Adams Public Employees Petition for Union
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According to Marilyn Kolis, administrative assistant to the director of public works, "a majority" of the municipal employees signed a petition last month asking to be recognized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 93.
Council 93 represents 45,000 public workers in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
"We no longer want to be at-will employees. With budgets and everything else going on, whenever there's a hit to be taken, it's with the employees, whether it's hours or pay or whatever," said Kolis on Wednesday.
Kolis said the decision to unionize was a result of continued tension between the 30 to 35 employees — which include Town Hall and Council on Aging workers and library staff — and town officials. Additionally, Town Administrator William Ketcham's role as the personnel director seems like a conflict of interest, added Kolis.
"There's just no channel of communication. Obviously, Ketcham's first interest is to the town so we have nobody to speak for us, to stand up for us," Kolis said. "We feel like we're expendable to them and we're trying to protect ourselves."
Contacted on Monday, Ketcham said the town had received a petition from AFSCME, seeking recognition of the union but the process is still in the beginning stages and no action has been taken. He had no further comment.
Kolis said she was told that the town must respond to the petition and make determinations on which employees should be included in the union.
"Some people can be excluded for confidentiality reasons," explained Kolis, who also said department heads cannot be part of the union. "They were supposed to make that decision by March 17 but I haven't heard anything about it yet."
The town's Police and Highway departments are already unionized, each with its own bargaining unit. Saying the town employees are in the minority when it comes to unions, Kolis noted that joining AFSCME is merely an attempt to seek better representation for the town's employees.
"We like our jobs and we want to do what's best for the town. We just want to have a voice," she said. "We want to make sure the town appreciates and supports their employees for a long time."
Kolis said union talk has been circulating for years but it wasn't until the fall that many began to take the prospect seriously. Several factors contributed to the desire to unionize, including a perceived lack of equity for all employees and no sense of job security.
Though the forming of the union is "still in the planning stages" and no union stewards have been appointed or committees formed, Kolis said she looks forward to future negotiations.
"We don't want to start any trouble. We just want fairness and equality," she said.
