Lowell, MA - An arbitration win against the City of Lowell, MA has led to Local 1705 members being awarded over 330 hours of overtime pay for work that was performed at two city schools during the summer of 2016.

Through the hard work and high quality representation of their union, a painter foreman and a number of tradespeople in Local 1705 will share in the overtime award, which is still being worked out between the city and the Union.

The case was brought to arbitration when twice during the summer of 2016 George Pilato, a foreman in the Lowell Department of Public Works, noticed that portions of two school buildings had been painted without his knowledge by workers outside of the bargaining unit. He was informed by school staff that teachers had repainted a number of classrooms and a hallway without notifying Local 1705 that the rooms needed to be painted.

The October 10, 2017 decision, by arbitrator Timothy Hatfield, strongly supports the union's position that bargaining unit work was being performed outside of the bargaining unit, and sends a message to management that any such maintenance work done in the future should be performed by members of Local 1705. In his written decision, Hatfield found that the city failed to properly notify the union about work being performed in city buildings that should have been done by the skilled tradespeople of Local 1705.

Corey Robinson, Local 1705 President, stated that he "was extremely happy with the arbitrator's decision," adding that he is pleased to see that going forward "that work done in Lowell school buildings is exclusively ours." During the arbitration AFSCME Council 93 staff were "instrumental in helping us through the process," added President Robinson.

The issue of maintenance work being performed by non-bargaining workers will surface again in the near future. Local 1705 has two more grievances pending on similar matters. President Robinson does not see the issue going away anytime soon. "This has been an ongoing issue in the City of Lowell for some time," Robinson said "there is no maintenance plan in place and without one our buildings will continue to fall into disrepair."

There has been a history of non-bargaining unit work being performed in Lowell schools dating back a number of years. With over forty city owned buildings to maintain and repair on a daily basis, the approximately 20 members of Local 1705 charged with maintaining the buildings are stretched to the limit. Local 1705 has over 230 members across a variety of city departments in Lowell. With librarians, dispatchers, public health nurses, clerical workers, tradespeople, and many others Local 1705 helps make Lowell work.

The arbitrator's decision reaffirms the right of Local 1705 members to perform work in City of Lowell buildings and to be informed by the city when any such work is to be started. The 330 plus hours of overtime pay will be split among the foreman and tradespeople in the Lowell Department of Public Works who were denied their contractually guaranteed work.