A union organizer working for New York City's largest janitors' union said yesterday that she was fired illegally because she told a Manhattan grand jury about alleged campaign violations by union officials during the 2001 mayoral primaries.þþThe organizer, Grace Powell, also said her union, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, dismissed her because she was running to be the local's executive vice president on an insurgent slate.þþMs. Powell, who had just completed an eight-month maternity and medical leave, said she was terminated last Friday, 12 days before she was to return to work.þþÿI think they violated my free speech rights, they violated my rights as a new mother, and they retaliated against me because I spoke with the grand jury,ÿ said Ms. Powell, who is conferring with her lawyer about whether to sue. She worked on the union's staff for four years.þþKaren Crowe, a spokeswoman for Local 32BJ, said Ms. Powell's dismissal was not related to her political intentions or her testimony. Federal law bars labor leaders from retaliating against union members for exercising their free speech rights, although federal courts have ruled that union leaders can dismiss disloyal paid staff workers as a way to make unions run smoothly.þþMs. Crowe said Michael Fishman, the union president, did not know Ms. Powell was planning to run for executive vice president on a slate opposing him in September.þþÿShe was let go before any of the leadership had any knowledge of her running for office,ÿ Ms. Crowe said. ÿShe was on an extended leave, and it was time for her to return, but there was no suitable staff jobs for her. We looked for suitable staff jobs for her, and we did not find one.ÿþþMs. Powell said she had told a grand jury empaneled by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, that 32BJ's leaders improperly pressured union staffers to campaign for Mark Green in the Democratic mayoral primary in 2001.þþÿI wasn't totally surprised that I was fired, primarily because it's been the union's way of intimidating the rest of the staff,ÿ she said.þþDominick Bentivegna, who heads the slate challenging Mr. Fishman, said that in addition to Ms. Powell, he and three other Local 32BJ staff members who opposed Mr. Fishman were fired after cooperating with Mr. Morgenthau. þþMs. Crowe said that those dismissals had nothing to do with that cooperation, and that union leaders did not even know they were cooperating. Speaking about Mr. Bentivegna, she said, ÿHe's playing with facts for his own political gain.ÿþþAfter Mr. Fishman dismissed Mr. Bentivegna in April 2002 from his district supervisor's position, Mr. Bentivegna went to court. A federal judge ruled that the firing was legal because he was clashing with the program of the union leadership. þþDaniel Castleman, Mr. Morgenthau's chief of investigations, declined to criticize the dismissal of Ms. Powell. ÿThis office cannot take sides in an internal fight in that union.ÿþþLast month, after an 18-month investigation by Mr. Morgenthau, Local 32BJ agreed to hire a new law firm that would oversee its political campaign activities to help ensure that there were no future violations of election laws. Mr. Morgenthau did not bring any charges.þþþ
Source: NY Times
