Bigelow, Clyde job loss raises questions

The recent firing of two town sanitation workers has brought the issue of union activity close to home.

Members of the N.C. Public Service Workers Union say they are unhappy with the town’s treatment of union members, specifically Kerry Bigelow and Clyde Clark, who were fired in October from their jobs with the town sanitation department.

But despite the ordeal, which has lasted about five months, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said the town is the most proactive in the state when it comes to union activities.

N.C. union laws

North Carolina is one of two states that prohibit collective bargaining — the main tool unions use to influence employers — for state or local government employees.

The law, under N.C. statute 95-98, prevents unions from having negotiations with employers on behalf of employees.

The original statute banning collective bargaining for state and municipal employees also included a ban on those employees joining unions, said Bob Joyce, a professor in the UNC School of Government, but the ban was declared unconstitutional.

Union leaders in North Carolina can, however, meet with state and government officials in a process called “meet and confer.”

Kleinschmidt said he is the only mayor in the state to have met with workers and advise them on effective lobbying practices.

“The council at least has had a strong policy fighting for the repeal of the anti-collective bargaining law,” Kleinschmidt said. “We’re the only town in North Carolina to do that.
“I’m the only mayor in North Carolina to do that.”

North Carolina has the lowest union density of any state, with only about 3 percent of citizens belonging to unions in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Angaza Laughinghouse, president of the N.C. Public Service Workers Union, said he agrees with Kleinschmidt’s policy of encouraging the meet and confer process in disputes between public sector workers and their employers, but the process is incomplete without collective bargaining.

“If we did have collective bargaining rights, workers would be able to sit down and come up with a fair process,” Laughinghouse said.

“But because of North Carolina labor laws and the lack of collective bargaining, due process does not exist for public sector workers.”

Unions close to home

After the failed appeals Bigelow and Clark filed to get their jobs back, local union leaders find it hard to believe the town isn’t against unions.

Bigelow and Clark lost their jobs after the town found them at fault for insubordination, threatening and intimidating behavior with coworkers and residents and unsatisfactory job performance.

But the two men claim their involvement in the union affected their firings.

“You take a look around, and we had not had problems before we joined a union,” Clark said. “Then they started coming up with these stories.”

Steve Bader, a spokesman for the workers union, said he holds the town accountable for the anti-union sentiments he perceives in Chapel Hill because the town hired what he called a “union-busting” firm — Capital Associated Industries — to conduct the investigation of Bigelow and Clark.

The future of union rights

Joyce said Gov. Bev Perdue has urged the heads of certain state agencies to meet and confer with employees.

But he said he thinks the ban on collective bargaining in North Carolina will remain intact due to the Republican-controlled legislature on both the federal and state level.

“People have the right to join a union and have rights to speak out on matters important to the union’s interest,” Joyce said.

“In the state of North Carolina, it’s up to government officials to decide whether they want to listen or not.”

And Kleinschmidt said he does want to listen. He said believes in the value that unionized employees can add to a local workforce.

“I come from a union family, and I know the contributions that organized labor have made to our country,” Kleinschmidt said.

“At the end of the day, America, our country, has a high standard of living because the workers have organized.”

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