While the Lysander Town Board approved a new contract Aug. 24 for the Teamsters Local 317, Highway Superintendent Gene Dinsmore is claiming he was “shut out” from contract negotiations for his employees.
“I’d like the record to show that although I am the manager of that workforce … I was not permitted to observe or participate in any of the negotiations,” Dinsmore said during the Aug. 24 town board meeting’s public comment period.
The previous agreement with the Teamsters Local 317, which represents the town’s highway and parks employees, expired June 30, 2014. The town board voted Monday to sign a four-year agreement with a retroactive effective date of Jan. 1, 2015; the contract runs through Dec. 31, 2018.
Dinsmore told the Messenger that he met with Supervisor John Salisbury and town engineer Al Yager twice in the initial stages of the renegotiation process but was excluded from a negotiating committee’s later meetings.
“It quickly became obvious that they weren’t going to listen to what I had to say,” Dinsmore said.
But Salisbury and Councilor Andy Reeves contended that they had included Dinsmore in their discussions. Reeves said he recalled Dinsmore was present for at least three meetings regarding the Teamsters negotiations.
Salisbury, Reeves, Councilor Bob Geraci and town attorney Tony Rivizzigno comprised the collective bargaining committee.
“Mr. Dinsmore was brought in and we went through [the contract] line by line and then the negotiating committee took over,” Salisbury said.
“The problem was as we went through … Gene wanted to change things,” Reeves said. “Gene was unwilling to get to several key issues.”
Reeves said Dinsmore focused on smaller details within the contract, such as increasing a reimbursement for highway workers’ purchase of work boots from $150 to $200. Reeves said the negotiations had to move forward and the contract was discussed in executive session for confidentiality reasons.
“To keep it confidential, we couldn’t go to Gene,” Reeves said.
Salisbury said this round of negotiations was treated like other union contracts the town has handled. He said the collective bargaining committee consulted Dinsmore if they had questions.
“He’s going to fight this,” Salisbury said of Dinsmore’s complaints.
As for Reeves’ claim that Dinsmore was included in multiple meetings about the contract negotiations, Dinsmore said that was “not so.”
“They shut me out of it for no good reason. I believe strongly that I should have been allowed to observe or participate or given regular updates,” Dinsmore said.
Dinsmore said he was concerned the collective bargaining committee would leave out key items that he wanted included in the contract. Dinsmore said the first opportunity he had to look at the contract was at 6:30 p.m. Monday, when the town board entered into an executive session to discuss the agreement. He said he had yet to read the contract to make sure it included the items he requested.
“I’m not saying this is a bad contract. I just wish I could have participated,” he said.
Dinsmore also said he wanted to include a “specific item of management rights” that the committee did not negotiate, but he would not elaborate on what that item was.
“They asked me to swallow a bitter pill and they let me down. I believe they treated me poorly,” Dinsmore said. “I’m just stunned that they did this.”
As for the contract itself, Salisbury said much of the agreement remains the same as the previous one, which expired last year. The new contract includes the following:
- Highway employees will receive a 4 percent raise for 2015 and a 3.5 percent raise in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
- Represented employees will contribute 2 percent to their health insurance in 2015, 4 percent in 2016, 6 percent in 2017 and 8 percent in 2018.
- Overtime for parks employees has essentially been eliminated.
- New disciplinary procedures and reimbursement guidelines have been laid out.
- The union has also agreed to withdraw a grievance it had filed previously.
Also on the agenda
In addition to the Teamsters contract, the town board also addressed:
Justice audit: The board voted to accept Town Comptroller David Rahrle’s audit of the justice department for 2014.
While the judges’ accounts checked out, Rahrle found that Justice Michael M. Bryant and Justice Charles J. Mantione Jr. were late in filing fines reports for the state comptroller’s office in January and February 2014. Bryant also failed to file a monthly accountability report for the months of April, May, July, September, October, November and December 2014. Bryant’s receipt book also showed that he had not properly voided two blank receipts.
Noise complaint: Resident Tom Smith, who lives near Willett Parkway/Route 631, addressed the board on behalf of a group of neighbors who are unhappy about the traffic and noise from tractor trailers. He requested that the town board install a sign prohibiting “Jake braking,” or the use of a compression release engine brake, which can make a rumbling, staccato sound.
Supervisor John Salisbury said Route 631 was intended as a bypass to reduce traffic in the village of Baldwinsville’s Four Corners, and he pointed out that Smith must have known the area was largely industrial when he purchased his home.
Smith said the town board represents the citizens of Lysander and should help residents who are concerned with “environmental displeasures.”
“There’s no law on the books that I know of that says you can’t brake this way,” town attorney Tony Rivizzigno said. “We can’t force a ‘don’t do it.’ We can suggest they don’t do it.”
Rivizzigno suggested Smith discuss the issue with the companies whose drivers are causing the disturbance. Councilor Bob Geraci said the town board’s support would carry “some weight” with local businesses.
“I don’t see how we can enforce it,” Councilor Andy Reeves said. “I have a tough time putting up signs that have no teeth.”
“We also have property in the industrial area [where] we want to encourage new business,” Salisbury said.
Salisbury said the town board will consider the issue in a future work session.
