PARIS — “There’s obviously something wrong. … I believe the whole town was here,” Teamsters Local 340 Secretary-Treasurer Lorne Smith about the Paris employees who met with union representatives recently.
Smith said there were roughly 30 employees from the town at the meeting, which took place about a month ago. Paris has 65 employees, including 37 people on the fire department roster. Of those 65, there’s 13 in the police department, which is already unionized.
“That is pretty uncommon when you get a whole town,” he said, noting the largest group was from the fire department but there were also members of the office staff and highway department who are looking to unionize.
Town Manager Amy Bernard also confirmed there’s been talks between the union and town employees.
“I wasn’t at the meeting. I don’t have first-hand knowledge as to why but my guess is they’re trying to get some protection from all the allegations that’s going on about pay cuts and reduction in benefits,” she said.
Smith agreed with Bernard’s sentiment.
“It’s all a job security issue. … They’re scared for their future,” he said. “We’ve been talking to people in the town probably in the last six months. Kind of the catalyst to get this going is the subcontract issue with the police department.”
Smith is referring to the recent budget discussions where the selectboard and budget committee are looking to cut $500,000 from the current budget. One of the ideas on the table is to nix the police department and go with coverage from the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department.
This issue came to a head after the recent reevaluation that left many residents saying they could no longer afford their property taxes because the mil rate jumped 40 cents. The current Paris tax rate is $18.30 per $1,000 of assessed value. In September, resident and business owner Scott Buffington presented the town a citizens’ petition to cap the tax rate to the most recent state average of $14.49, but the town’s attorney said the petition was invalid.
Selectman Mike Risica said he’s concerned town’s taxpayers who pay the salaries of employees and that the benefits will be dictated by an international union.
“In efforts for the town to try to save money in the upcoming budget, numerous cuts have been proposed that could affect employee positions, hours and benefits. A group of employees, many of whom do not reside in Paris, have tried to selfishly hijack the process, and are attempting to form a union to protect themselves,” he wrote in an email.
“There is no concern for the residents of Paris who can’t afford to pay their taxes. Who is protecting them? They can’t form a union. By cutting the budget we are trying to reduce taxes and the burden on our taxpayers.”
Selectman Janet Jamison, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, said she’s a member of a union.
“When it comes down to it we have no say in it,” she said about the selectboard weighing in on town employees joining the union. “We have to allow them to vote [to join the union] and we go from there. I think we’re going to be looking a year, a year and a half out because that takes a long time.”
She gets where town employees are coming from, but she also sympathizes with her fellow residents and taxpayers.
“I understand people are scared and I don’t want people to lose their jobs but we need to get our taxes in line because they’re way too … high,” Jamison said. “We can’t keep up with the neighbors.”
Smith said he wanted to clear up a misconception about unions.
“People think unions are all about money, if you look … prior to this, we hadn’t heard from the rest of the parties up there,” he said about Paris employees. Currently the police department is the only one in town that is unionized.
But the highway department could be next.
“My understanding of this is the highway department tried to unionize maybe between 7 and 10 years ago so they started the process so they’re ahead of the other departments,” Bernard said. “They’ve already met with the labor board.”
Smith said the union will move forward and was unsure of the exact date of the vote for town employees to join the union, but believed it could be sometime later this month or in January.