Labor in the News: D.C. Administrative Law Judges Organize
Thursday, April 4, 2013
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Citing a “chilled work environment that is unduly stressful, demeaning, and
counterproductive,” a group of city administrative law judges is seeking to
organize for the first time, reported
Mike DeBonis in the Washington Post earlier this week. The DC judges
have been trying to organize with IFPTE for nearly a year. While more than
enough judges have signed union cards, the agency’s chief judge has hired a
high-powered private law firm to keep fighting against unionization. “The
dispute is being closely watched by labor leaders in the city,” DeBonis
reported, “who are concerned that if [OAH Chief Administrative Law Judge Mary
Oates] Walker prevails, other city agencies with similar independent status
might break with the mayor to separately negotiate employment matters.” “It
would set a very bad precedent,” Metro Council President Jos Williams told the
Post. “It’s an invitation for other so-called quasi-independent
organizations to say they are not covered by the same rules that the rest of the
agencies are covered by.” Click
here to read the full report. - photo: DC administrative judge Jesse
Goode tells Metro Council delegates about judges' attempts to unionize at the
February 2013 Council meeting; photo by Chris Garlock