Public Employee Press

Members sculpt grievance wins at Met Museum

Five Metropolitan Museum of Art employees who filed grievances with help from Local 1503 President Robert Schirmer and the DC 37 White Collar Division won reinstatement, back pay, and a promotion. The grievances were filed in Oct. 2004 and settled in September.

The string of union victories showed that “We will not tolerate contract violations and we will fight for every member’s rights,” said Schirmer.

After a verbal disagreement with his supervisor, Assistant Maintainer Freddie Mendez was suspended without pay for 30 work days. With Rep John Jordan, he grieved. At Step 2, management offered a settlement with a one-day suspension and reinstated Mendez with $4,475 in back pay plus restoration of his vacation and sick time.

Working on a weekend, Maintainer Chris Lachhman got sick on the job. After he tried but failed to reach management, he informed the Security Dept.

Still management docked him a day’s pay and placed a warning in his employment file. Lachhman grieved the penalties and filed a separate grievance after management denied him union representation at a meeting that resulted in a verbal warning.

Members’ right to representation
“Anytime a union member requests representation in a meeting that could result in disciplinary action, management is supposed to stop the proceedings. Otherwise it’s a violation of his rights,” said Rep John Jordan.

Lachhman won both grievances, Jordan said, and the museum granted his sick day and removed the warnings from his file.

For months the museum’s Roofing Shop employees worked with no Supervisor. After DC 37 members grieved management’s failure to offer a test for the position, management offered the promotional exam, and a Local 1503 member was promoted to Supervisor.

Special Officer Beatrice Marshall exhausted her sick leave and asked to use her vacation time as she recovered from a long illness. The museum denied her legitimate request, placed her on probation for 90 days, charging that she “abused sick time,” and put a disciplinary letter in her file.

Marshall grieved the matter and won, the disciplinary letter was removed and the probation period was reversed, said Jordan, because the “member had a right to use her annual leave to cover a legitimate illness.”