Christian Schiavone
The Patriot Ledger
Apr. 30, 2014

From the Patriot Ledger

A group of laid-off crossing guards have been offered their jobs back after a state appeals board ruled that the town unfairly eliminated them and replaced them with lower paid, non-union workers.

The state Employment Relations Board last month ordered the town to offer to rehire 14 laid-off guards – officially known as traffic supervisors – and give them back pay, upholding a decision by a state Department of Labor Relations hearing officer last year.
The town did not appeal the most recent ruling.

The supervisors were laid off in June 2010 because of budget cuts. In the fall, the town hired nine “safety guards,” who did essentially the same job helping children cross busy streets near schools, but at lower pay, the board said.

“The order is the order,” said Joseph Emerson Jr., an attorney who represented the town before the board. “We have an obligation to comply with that and we’re doing so.”

Before the supervisors return to their posts outside schools around town, they’ll have to negotiate a new contract. Those talks have already started.
Bonnie Hayes, president of the traffic supervisors’ union, said she could not comment because of the ongoing negotiations and referred questions to the parent union, the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees, Council 93.

“We applaud the town for deciding not to appeal and drag this ordeal out any further,” James Durkin, a spokesman for Council 93, said. “Our primary focus is to get these people back to work as soon as possible and made whole as soon as possible. We won’t accept anything less than what they’re entitled to under the law.”

Emerson and Durkin said they didn’t know how many of the laid-off supervisors would be coming back to work or when they would start. They also said they didn’t know how much it will cost the town to cover their back pay.

Before they were laid off, the traffic supervisors, who came under the police department, worked two hours a day and earned $39.27 per day, plus benefits that included paid leave, longevity pay and clothing and cleaning allowances. The safety guards, who fell under the school department, were hired at $30 per day for the same two-hour shift and did not receive those benefits.

Mayor Susan Kay said it’s not clear yet what will happen to the safety guards’ jobs.

The supervisors’ union contested the elimination of the jobs with the Department of Labor Relations, arguing that the town laid off the traffic supervisors without properly notifying the union or bringing them back to the bargaining table. A hearing officer for the department agreed last July. The Employment Relations Board last month upheld that decision after the town appealed it.

The town had argued that hiring the new guards didn’t break the law because they had fewer responsibilities and did a different job than the traffic supervisors.

Christian Schiavone may be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @CSchiavo_Ledger.