Union: Community Action Agency boss harms workers with contract proposals

A union representing employees of the Lorain County Community Action Agency has mobilized its message of strained union negotiations with the agency and its president and CEO, Jackie Boehnlein. Service Employees International Union District 1199 alleges that Boehnlein has made proposals, including removing from the union contract language that encourages a good working relationship between management and the union, and has proposed removing or restricting the rights of employees to file grievances over sexual harassment and racial discrimination claims. The union has hired a mobile billboard to drive around Lorain with Boehnlein's photo on it, informing residents she is "actively attacking our union, its members and families," Anthony Caldwell, executive vice president of SEIU District 1199 WV/KY/OH, said in a written statement. The text on the side of the black truck, which was parked outside the LCCAA offices at 936 Broadway in Lorain on Tuesday afternoon, reads: "Why Jackie Boehnlein? Why? Why are you attacking workers who help our most vulnerable neighbors?" On the back, it reads: "LCCAA workers help the most vulnerable in our communities. Jackie Boehnlein is trying to take away their rights and silence their voices on the job. Why is she attacking those who help the most? Ask her yourself." It includes Boehnlein's phone number. The truck will be traveling around the LCCAA offices as well as through the neighborhood where Boehnlein lives. Radio and internet advertisements also are planned. The private, nonprofit agency's mission, according to its website, is "to serve and empower Lorain County residents in need" through programming such as Head Start or the Home Energy Assistance Program for low- to moderate-income families. The union's statement said proposals the agency has put forward during negotiations are "an outrageous attack on the SEIU 1199 members and their families." The proposal to remove language regarding having a good working relationship with union members, according to Caldwell, "makes it clear you have no intention of having a productive working relationship." "These proposals are a slap in the face to these members and the hard work they put in for the agency you run," he said, addressing Boehnlein directly through his statement. "These proposals take away the basic right members have fought for since 1998." Caldwell wrote that since Boehnlein became president and CEO of the LCCAA in 2012, she has "been on a seeming vendetta against the members at LCCAA in a quest for power over their lives … You are trying to take away their basic rights. You are trying to take benefits away from our members. You are threatening the livelihoods of our members and threatening their (families') financial stability." The statement indicates the union also has done research on the LCCAA's board of directors. "We have research profiles on all of them and will act accordingly to let the communities they live in know what they are complicit in," Caldwell wrote. Other tactics could include installing a 15-foot tall, inflatable "fat cat" that is "waiting to go up outside (Boehnlein's) office," Caldwell wrote. Such inflatables were recently ruled as constitutionally protected speech by the National Labor Relations Board. "We will leaflet your neighborhoods, churches and places of business. We will let this community know what you are doing," he wrote. "We will bargain in good faith, and we will fight back with all the tools at our disposal. The choice is yours." Caldwell also questioned why Boehnlein would "want to allow discrimination and harassment in your place of business?" "You will need to come up with an answer to that question because we will be letting your board and the community that you have proposed to take those protections away in the contract. The ball is in your court," he wrote. LCCAA responds Boehnlein said she could not offer any comments Tuesday on the union's activity because of ongoing contract negotiations. "We are in contract negotiations, we're in conference today, so I really don't have much of a comment," she told a Chronicle reporter by telephone. "All I can tell you is we are bargaining in good faith for a contract that we believe both serves our employees and the community and will continue to do so until we reach a contract. … It's a process and we are following it." She then pointed to the agency website, which contains more information regarding contract talks. According to the website, the agency's three-year contract with the SEIU expires Aug. 7, and negotiations on a new contract began June 23. Further meetings were held June 30. The website states the agency and union merged their proposals during a July 13 bargaining session, each bringing to the table what they wanted to see in the new contract. The LCCAA's negotiation website says the union and management have had trouble merging proposed contract language, with the union either "confused" or not understanding the process of each side making recommendations for change and then editing the contract to reflect those changes. Further counteroffers were to be provided by the union Monday, and a further bargaining session was being held Tuesday. It is not the first time the union and LCCAA have butted heads over contract negotiations. During negotiations in May 2020, the union protested health care coverage changes made by the agency, saying employees were being forced to pay more for health care as the agency tried to reduce employer contributions, The Chronicle-Telegram reported at the time. At the time, Boehnlein told the Chronicle that insurance premiums had increased, which were not part of the negotiated contract. There were no cuts to benefits, only increased premiums, she said. The union also filed several unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the matter. It wasn't immediately clear what the outcome of those charges was. The union represents full-time and part-time administrative aides, assistant teachers, cooks, Head Start home visitors and teachers, custodians, food service workers, energy and emergency services advocates, and warehouse workers at LCCAA, according to its contract. It is the only representative bargaining unit for the agency. Its contract proposals, provided to LCCAA in a document June 30, include rate of pay during a declared emergency; adding Juneteenth to a list of 11 paid holidays for employees; changes in the classification of temporary employees and how long they may be used; reserved sick time compensation; bereavement leave; adding nurse practitioners to a list of medical professionals who may provide notes for approved absences; and some changes in how grievances may be settled between the agency and the union. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.