By William Gjebre, FloridaBulldog.org 
A top union official has been suspended by his union for speaking out to a Florida Bulldog reporter and raising questions about the Miami-Dade school administration giving a huge pay hike to the union’s president two months before the School Board began approval of two contracts that outsourced lawn maintenance usually done by union workers.
That was one of the new developments spawned by the controversy. Others include new information that Union President Vicki Hall’s combined district and union salary is nearing $100,000; the school district administration is seeking to distance itself from the matter; some union members are considering addressing their concerns to the School Board at a public hearing on Wednesday, March 15.
On March 7, Hall, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Local 1184, persuaded the local’s executive board to back her move to suspend and remove Terry Haynes as the local’s senior vice president.
Members of the executive board, aside from Hall, who voted for the removal were Vannie Brown, Joan Jones, Charles Hepburn, Helen Huls, Michael Norman, Tanya Page, Sabrina Small, Theresa Storr and Bryon Houghtaling, according to Haynes.
The suspension came one day after Haynes, in story by the Florida Bulldog, questioned a district-approved $16,000 pay increase that raised Hall’s salary to $42,000 from $26,000; Haynes linked the hike to the two contracts that went unopposed by the union. The Miami-Dade County Public School Board approved the contracts on Nov. 18, 2015, and Feb. 3, 2016, totaling up to $1.8 million over five years for private firms to perform lawn service at district property.
Hall did not return calls for comment. Just before the meeting where Haynes was suspended, Hall called the Florida Bulldog to ask for an email address, saying she planned to respond to the article. She did not respond, nor did she respond to additional calls for comment on the last Tuesday’s suspension.
“She suspended me for talking to you about union matters without going through” her, Haynes said. Haynes maintained, however, that Hall had given him permission to speak to the media for a prior story about the controversy—and he continued to do so, questioning the pay increase and its relationship to the two contracts.
A testy meeting
The meeting at the union’s Miami Springs office got a little testy. Haynes said when he tried to remove his personal items, Hall insisted that he leave right away and then placed a call to Miami Springs police to make sure he left. Haynes said he left before any police officers arrived.
The suspension, Haynes said, requires him to refrain from involvement in his duties as a union official.
On the evening of the suspension, Haynes said he did not receive any written statements outlining the reasons for his removal. But on the following Friday he received certified mail at his Miami Gardens home. “As you were notified, you are no longer a Local 1184 Sr. Vice President and you can no longer handle any cases that involve AFSCME Local 1184.” Hall asked that Haynes return to the union all case documents he has in his possession by the end of Wednesday March 15. If not returned by then, the “property will be considered stolen” and the union will consider legal action to recover the material, Hall’s letter stated.
Hall also sent a letter notifying the school district that Haynes, who had been released from his district job duties as a custodian to perform full-time work on union business, should be returned to his district job responsibilities.
The suspension, however, might violate the union’s constitution, which requires the presentation of formal charges that specify recognized reasons for removal. Haynes said no such charges were presented. He also said the union’s constitution has a “bill of rights” that protects freedom of speech.
“I didn’t violate any rules,” Haynes said. “I don’t think she has the authority [to suspend me].” Furthermore, he said he was planning to file an appeal to the national AFSCME union in Washington, D.C. and to reach union members to explain his actions.
Haynes said he will challenge Hall in May when the union presidency is up for grabs.
Meanwhile, it was learned that Hall’s salary from the union for 2016 was about $50,000. Her annual school district salary currently is $43,000 annually, which the union reimburses to the district, along with benefit costs. Union dues pay for her union salary.
Top district officials, including Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Human Resources Chief Officer Jose Dotres and Assistant Superintendent Vivian Santiesteban-Pardo, in charge of Labor Relations, did not return calls from the Florida Bulldog requesting comment regarding the outsourcing stories.
Santiesteban-Pardo told The Miami Herald that Hall was promoted from a 10-month to a 12-month bus driver when elected “in order to provide parity with the 12-month position of the previous union president.”
‘Unheard’ of pay hike
“That’s nonsense,” Haynes said, adding that he never heard of that occurring before. The union-school district contract provides that Hall’s salary should have been hiked by only $1,700 upon going from a 10-month to a 12-month bus driver, he said.
After being assigned to head Labor Relations in July, 2016, Santiesteban-Pardo told The Herald she began working to resolve grievances related to the outsourcing, with a settlement being reached in January “to ensure contractual procedures for outsourcing would be followed by all district entities.”
The settlement, Haynes said, provides what is already in the contract – provisions that were observed for many years – that the district notify the union when considering outsourcing, outline the scope of the work and give the union time to respond.
The school district followed these contract provisions for many years, until it ignored them in the awarding of the two contracts, Haynes said. “That’s not a settlement at all,” Haynes added. Haynes’ suspension may prevent him from pursuing two grievances he filed in connection with the outsourcing contracts that he maintained were not covered by the recent settlement signed by Hall.
“The District’s action and resolutions are unrelated and this issue may reside more appropriately under the union’s domain,” Santiesteban-Pardo told The Herald.
After school district officials helped create the problem by outsourcing contracts without notice to the union as required, Haynes said, they are now trying to push back from the controversy. “They are trying to get the heat off the district,” Haynes said. “They can’t distance themselves from this. This came from top management, backed by Carvalho.”
There has been talk, Haynes said, that some union members may attend the school board meeting this Wednesday to speak on the controversy and related issues.
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