From the "News" page of www.necops.org
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Curry College Settles Prohibited Practice Charges Filed by the New England Coalition of Public Safety[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In November of 2008, the overwhelming majority of the officers employed by the Curry College Department of Public Safety provided the New England Coalition of Public Safety (NECOPS) a petition requesting that NECOPS act as their exclusive bargaining agent and representative. The Curry Officers are non-union, but decided to follow the lead of many other groups in the area and join the only union in New England dedicated to representing private sector public safety officers and support personnel.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]NECOPS submitted the petition and a request for voluntary recognition to Curry College on November 17, 2008. Not surprisingly, the request for voluntary recognition was denied and NECOPS filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in December. The purpose of the petition filed with the NLRB was to obtain a representative election to allow the Curry College Officers the opportunity to have a secret ballot election to vote for or against joining NECOPS.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Long before the Curry College Officers would have the opportunity to vote, they were summoned to a meeting with the President of Curry College, Ken Quigley and the Director of Public Safety, Brian Greeley. Going into the meeting, the union had overwhelming support from the Officers. At the conclusion of the meeting, many of those same officers feared that they would lose many of the benefits they currently enjoy. Some even feared losing their jobs.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After gathering more information, it was clear to the NECOPS leadership and NECOPS Chief Counsel Michael Hanley of Hanley, Hassett and Fitzsimmons from Quincy that Curry College had violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and NECOPS filed a total of 12 charges of prohibited practice against Curry College and the administration. The NLRB assigned the case to an Attorney who conducted a very thorough investigation. The investigation itself took months to complete. Curry College initially refused to cooperate with the NLRB, and eventually was forced to turn over documents regarding the charges.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Curry College Public Safety Officer Jeff Lurie led the charge to join NECOPS. Jeff is a dedicated employee who has been given immense responsibility by the College because he is very intelligent and good at what he does. He is also a strong union supporter, and he knew it would be in the best interest of all of Curry’s officers to form a Local of NECOPS. It was Jeff who went to each officer to explain the benefits of joining NECOPS and ask them if they wished to sign the petition.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Curry College decided it would be in their best interest to settle the case. The NLRB and NECOPS would only agree to the settlement if Jeff and his fellow officers were strongly protected against retaliation and retribution by Curry College. The settlement agreement does just that.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Curry College now has to post a federal “Notice To Employees” for 60 days prior to the re-scheduled representative election, which will now take place on July 9, 2009.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The New England Coalition of Public Safety made a promise to Jeff and the rest of the officers from Curry College to support them through every step of this process. We did not, and will not, allow Curry College to “bully” their officers into voting against the union. That is a decision that must be made by each individual officer after he or she has been educated and informed about the benefits of joining the organization.[/FONT]
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