Contracts for city workers will expire in less than two months and municipal unions will have to negotiate new agreements for more than 20,000 employees. AFSCME DC 33, the largest of the four unions representing public employees, is embroiled a bitter election that could have major implications for contract talks.
AFSCME DC 33 holds leadership elections every four years. The process happens right before contract negotiations with the city begin. The past three elections have featured candidates from two competing factions within the union. The group currently in power is led by Herman "Pete" Matthews and the challengers ticket is headed up by Evon Sutton, whose husband previously held the top leadership post.
The campaign has taken a particularly nasty turn in recent weeks. A union member is accusing the leadership of D.C. 33 of using union funds to campaign. The charge is being made by Ernest Garrett, a Water Department employee who has worked for the city for more than 10 years. He claims that thousands of dollars have been misused. An article in the Philadelphia Daily News has the details:
In his amended complaint, Garrett said that Matthews used a union-paid video, dated April 8, to deliver a "state of the union" message to nearly 10,000 members, as campaign material. In the video, a narrator stated that the information was background for contract negotiations.
Matthews said the union was debt-free, had no co-pays for health care and provided new services to union members. Garrett said that the video omitted important details, such as how much the union-owned JFK Hospital was sold for and what was done with the money.
Wolper said Matthews does not say in the video that he's running for re-election.
At a strike-authorization meeting April 8 at the Spectrum, Matthews introduced Mayor Nutter, endorsed last year by District Council 33 as a mayoral candidate, to the membership, but never took a strike-authorization vote, according to attendees.
During the meeting, five flat-screen TVs, five laptop computers, five PlayStations, and five iPods, among other things, were given away, according to attendees.
Campaign workers for Matthews' slate have been passing out backpacks, key chains, water bottles and T-shirts, along with campaign literature to the members, according to the complaint.
Setting aside the legitimacy of the complaint, the ongoing strife within AFSCME DC 33 will absolutely have an impact on contract negotiations. Unions are stronger at the bargaining table when they are united. A divisive election right before negotiations has the potential to weaken the ability of the leadership, no matter who wins, to speak for all union members. That means that Michael Nutter and city negotiators could have the upper hand during contract talks.