Sign the Deal, Brookline 04/06/2016

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Nearly 200 AFSCME members descended on Brookline Town Hall recently to protest management's decision to back out of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) reached by both parties after several months of contract negotiations.

Town employees and members of other unions showed their disappointment with Brookline Town Administrator Melvin Kleckner and Human Resources Director Sandra DeBow through chants and signs and urged the Board of Selectman to vote on the MOA.

Bruce Genest speaks to Brookline SelectmenLocal 1358 President Bruce Genest Speaks to the Brookline Board of Selectmen on March 15.
(Zac Bears/AFSCME Council 93)


Members and supporters chanted "sign the deal," "we want Mel" and "DeBow must go" to show their opposition to the town's handling of collective bargaining negotiations with AFSCME Local 1358. After the rally, members of Local 1358 and other unions showed solidarity by attending a meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

AFSCME and town management officials held eight negotiating sessions over the course of several months, and after ten hours of negotiating on February 2, union representatives reached an agreement for a new contract with the town. The agreement was documented in a formal MOA prepared and typed word-for-word by the town's attorney.

"Like any negotiation process, concessions needed to be made by both sides," Local 1358 President Bruce Genest said to the Board of Selectmen on March 15. "In the end, we believed it was a fair agreement and added our signatures to it."

Supporters rally at Brookline Town HallAFSCME supporters rally in front of Brookline Town Hall on March 15. (Zac Bears/AFSCME Council 93)

Under the collective bargaining process and state law, Kleckner's team was obligated to bring the MOA to the Board of Selectmen for their approval. Unfortunately, they failed to meet that obligation. One month later, after multiple unreturned phone calls, our union was informed by DeBow that Kleckner's negotiators would not bring the MOA to the Board of Selectmen for approval. Instead, they wanted to re-open negotiations to secure a concession on the wage increases included in the MOA.

The union views the actions of Kleckner's team as a violation of state collective bargaining law, and as such AFSCME Council 93 filed formal charges of "bad faith bargaining" with the Division of Labor Relations.

"This type of action by management will not be tolerated by our union," Council 93 Executive Director Frank Moroney said. "Successful negotiations require that both sides keep their word and follow established processes. We did our part, but unfortunately we can't same the same for the town."

AFSCME supporters march to Brookline Town HallAFSCME supporters march to Brookline Town Hall on March 15. (Zac Bears/AFSCME Council 93)

"These men and women, in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in other unions, are the beating heart of the Town of Brookline," Genest said. "That is why it is such a shame we have to be here tonight."

(Watch video of Bruce Genest's statement to the Board of Selectmen on March 15 here. Join our Facebook event for the April 12 Fair Contract Rally here.)

Genest said that the morale of Brookline's public service workers had never been so low in his 27 years of working for the town. Even with the high turnout, many workers told Genest they wouldn't be at the meeting because they feared retaliatory discipline from town administration.

Even after our show of strength in March, Brookline's Board of Selectmen and Town Administration refuse to accept the MOA. So we are going back to Brookline Town Hall on Tuesday, April 12. We need to bring an even bigger crowd to show management that their actions against the people who keep Brookline clean and safe are unacceptable. Share our event and invite your brothers, sisters, friends and family to show their support for the workers who make Brookline great.