I just received this PDF of the Town of Chapel Hill's Personnel Appeals Committee from the attorney for the "Sanitation 2" Al McSurely, who writes: "Two out of five ain't bad. The decision for Ms. Rebecca Clark's nephew is due out this weekend, Sunday. We will be holding a Sanitation 2 Support Service next week, as this popular education process begins to move into its second phase. "
Three committee members voted against each of the points of Kerry Bigelow's appeal, and in most cases two voted for the appeal. A decision on Clyde Clark, the other half of the "2" is expected this weekend. The members are: Chair Anita Badrock, Delores Bailey, Asila Calhoun, Jim Curis, and Derek Hoar. The memo does not state which members voted in which ways.
Here's an excerpt from one of the findings...
All five members of the committee found the length of time between the first incident named by the Town... and the action taken... to be troubling... They felt, however, that the Town's failure to respond to Rev. Bigelow's behavior in a timely manner did not diminish the obligation to address the behavior appropriately. However it did lead Committee members to be divided on the use of progressive disciplinary action.
It seems to me that the one thing everyone agrees on is that Kerry Bigelow was not very nice to work with, and that the Town handled this problem poorly. Given those facts, there is no easy solution that can undo the many mistakes that were made. Rev. Bigelow is already paying the price by losing his job. I hope that the Town will see this Committee's report as an indicator of serious management problems, and take affirmative steps to create a healthier workplace culture in which all employees feel safe (both physically and emotionally) and in which unacceptable behavior is dealt with promptly and fairly.
Issues:
Comments
Certainly sounds like there is blame on both sides...
I am not sure what this means happens next for Rev. Bigelow, but I hope what it means for the Town is some internal scrutiny of procedures and actual practice.
Nice to work with?
"It seems to me that the one thing everyone agrees on is that Kerry Bigelow was not very nice to work with.." I don't think the 80+ people in the room for his hearing, several of whom seemed to be co-workers would agree with that statement.They knew that some of their co-workers were not happy with them for stirring the pot with unionizaation or safety complaints. The fact that Rev. Bigelow had all positive performance evaluations leads me to believe the problems weren't personality based so much as the result of their activism. I suspect this is the end of any union activity among town workers.
3rd hand evidence
A friend of mine asked his garbage collectors what they thought of the situation and the response was "they sorry". Not much sympathy at all from that crew.
If you read the report
If you read the report, it's clear that even the two Personnel Committee members that disagreed with Bigelow's firing agreed that "progressive disciplinary" actions were called for.
Lame evidence
In a case such as this, more lame evidence is always needed. How do you know the "they" referred to the men rather than the mgmt?My favorite bogus claim came from the town's private investigator. He claimed that he was told the men were up in the residents face (a white woman), waving their arms around and yelling. As Rev. Bigelow said in his NAACP statement, any black man raised in NC knows better than to do that. And despite the claim that the woman was so intimated by the men's aggressive behavior (the investigator and the town management could never differentiate between Bigelow and Clark), when the women spoke on the phone, neither one seemed at all intimidated by anything other than the claim of racism. Both clearly stated that they didn't want the men fired.
On it goes.....
I don't think this issue is going away, especially since the punishment does not match, even if it's true, the two's alleged violation(s). I get no comfort or clarity from reading the Appeal Committee's report or decision.How long do we have to hear of conflict between the sanitation workers and their management? It seems this has been going on for decades: Discrimination in promotions; racism (including racist comments from supervisors), and reprisal against those who complain or seek change (i.e. safety issues).Are the line supervisor's white? What happens to worker's compaints about safety? Are reasons given for promoting a less experienced white applicant over an African-American applicant for positions? Why in the world was a brinks-like private investigator hired in the two's incidents? What is the record of the Public Works Director's respect for those out on the trucks? Can't we get some answers to these questions that never go away?
experience?
I've noted many people accept the assertion that Bigelow had more experience than the white man who ultimately got the job. However, if you carefully read "Attachment A - Sequence of Events Culminating in Town's Wrongful Termination of Rev. Kerry Bigelow and Mr. Clyde Clark on 10/29/2010" (send to OP by McSurely), then you'd see that while he had many years of experience with certain trucks, he was lacking front-loader experience. Without knowing what the requirements of the job were (and experience of the other person), you can't really say whether he was more experienced but passed over anyway. (That being said, I do think the Town has a seriously dysfunctional disciplinary system that's at the heart of this matter. Maybe that's related to the sudden departure of HR Director Valerie Meicher a couple months ago. These guys should have gotten proper feedback and guidance about their interactions with residents and other staff from the beginning.)Excerpt below:21. In December 2009, the Town posted vacant job position # 23115, a Solid Waste Equipment Operator III. Rev. Bigelow applied. His application reminded the Town he had diven a rear end loader truck with a crew of men, a boom truck and an automated garbage truck during the 18 years he had collected trash in Burlington, that he had attended Shaw Divinity University off and on for five years, and completed 304 hours of MTA Tractor Trailer Diver Program in 1985.
22. The Town found him qualified for the position and he was interviewed. Jeff Allen (W) closed his interview notes by writing that Rev. Bigelow "has a lot of driving experience," and "Has never operated front loader." Larry Strowd (B) closed his interview sheet by noting: "Kerry is a great person for the job. Have drove heavy truck and been on the job a long time. Kerry has a good attitude about the job."
Clark firing also upheld
I don't have the text of the report, but I heard on WCHL this morning that the Personell Committee also recommended upholding the firing of Clyde Clark.