Iowa: Complaint Against County Union Head Rejected
According to the WCFCourier:
WATERLOO --- An administrative law judge has tossed out a complaint Black Hawk County filed against one of its employee union representatives.
Administrative Law Judge James McClimon dismissed the complaint the county filed earlier this year with the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board against Joe Rasmussen, the business representative for Public Professional and Maintenance Employees Local 2003.
County officials filed the complaint with PERB after Rasmussen approached the Board of Supervisors at several meetings asking them to set up a process for workers to appeal management disciplinary action. The supervisors previously had stripped the grievance process from union contracts saying it wasn't a required subject of collective bargaining.
But McClimon said PERB did not have jurisdiction over the noncontractual issues Rasmussen was raising before the board.
Assistant County Attorney David Mason said he was reviewing the decision and the county's options in the matter.
"Iowa Code Chapter 20 has a specific framework that's established ... on how to bargain and negotiate," Mason said. "We had concerns about whether (Rasmussen's actions) were within that framework, and we simply requested review of the PERB board because we wanted to know."...click to continue.
