Lake County >> Just days before going to trial the Hidden Valley Lake Association (HVLA) and union golf course workers reached a private settlement agreement on Friday.
Laborers’ Local Union 324 dropped their charges against the HVLA filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a neutral party responsible for dealing with union/employer disputes.
The union had nearly 30 claims alleging the association was violating workers’ rights by engaging in unfair labor practices from refusal to bargain in good faith to threats and harassment, as well as unlawful surveillance and job termination.
According to union legal representative Paul Supton, the HVLA promised not to repeat the misconduct in the new settlement and made back payments for work lost.
Supton said he’d never seen anything like this case in his 35 years of experience, calling it a hell storm dealing with the stream of cruel allegations.
“The hope here is that when the parties reach a mutual, non-board settlement, hopefully they can break bread and keep the peace,” Daniel Owens, assistant regional director with the NLRB, said.
Problems began last year when contract negotiations between HVLA and union came to a dead end. While representatives from both parties met several times, nothing was ever finalized. The contract expired on Oct. 31, 2014 then again on Dec. 3, 2014 after an extension was issued.
Frustrated by what they perceived to be a lack of willingness to get back to bargaining, more than two dozen union workers and supporters went on strike without pay in late April and did so for about two months.
At the time, they had a case against the HVLA with 10 consolidated complaints filed with the NLRB, including now former general manager Cindy Spears allegedly threatening to fire employees in retaliation for union activities, suspending them for their involvement and hiring seasonal workers to do union jobs.
But again just days before the hearing scheduled for June 15 took place, the parties reached a settlement agreement which was signed by Spears verifying that the homeowners association “understands and agrees that the allegations … will be deemed admitted,” according to the settlement.
The HVLA agreed to make nearly $2,000 in back payments for lost work to be divided amongst the employees, and both parties had to go back to the negotiating table.
Union workers returned to work; however, no representative of theirs ever signed the settlement.
Instead, they reopened their consolidated complaint on Aug. 31 and tacked on several more claims alleging the HVLA continued to violate their rights. The association allegedly changed work schedules, set forth new production standards and was still hiring seasonal workers to do the job of union laborers.
The new hearing was scheduled to take place on Monday in front of a federal judge in Santa Rosa, despite efforts in November by the HVLA to try to delay it.
On Nov. 17 the HVLA filed a motion to postpone the hearing, claiming that its primary witness, Spears, would not be available.
She, according to documents presented to the NLRB, was out on medical leave from October until Dec. 15 citing mental stress incurred performing day to day work duties.
Union representatives, however, alleged she was just on vacation. And Spears’ medical leave claim conflicts with a Facebook post on the HVLA official page stating that Spears and the association had already reached an “amicable separation agreement” effective Nov. 9, more than a week before filing the motion to postpone. Nowhere in it does it show the change in Spears’ status as general manager.
Judge Gerald M. Etchingham said in his postponement denial the case was long overdue for a hearing on its merits. That day in court, however, never came after the HVLA and union came to an new agreement on Friday.
“Management was willing to settle,” Supton said. “We never wanted to draw blood, we want peace.” Adding, “With the departure of their former manager we can have amicable relations.”
According to the new settlement, the union contract has been reinstated for another year until next December, with a six-month cooling off period before going back to negations sometime in May, Supton said.
“Many of the workers live in Hidden Valley, there shouldn’t be an antagonistic relationship,” Supton said.
He’s hopeful that the HVLA and union are getting off on the right foot and on their way to re-establishing good working relations.
Multiple phone calls to the HVLA were unreturned as of press time.
