Source: MetroNews
Date: November 14, 2024
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Commission says it’s not going to negotiate with workers in the Monongalia County Assessor’s Office who recently joined the UMWA.
“West Virginia law in turn does not recognize the right of public employees to go on strike or be represented by a union for purposes of collective bargaining, mediation, or arbitration,” Commission President Sean Sikora said.
UMWA District 31 Vice President Mike “Biggin” Payton has been attending commission meetings for the last several months and said the union has no plans to walk away from the results of the secret ballot election calling for representation by the UMWA.
“The people overwhelmingly voted to be represented by a union, and we will not stop until their voices are heard,” Payton said.
Sikora cited a case from the 1990s involving the Jefferson County Board of Education vs. The Jefferson County Education Association, which is established law that makes unionizing public employees unlawful.
“From that case, public employees have no right to strike in the absence of expressed legislation or, at the very least, appropriate statutory provisions for collective bargaining and mediation,” Sikora said.
Payton believes the law being used by the commission is being misapplied to public employees and only governs public educators.
“The part of the law they’re using we believe relates to educators, public education, and teachers not being able to strike,” Payton said.
Sikora said employees can be affiliated with or support an organization but legally they cannot come between the employee-employer relationship within a government unit.
“While public employees may decide to support a public organization, that does not give that organization the right to represent those employees in collective bargaining,” Sikora said. “The commission is not willing to voluntarily give representational rights to third-party organizations when those rights are not recognized by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.”
Written By: Mike Nolting
