MORGANTOWN — On Oct. 2, Monongalia County Commission President Sean Sikora indicated the commission would be willing to “have a conversation” with representatives of the United Mine Workers of America regarding the union’s representation of employees in the assessor’s office.
That conversation was scheduled to take place Wednesday during a work session following the regular commission meeting.
The commission reached out to the UMWA on Tuesday to postpone the sit-down.
UMWA International District 31 Vice President Michael Payton said he’s disappointed with the delay.
“It’s being looked upon like it is a political football being kicked down the road until after the election,” he said.
The union has endorsed Republican challenger MaryAnn Folz in her run against two-term incumbent Democrat Tom Bloom for the Western District commission seat.
The commission says that’s not the case, noting the delay was caused by the UMWA’s decision to get lawyers involved.
In a three-page letter received Monday, UMWA General Counsel Kevin Fagan explained he was reaching out ahead of the work session to “make clear the lawfulness of collective bargaining between public entities and labor unions … and request recognition by the commission of the UMWA as the collective bargaining representative of employees of the Assessor’s Office.”
In response, the commission postponed the work session, “In order to have adequate time to review Mr. Fagan’s letter with our own legal counsel.”
At the heart of the issue is a Sept. 26 vote in support of UMWA representation by employees of the Monongalia County Assessor’s Office and whether the commission intends to recognize the union as the collective bargaining representative of those employees.
As Fagan explained in his letter, “West Virginia has neither a statute guaranteeing the right to collectively bargain nor a statute prohibiting collective bargaining. Generally, therefore, each public employer may choose to recognize and bargain with the chosen representative of its employees.”
“May” being the operative word.
In his comments Wednesday, Payton asked the commission to publicly declare its position.
“It’s as simple as a yes or a no. There’s no dancing. There’s no legal. We don’t have to call legal. Do you all recognize us as their representative or not,” he asked.
The commission didn’t respond directly. When asked by The Dominion Post, Sikora again pointed to the body’s initial May 22 response, which seems to have provided that answer.
It states, 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.”
Further, in an Oct. 23 correspondence to the UMWA setting up the canceled work session, the commission wrote “This work session is not to be construed as a change of position by the Commission or the Commission recognizing, bargaining with, or otherwise conferring any type of representational status or rights upon the UMWA.”
County Administrator Rennetta McClure said the matter of rescheduling the work session is on hold until the commission hears back from its legal counsel.
