Public Employee Press

Bellevue clericals win reverse out-of-title case

“No duties of a clerical nature can be assigned to the nonclerical staff at Bellevue Hospital.”

So ruled an impartial arbitrator April 11, unequivocally upholding for the second time the position of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 in a “reverse out-of-title” dispute at the huge health care facility.

As reported in the April PEP while the decision was still pending, Chief Shop Steward Jamaisa Johnson and Shop Steward Cynthia Meyers offered critical testimony regarding the timekeeping function at Bellevue. Between them, the two have over 20 years of experience doing the job.

“This thorough victory would not have been possible without the hard work and valuable testimony of these two stewards,” said Assistant General Counsel Joseph Barrett, who handled the case for theDC 37 Legal Dept.

This sweeping arbitration decision underscores a prior reverse out-of-title award on the same question that said management has no right to assign clerical functions to nonclerical staff.

The new decision makes it clear that management has been systematically violating Article VI of the Clerical Agreement.

“Management manages to mismanage,” said Assistant Clerical Division Director Renee Gainer. “When members come to the union with a grievance, we do our best to resolve the issue, if need be through an arbitration.”

On the second round, the arbitrator upheld the grievance with a strong warning to management that, “since this issue has again been decided in favor of the union, it would not be productive to be brought before another arbitrator in the future.”

Now, Grievance Rep Nina Perez, who rebutted management’s claims at the arbitration, is cautiously optimistic that this second victory will put an end to the widespread practice at Bellevue.

“I’m hoping this award will eliminate a lot of the problem because it addresses it at the root,” she said.