MORGANTOWN — According to United Mine Workers of America International District 31 Vice President Michael Payton, 90% of the employees in the Monongalia County Assessor’s Office backed UMWA representation in the union vote held Sept. 26.
Further, he said the assessor’s office likely won’t be the only office in the Monongalia County Courthouse to hold such an election.
“In the Mon County Courthouse, we’ve had a lot of people reach out to us in other departments,” Payton told The Dominion Post following Wednesday’s Monongalia County Commission meeting.
He declined when asked which constitutional offices he was referring to.
“There is two to three other elected official departments in the courthouse where the employees have reached out to us and said, ‘We want to see what’s going to happen with [the assessor’s office], but we want to join also.’ That process is being started now.”
Payton, who goes by “Biggin,” attended Wednesday’s meeting to ask the commission to honor the vote in the assessor’s office and sit down with union representatives to discuss a path forward.
Members of the commission indicated they are willing to talk.
“You certainly have the right to request a work session with the commission, and rather than going back and forth, I think we ought to have that,” Commission President Sean Sikora said. “The commission has made their position on this matter perfectly clear in the past, but we’re certainly willing to have a conversation.”
In its only real public comment on the issue, the commission issued a letter to Payton which stated, in part, “We do not agree that having an intervening third party to represent the employees is in the best interest of our employees, nor would it be beneficial to the overall governance of Monongalia County.”
Following the meeting, Payton conceded the commission can choose not to engage with the union, explaining, “they have to ultimately agree to this.”
“They can absolutely say, ‘Biggin, we don’t want no part of this union, and we don’t think anybody should be in this union.’ They can say that. But it seems to me saying you don’t care what 90% of these employees think because you know better is not a popular position to take. So, you’ve either got to own that position or you have to bargain with us,” he said.
“What I can tell you for sure is we’re not going to stop until we get a collective bargaining agreement for the assessors.”
