Barrington workers want union by April 5

BARRINGTON—The Barrington town board has until Friday, April 5, to formally recognize the unionization request of five medium equipment operators or risk being forced to meet the employees’ demands.
The town board, the five workers, and two representatives from Teamsters Union Local 118 from Rochester all met Monday, March 25. Paul Markwitz, Teamsters business agent, said the town requested an additional 10 days to consider the request.
The Barrington town board met the following Wednesday, March 27, and held an executive session about the union. However, no decision was made at that time. During the meeting, Supervisor Fred Wright said, “hopefully the situation won’t cost the taxpayers anything additional.”
While the board did not vote then, Wright said after the meeting that, “no matter what happens, we’re going to have to deal with the teamsters.” He added it was his personal opinion the board should recognize the union. Wright explained, “it’s going to happen either way.”
“If they either don’t respond or reject the request, we will process the showing of interest through (Public Employment Relations Board),” said Markwitz.
PERB was established under the Taylor Law, allowing public workers to unionize. Fred Cratsley Jr., one of the five town equipment operators, said if the town makes no decision, PERB will authenticate the workers’ request and make a ruling. He added the town has to abide by the decision.
Cratsley added the operators have a long list of requests, not just wages. However, he said he “preferred not to say” what that included. Markwitz added those proposals won’t be available until after the recognition process is completed.