Johnny Carson, the late king of late night TV, actually got his start on a 1950's afternoon show called "Who Do You Trust?" It was played for laughs, but there is a far more serious version now going on in Quakertown.
Battle lines are being drawn in the borough's impending showdown with the Operating Engineers union. The winners won't be known for some time yet. But the losers are certain - you. Loss of your tax dollars, paying for tons of unnecessary legal fees. And loss of trust in your elected leaders and staff, who can't even decide who actually speaks for the borough. It's Hatboro Deja Vu all over again.
Qtown's workers appear overwhelmingly committed to OE representation. And although the official vote can't take place until June 14, the union has already appeared at council meetings, and filed two lawsuits on behalf of those employees, including the accusation that council illegally met to plan the outsourcing of most of the town's blue-collar jobs.
The borough, represented by manager David Woglom, and labor attorney Joe Rudolf, is fighting the union tooth and nail. Why? It's not an issue of money. The workers aren't asking for a raise. It's not hours, time off, or most benefits. In fact, taxpayers will actually save money, since employees would move to the union's health care plan. But those savings could be more than offset by the potentially huge borough legal fees to fight the OE. And for what?
Control. Woglom fears losing the total control he now has over the employees. His dictatorial attitude has been the friction point for years. The town's workforce is fed up with his unilateral changes in their insurance, health care, working conditions, and pensions. They are tired of being the scapegoats for his own shenanigans.
Back in April, council held a late-night secret executive session, followed by the surprise announcement that they were authorizing Woglom to study the possibility of outsourcing. But my three Open Records Law requests to the borough established that he never actually gathered any information. And outsourcing certainly could never happen if the workers join a union.
So it came as more than a bit of a surprise when, on June 2, Joe Rudolph hinted to OE attorney Lou Agre that there would be no need for a union, since things are about to "change drastically", and "there will be only eight workers in the whole borough".
But Councilman David Zaiser disagrees: "The only thing ever discussed (by council) in regards to outsourcing is the possibility. The extent and amount of outsourcing has never been discussed. So I do not believe this to be the case. This has not been part of any discussions with council, so neither Joe, nor anyone could make that statement". The borough's labor attorney, and a councilman, have totally opposite stances on Qtown's plans. Who Do You Trust?
Then there is the borough's flip-flop regarding which workers could actually be in the union. Last year, council approved a 35-person bargaining unit. One man left, and the other 34 are still listed on the OE roster. But now council has a new scheme. They are trying to claim that four pro-union employees, whose titles have always been "foremen", are now actually "supervisors", and not eligible to vote for the union. Unlike other supervisors, they'll get no extra pay, no extra responsibility. Nothing different than last year. Nothing different than yesterday. But they are now management!
And how about this for duplicity: two other foremen, in the sewer department, who are anti-union, are not designated "supervisors". They can vote - the borough's way! Who Do You Trust ? The state labor relations board will hold a hearing this Friday at 8:30 am at borough hall.
There are several possible scenarios for this battle, and most of them are not good for the local citizens. The least expensive option is for council to merely accept the OE - with or without an actual union vote. Cost - zero. In fact, with the union's health plan the borough probably saves money. Your money. And the workers would no doubt drop the pending lawsuits, saving you even more.
On the other hand, council could continue their hard line. The union vote could be delayed for months, or longer, while Rudolf receives thousands of dollars in legal fees. Agre says that Rudolf has threatened to "tie the OE up in court until 2008". That was exactly the situation recently in Hatboro, where council recognized the Teamsters, and then fought for three years over the contract. Meanwhile, the taxpayers paid. And paid. And paid. "I just think we're wasting taxpayers' time and money playing games with labor attorneys," said Hatboro councilman John Taggart.
The Intelligencer reported on August 1, 2005, "As contention mounts between Hatboro officials and the union, so do taxpayers' bills. Officials disclosed this month that $50,000 has been spent in just the past year and a half of negotiations with Teamsters Local 830. And there's no settlement on the horizon."
And who was the labor attorney for Hatboro? Joe Rudolf. And what was the most volatile issue? Whether the borough should be allowed to outsource work. The Teamsters said that Rudolf's plan would let the borough lay off the entire public works department. Hatboro officials said that was not their intention. All sound familiar? Who Do You Trust?
Finally, in 2005, Hatboro citizens said "no more". After three years of fighting, and more than $50,000 wasted, they threw four councilmen and the mayor out of office. The new administration took over in January, 2006. Their first vote was to dump the borough's labor attorney - Joe Rudolf. Four months later a new deal was completed.
Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it.