Montgomery County Ordered to Bargain with UFCW 1994 MCGEO

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Montgomery County violated its own collective bargaining law when it refused last fall to bargain on eight topics, County Labor Relations Administrator Jerome Barrett ruled last week. The decision “represents a significant moral victory” for UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, the union said. “These are all things that affect our members’ lives deeply and personally,” said 1994 President Gino Renne (left). “We’re appalled at management’s arrogance in attempting to dodge meaningful discussions on these topics.” Chiding County negotiators, Barrett noted in his decision that while Local 1994 approach to negotiations is “much more compatible with the ‘new normal’ in today’s collective bargaining,” the County’s tactics are “more akin to the ‘old normal’ collective bargaining marked by traditional adversarial bargaining, lawyer driven definitions” and a generally more confrontational process. Things may not have changed much: a day before Barrett’s decision was released, Local 1994 filed a new charge related to the current round of negotiations. The union charges that management is refusing to provide vital information on the pension plan covering County workers. “We’re going to be bulldogs about safeguarding our bargaining rights,” Renne promised, warning that County management “can either work with us or spend all their time and waste a lot of taxpayers money fixing their own mistakes." - photo of 1994 President Gino Renne by Chris Garlock