BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Foster
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HAMILTON -- Strong-arm tactics are nothing new in labor disputes. But veteran union lawyers say Butler County Engineer Dean Foster has created a new twist.
Early this month, Mr. Foster took what experts call an unusual step by putting in writing a blistering edict to managers to stop a growing effort by lower-level employees to organize.
Twenty-eight road crew workers are trying to join Teamsters Local 100 after complaints surfaced about a lack of adequate pay raises.
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THE LETTER
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Excerpts from the letter from Butler County Engineer Dean Foster to staff, managers and supervisors:
"You have got to step up to the plate and inform these people who think they want a union how terrible of a mistake that is.
"Let me remind you and tell you right up front: There is only one agenda for you to follow, and that is my agenda. That agenda right now is to stop this organization effort and I expect you to help me. "What does all this mean? It means that the fact that we have an election on Sept. 2, 1998, whereby twenty-eight (28) employees will vote to have a union or not, is a mementous (sic) occasion for each of you.
"You will develop information about what is going on, and you will report the same to me without delay.
"When the election is done and over, two (2) things will be abundantly clear: (1) The employees rightly rejected the union, and you did your job; or, (2) the employees rightly voted to have a union, and you didn't do your job. . . . In the second scenario, you can expect major changes. If there is a bargaining unit voted in, then I have the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you can't manage a non-union work force, you sure as the devil can't manage a union work force.
"Many of you have asked about your performance evaluations. Good question. Your next performance review will be held on Sept. 2, 1998. The standard of excellence is real simple: No bargaining unit, good job. Bargaining unit, bad job.
"If you cannot get busy and turn this around and support me as your employer, please advise me of your planned date of departure so I can hire someone who appreciates a good job and knows how to be loyal to their employer."
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Mr. Foster's memo, dated Aug. 4, tells unclassified staff, managers and supervisors that the outcome of the vote Sept. 2 by the lower-level employees rests on their shoulders.
"There is only one agenda for you to follow, and that is my agenda," the memo says. "That agenda right now is to stop this organization effort and I expect you to help me."
He wrote they will be given performance evaluations the same day as the union vote. "The standard of excellence is real simple: No bargaining unit, good job. Bargaining unit, bad job."
Lawyers say Mr. Foster has the right to demand loyalty and assistance from the managers and supervisors to stop the union efforts. But he may run afoul of labor law if those managers start to pressure their underlings.
"The issue would be whether statements made to supervisors were intended to be intimidating to employees," said Edward Mitchell, a partner with the law firm Thompson, Hine & Flory in Cincinnati, who specializes in labor law.
Section 4117 of the Ohio Revised Code forbids public employers or their representatives from interfering in employees' efforts to unionize.
Jeffery Taylor, executive director of the State Employment Relations Board, said he could not issue an opinion about this case. But he added that if a complaint was filed by workers and upheld by the board, an employer would have to reverse improper actions. Junior Mann, organizer for Teamsters Local 100 in Evendale, called the memo a threat to supervisors as well as "immature and unprofessional."
"That's pretty harsh," Mr. Mann said of the letter.
The organizing effort began in June when crew workers came to Mr. Mann complaining about the lack of adequate pay raises and job security, he said.
Mr. Foster said Tuesday he has no idea where those feelings come from. The crew workers' average wage increase last year was 7.5 percent, he said, while the lowest pay raise was 5 percent.
He fears a bargaining unit could strip the department of its flexibility and benefits. But he denies threatening managers in the memo, and says he supports the employees' rights to organize. "The severity of the tone of the memo is subjective," he said. "The point that I wanted to make was that I only found out about the effort and still don't know . . . what it is the employees want or fear or have a problem with. As managers and supervisors, I felt that was part of their responsibility to communicate that back to me." Of the 18 who received the memo, 11 are in classified positions, which means they are protected against employers by civil service laws. But the remaining seven are not.
There are a total of 68 employees in the Engineer's Office.
Mr. Foster, 35, was appointed to the position in March 1994 after his father stepped down after about 20 years in office.
A Republican, Mr. Foster then ran unchallenged for the unexpired term that November. He was re-elected in 1996 and holds the seat until 2000.
Unions are nothing new to Butler County. Seven other departments have unions.
Thomas A. Brennan, a partner with the law firm Graydon, Head & Ritchey in Cincinnati, called Mr. Foster's stance unusual both because he is an elected official and because he put his feelings on paper.
"Public officials are elected, and they are not going to go out and publicly oppose an organizing drive because those are the people that vote for them," he said. "Why would anybody put something like this in writing?"
