Meredith considers going union

fatlazyless · 12-04-2008, 06:08 AM

The Meredith Department of Public Works which has 34 employees has filed a petition with the State of New Hampshire's Labor Relations Board to form a collective bargaining unit. Town representatives and town attorneys have various objections and appeared before the board yesterday. The petiton was filed with the state board by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1984, in September.

Meredith is a central New Hampshire town of about 6000 residents, and has about 78 town employees which does not include the public school employees as they are part of a separate school administrative unit that includes the neighboring towns of Sandwich and Center Harbor.

With 34 out of 78 total town employees, the public works department is the largest single department except for the school.

In September 2007. the nearby town of Gilford's police department chose to be represented by the Teamster's Union. The Gilford DPW had earlier gone union with the S.E.I.U., too.

"State law requires at least 10 employees to comprise a bargaining unit unless the governing body, in this case the Board of Selectmen, expressly agree to a smaller unit." www.citizen.com, news reports, Dec 3 & 4, 2008 by Gail Ober & Erin Plummer
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I believe that one of the arguments in favor of unionization is that it allows for private, ballot booth, voting on a paper ballot, similar to how we vote for political candidates, as opposed to a public show of hands when voting work related issues.

So, for the 6000 residents of Meredith, the five Meredith selectmen, and especially for the Meredith property tax payer, who pays for everything in Meredith: is having town employees choosing to be represented by a union in their contract agreements a good thing or a bad thing or just a ho-hum thing? What do you think?

12-04-2008, 06:08 AM	#1
fatlazyless Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 9,169 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 310 Thanked 1,103 Times in 812 Posts	Meredith considers going union The Meredith Department of Public Works which has 34 employees has filed a petition with the State of New Hampshire's Labor Relations Board to form a collective bargaining unit. Town representatives and town attorneys have various objections and appeared before the board yesterday. The petiton was filed with the state board by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1984, in September. Meredith is a central New Hampshire town of about 6000 residents, and has about 78 town employees which does not include the public school employees as they are part of a separate school administrative unit that includes the neighboring towns of Sandwich and Center Harbor. With 34 out of 78 total town employees, the public works department is the largest single department except for the school. In September 2007. the nearby town of Gilford's police department chose to be represented by the Teamster's Union. The Gilford DPW had earlier gone union with the S.E.I.U., too. "State law requires at least 10 employees to comprise a bargaining unit unless the governing body, in this case the Board of Selectmen, expressly agree to a smaller unit." www.citizen.com, news reports, Dec 3 & 4, 2008 by Gail Ober & Erin Plummer ...... . I believe that one of the arguments in favor of unionization is that it allows for private, ballot booth, voting on a paper ballot, similar to how we vote for political candidates, as opposed to a public show of hands when voting work related issues. So, for the 6000 residents of Meredith, the five Meredith selectmen, and especially for the Meredith property tax payer, who pays for everything in Meredith: is having town employees choosing to be represented by a union in their contract agreements a good thing or a bad thing or just a ho-hum thing? What do you think? __________________ .... Banned for life from local thrift store! Last edited by fatlazyless; 12-04-2008 at 10:57 AM.