Ortonville- Contract talks between the village and the Teamsters Local 214 representing the Ortonville Department of Public Works employees are going to mediation.
A negotiation session planned for Sept. 29 was cancelled when village attorney Rick Fanning called Local 214 trustee Les Barrett to inform him the village was setting up a meeting with the state mediator. The development came after a closed session on labor contract negotiations at the village’s Sept. 26 meeting.
Under the Public Employees Relations Act, Barrett says, the law provides for public employees to negotiate, mediate and go to fact-finding in regards to resolving negotiations for contracts in the state of Michigan.
‘This is the second step of that process to allow public employees to obtain a contract with a public employer,? Barrett said. ‘In this case, the employer is seeking mediation. We’ve not reached agreement on all the issues and the employer believes that having assistance of a mediator may assist in reaching an agreement.?
Village Manager Ed Coy had no comment.
The DPW employees filed for Teamsters Local 214 representation in April 2003. The union is the largest in the state with more than 9,000 members, including three bargaining units at the Brandon School District’food service, custodial and maintenance, bus drivers, and mechanics.
The village objected to the DPW supervisor being included in the bargaining unit, but following a hearing in December 2003 before an administrative law judge for the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, the commission ruled in favor of all three DPW employees being included in the bargaining unit. Bargaining rights were awarded after a 2-1 vote in a September 2004 election.
Contract talks began April 7 and the last meeting, the eighth between the two sides, was Sept. 22. Barrett says about 20 issues remain unresolved out of about 50.
In the mediation scheduled for Oct. 24, a state employee funded by taxpayers will attempt to help the two sides resolve open issues. The mediator’s only goal is to get an agreement, says Barrett. Mediation will continue, with possible additional meetings, as long as progress is deemed able to be made. If mediation does not resolve all issues, the sides will go to fact-finding, which Barrett likens to arbitration, in which each side explains to a fact-finder why they believe they are correct and the fact-finder makes a recommendation.
Mediation is successful 95-98 percent of the time, Barrett said.