees with full back-pay and benefits, Mr. Fagan said.
Among some of tThe harassment claims include a worker’s complaint of being called on a radio by a co-worker to find out where he was, and, in another incident, a worker complained that his personal vehicle was blocked by another township vehicle after he parked it in a DPW area.
"The person who claimed he was being harassed never said to any of the other guys … ‘I don’t like what you’re doing and I think you should stop,’" Mr. Fagan said. "The things that they’re saying were harassment were guys talking about other people when they were not present."
The Township Committee fired the three employees on Aug. 24,through a resolution put together and recommended by Mr. Pickering, Mr. Fagan said.
"They did not allow a proper union representation," Mr. Fagan said of the committee, adding that the termination letters given to employees were "very vague," and stated such things as "Ccommitting various acts of harassment against an employee," and "insubordination refusing to follow a direct order" as reasons. The charges also claim that the workers were not told clearly why they were dismissed, said Thomas Mr. Fagan, a union representative. Another employee was demoted and a fifth was suspended for two weeks without pay," he said."When, where, and how, was not explained," he said. "Who was he insubordinate to? When did he do it? Did he say something? Did he do something?"
Mayor Grbelja said the details surroundingfiring of the three employees terminationswas a personnel matter that cannot be discussed.
"They were terminated with just cause," said Mayor Grbelja on Oct. 19. "The actual details of that is something that we can’t divulge at this time. The township acted on the levels within the DPW to deal with the issue and acted accordingly to what the law requires."
"They refused to answer direct questions in the executive session," Mr. Fagan said of the Township Committee, adding that the closed meeting was held prior to the regular one last week, and was the third step of the grievance procedure.
"I can assure that the employees were given due process, in addition, they were terminated with just cause,’ Mayor Grbelja said. "It is the information provided to the union that, I just find, they just didn’t do their homework."
She said that among the information that the township provided to the as evidence to justify its decision included all of the transcripts of the interviews conducted within the DPW department, all of the additional and related information that was gathered and a statement of the violations that occurred.
"I would probably say the investigation took 4 to 5 four to five days," Mayor Grbelja said. "The tTownship Committee consulted with our attorneys and reviewed advice from our legal firm in order to protect the liability of the township."
The union, however, doesn’t buy it.
"This is taking away their livelihood," Mr. Fagan said of the terminatedfired employees. "If somebody did something wrong, there’s progressive discipline, suspension, five-day, ten10-day, and then gradually, the punishment gets worse. In this case they went right to termination."
Mayor Grbelja said the accusations being made against the township are not true. "What happens is, the township has a responsibility to provide a safe working environment for all employees," she said. "When the township is made aware that the environment has become hostile, it is imperative that the township moves in a swift manner."
CWA also states that it suspected the timing of the township’s actions were related to contract negotiations that were set to begin soon. The current contract expires Dec. 31, 2006.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with contract negotiations," Mayor Grbelja said. "Any other union with a contract expiring in December, would contact the township in April. It wasn’t until this incident that the union contacted the township. It failed to negotiate contracts."
"I think that the Township Committee is very comfortable with the advice that we’ve received from the attorney," Mayor Grbelja said of its decision to terminate the employees. "We are very happy in the way we were able to rectify the situation that was occurring in the department."Four replacement employees were hired on Sept. 29, CWA states. "We hired the individuals we thought best," Mayor Grbelja said. "We also had an open space that we filled."
"The union objected to the hiring of replacement employees before hearings had been conducted," the CWArelease stated.
Mayor Grbelja acknowledged that replacement workers had been hired. "They didn’t start work until Oct. 10 and we had some others come in Oct.16 or 17," she said. "In the meanwhile, we have work that needs to be done, and we need to ensure there is appropriate manpower to carry out the work pending within the township."
Mayor Grbelja said the remaining employees are "extremely happy and enjoy going to work." Overall employee productivity has improved, she said. "That to me says a lot. I will do all that I can do to ensure that they enjoy coming to work."
As for the workers who have been terminated, Mr. Fagan said they have filed for unemployment, which he added that the township tried to unsuccessfully block. "It’s put a real hardship on these guys, they’ve lost their medical insurance and disrupted their pension contributions," he said. "I imagine they gotta eat and they got bills to pay. These guys were struggling from paycheck to paycheck just to survive."
Mayor Grbelja said she has notified the township attorney that she would like to attend the arbitration hearings, "because the allegations made are totally false."

