CANFIELD TOWNSHIP Union leader: no work stoppage

Teamsters have filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the township.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Canfield Township Trustee Judy Bayus won't stop the township's employees from coming to work Wednesday.
Chris Colello, president of Teamsters Local 377, said there will be no work stoppage in the township, even though Bayus hasn't signed or voted to approve the employees' new contract.
Current pact
The employees' current contract expires at midnight tonight.The Teamsters represent Zoning Inspector Dave Morrison and Road Department Supervisor Gary Cook, as well as the township's three road department employees and the trustees' office manager.
Trustees William Reese and Paul Moracco each voted twice to approve the new three-year contract, which includes a 4 percent annual raise for employees. Bayus voted against the contract twice.
Colello said that according to the State Employment Relations Board, only two of the three trustees must approve the contract for it to take effect.
Bayus could not be reached to comment.
Letter
In a letter dated Dec. 24, she wrote that during contract negotiations, "I presented issues of concern on the table for consideration that were never addressed and totally ignored."
The letter, which was addressed to Warren Attorney Mark Finamore, do not identify those issues. Finamore represented the trustees in the negotiations.
Bayus also wrote that additional meetings should have been held to scrutinize the proposal.
Reese said he felt the union and trustees had addressed all of the questions from Bayus during negotiations Nov. 27. Reese noted that Bayus didn't comment on the contract during trustee meetings.
Both Reese and Colello also said that during negotiations, Bayus agreed to approve the contract.
Bayus wrote in her letter that she agreed only that trustees should vote on the contract.
"We just want her to step up and be true to her word," Colello said. "If she says one thing and does another, that's definitely not what [township residents] elected her for."
Complaint
The last vote on the contract was Dec. 23. On Friday, the Teamsters filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the township with SERB.
"I think she left us open to the complaint. It could cost us a lot of money," Reese said.
Finamore wrote a letter to Bayus on Dec. 20 stating that if SERB finds against the township, he will recommend that Reese and Moracco take court action to force her to pay the township's legal costs.
Bayus responded in her letter that she felt Finamore was trying to, "assassinate my character." She added that she believed trustees hadn't hired Finamore as their negotiator.
Minutes from the trustees meeting Jan. 2, 2002, show that trustees voted 2-1 to use Finamore, "only after we have exhausted all avenues with the prosecuting attorney." Bayus voted against the motion.
Morrison said that employees felt they had been deceived by Bayus.
"Everybody was shocked," he said. "All that Mrs. Bayus does is demoralizing ... the morale of the employees over the last couple of years has been horrible because of stuff like this.
"That's why the Teamsters are going through with this. We're tired of it," Morrison said.
hill@vindy.com