After almost a year of negotiating, the Marblehead Municipal Employees Union is heading into yet another bargaining session Feb. 13.
MMEU Director Terri Tauro said the union now has a state mediator, who is “fabulous,” but even that added assistance has not put an end to the abnormally long bargaining process.
“If the Select Board does not step in, I have absolutely zero hope that we will find any common ground before the next town meeting,” said Tauro.
She urged the board to take action at its Feb. 5 meeting last week, after also raising concerns that no board members had any questions regarding the bargaining process during the meeting.
Select Board Chair Erin Noonan addressed her concerns by saying, “Just because we didn’t have a question tonight about it doesn’t mean that we don’t ask those questions, and we are kept abreast.”
Tauro claimed that “the bargaining committee for the town is not bargaining in good faith,” which is an employer’s legal duty, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Because she believes the town is not bargaining in good faith, Tauro said the Northshore Labor Council has filed charges with the Department of Labor Relations.
There are two parts to these alleged charges.
“The town kept saying they need financial analysis at every meeting, and we weren’t getting anywhere, so we requested what they had done so far for analysis,” Tauro said, reflecting on the four months previously wasted in bargaining sessions since no financial analysis was completed. “They kept saying ‘We can’t afford (what you’re asking for),’ but they weren’t telling us why, and they never responded to our information request.”
She added that, “while we were in active bargaining sessions, the town administrator and the HR department went to the select board with changes in personnel policies across the board – and never went (to the union.) And that’s a mandatory subject of bargaining.”
Tauro said the union’s hearing was in December, and it’s “just waiting for the complaint to be issued,” which could “be coming in any day.”
No members of the select board replied to comment requests before yesterday’s deadline.