STATE OF MAINE
MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Case No. 17-UD-02
Issued: December 2, 2016
TEAMSTERS UNION LOCAL NO. 340
Petitioner,
and
M.S.A.D. No. 27
Public Employer.
UNIT DETERMINATION REPORT
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This unit determination proceeding was initiated on June 29,
2016, when Mr. Ed Marzano, Business Agent for Teamsters Union
Local No. 340 (hereinafter referred to as "Union"), filed a
petition for unit determination with the Maine Labor Relations
Board ("Board"), seeking the creation of a bargaining unit
consisting of administrative employees employed by Maine School
Administrative District No. 27 ("Employer"). This proceeding is
conducted pursuant to the Municipal Public Employees Labor
Relations Law, 26 M.R.S. §961, et seq. ("Act"). By agreement of
the parties, the group of classifications which are the subject of
this proceeding was re-named "administrative support employees,"
to more accurately describe the positions' job functions.
M.S.A.D. No. 27 ("Employer") filed a timely response to the
petition on July 11, 2016, agreeing with the composition of the
bargaining unit proposed, except for the inclusion of the
Continuing Education Secretary, which they allege fails to share a
clear and identifiable community of interest with the other
classifications proposed for inclusion in the bargaining unit and,
therefore, cannot be included with them in an appropriate
[end of page 1]
bargaining unit under § 966(2). All of the employees whose
positions are at issue are employed full-time; there are no part-
time employees in any of the positions at the present time.[fn]1
In light of the very substantial distance between Fort Kent
and Augusta and the parties' optimism that a stipulated record
could be reached, the undersigned convened telephone conferences
with the parties' representatives, Business Agent Traci Place
for the Union and Attorney Tom Trenholm for the Employer, on
August 16, 25 and 29, September 9, 19 and 21, and October 19,
2016. During the course of the telephone conference process, the
following exhibits were admitted into evidence without objection:
Employer Exhibit 1 MSAD 27 Classified Employee Manual
Employer Exhibit 2 Continuing Education Secretary Job
Description
Employer Exhibit 3 Secretary to the Principal CHS Job
Description
Employer Exhibit 4 Secretary to Assistant Principal CHS Job
Description
Employer Exhibit 5 Secretary to the Elementary Principal Job
Description
Employer Exhibit 6 High School Guidance Secretary Job
Description
Employer Exhibit 7 Student Services Secretary (referred to
as Special Ed Secretary) Job Description
Employer Exhibit 8 MSAD 27 Organizational Chart (showing
extent of union organization)
Since a complete stipulated record was achieved, no
evidentiary hearing was required. The parties presented their
respective positions through written briefs, the last of which was
received on November 23, 2016.
[fn]1 The Employer explicitly noted in its response that all of the employees in the
classifications proposed for inclusion in the bargaining unit are currently
employed full-time. In representation cases, the Board's policy is to limit
itself to actual facts at the time of the proceeding. Consistent with that
practice, this decision is limited to the unit assignment of full-time
employees.
[end of page 2]
JURISDICTION
The jurisdiction of the executive director to hear this
matter and to make a determination lies in 26 M.R.S.A. § 966(1)
and (2).
STIPULATIONS
The parties reached an agreement on October 26, 2016,
stipulating to the following facts:[fn]2
¶ 1. Teamsters Union Local 340 is a public employee organization
within the meaning of § 962(2). MSAD 27 is a public employer
within the definition of § 962(7)(A)(2).
¶ 2. The positions proposed for inclusion in the bargaining unit
are: Principal Secretary (2 employees), Principal Secretary/
Bookkeeper (2), School Secretary (2), Guidance Secretary (1),
Special Education Secretary (1), Continuing Education Secretary
(1). All of the employees whose positions are at issue are
employed full-time; there are no part-time employees in any of the
positions at the present time.
¶ 3. The Employer is not seeking to exclude anyone from the
definition of public employee found in § 962(6).
¶ 4. The only position at issue is the Continuing Education
Secretary, which, the Employer alleges, fails to share a clear and
identifiable community of interest with the other classifications
proposed for inclusion in the bargaining unit and, therefore,
cannot be included with them in an appropriate bargaining unit
under § 966(2).
Community of interest analysis in Chapter 11, § 22 (3) of the
Rules:
¶ 5. 1) similarity in the kind of work performed
All of the positions provide clerical support to building
administrators or specialty program directors. The work involves
word processing, data entry, filing, and record-keeping. The
specific application of those skills varies, depending on the
function of the administrator being supported.
[fn]2 The paragraph numbers have been added for the purpose of this decision
and were not part of the parties' agreement.
[end of page 3]
¶ 6. The Continuing Education program is administered by the
Continuing Education Director and consists of life-long learning
and "GED"-type programs.
¶ 7. All of the District's salaried employees are paid on a bi-
weekly basis. The hourly employees are also paid bi-weekly;
however, they complete time cards that are collected each week.
Only the Continuing Education Secretary gathers employee work
hours and enters them on a spreadsheet, which is approved by the
Continuing Education Director and then is submitted to the central
office for payroll each week. The Secretaries at each school
submit a weekly absence report to the central office, noting which
salaried employees were out that week, when each was out, whether
substitutes were required and, if so, whether for a full or a half
day in each instance. Hourly employees at the schools punch in
and out, using time cards and a time clock. Each week, the
secretaries at the Eagle Lake and Wallagrass Elementary Schools
collect the time cards of the hourly employees from the card rack
and submit them to central office payroll, either through the
internal mail system or by fax. At Fort Kent Elementary School,
the Head Custodian collects the time cards of the hourly employees
from the card rack and delivers them to central office payroll
each week. At Community High School, either the Payroll Clerk or
the Head Custodian collects the time cards of the hourly employees
each week from the card rack at that facility.
¶ 8. The Continuing Education Secretary has direct interaction
with some different types of students than do the other positions
involved in this proceeding.
¶ 9. The Continuing Education Secretary provides clerical support
for TOPS, a special program for regular high school students, and
for the Credit Recovery program, through which high school
students can re-take courses which they had previously not passed.
These programs are held at the CHIPPY building, which is separate
from, but on the campus of, Community High School.
¶ 10. The Guidance Secretary enters students' academic schedule
into the Powerschool system.
¶ 11. The Director of Continuing Education helps students to
develop their academic schedule, helping them determine which
courses and what credits they need, and enters their academic
schedule in a Google-doc form. The Continuing Education Secretary
enters the continuing education students? completed credit hours
into the Maine STARS (Maine State Transparent Adult Reporting
System) program.
[end of page 4]
¶ 12. The parties agree that a proctor is one who observes or
watches an activity in order to maintain test integrity, while an
examiner is one who helps students with questions on an exam
during the course of the exam. The Continuing Education Secretary
proctors exams and assessments, including the HiSET (GED) exam,
the Serve-Safe Test (a food-handling test required by the State
for certain personnel of the School Nutrition Program), and the
CASAS (Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems [an on-line
test] along with the Assessment Coordinator. The Continuing
Education Secretary is not an examiner and is not asked to perform
that function.
¶ 13. The Continuing Education Secretary secures rooms for on-
site testing and training, promotes attendance and participation
at various training programs, through the school department's web
site and Facebook page and through posters, and attends the
beginning of all training programs to take photos for use in
promotional materials. The Continuing Education Director secures
sites for off-site training events. The Secretaries at Community
High School occasionally secure rooms for training and may take
attendance at such programs.
¶ 14. The Guidance Secretary and the Special Education Secretary
secure rooms for I.E.P. (Individual Education Program) meetings
between district staff and a student's parents. When college
representatives wish to visit the high school and meet with
students, they contact the district and determine a date with the
Guidance Secretary, who then reserves a room, makes posters, and
posts them in the high school. The Guidance Secretary does not do
any other promotion for "college days" (for example, she does not
send e-mails).
¶ 15. 2) common supervision and determination of labor relations policy
The Principal Secretaries, Principal Secretaries/Bookkeepers,
Guidance Secretary, and School Secretaries are all supervised by
building Principals and Assistant Principals. The Special
Education Secretary reports to the Special Education Director and
the Continuing Education Secretary is supervised by the Continuing
Education Director.
¶ 16. The labor relations policy for all of the clerical
positions is determined by the M.S.A.D. 27 School Committee and is
contained in the Classified Employees Handbook.
¶ 17. 3) similarity in the scale and manner of determining
earnings:
[end of page 5]
All of the clerical position employees are compensated on an
hourly basis. The rates of pay are different for the different
positions. The hourly Base Rates for the clerical employee
classifications for the 2015-16 school year were as follows:
School Secretary (FKES/CHS) 15.41
Continuing Ed Secretary 14.35
Guidance Secretary 15.78
Secretary to Principal (ELES/WES) 14.88
Secretary to Principal/Bookkeeper
(FKES/CHS) 16.12
Special Ed Secretary 16.40
¶ 18. All the clerical employee classifications are on the same
wage schedule which provides the following adjustments from the
base rate: from 0-2 years of service, the School Secretaries
receive an adjustment of .23/hour; the Continuing Ed Secretary and
the Elementary School Secretary at Wallagrass and Eagle Lake
receive an adjustment of .22/hour; the Guidance Secretary and the
Secretaries to the Principal/Bookkeeper receive an adjustment of
.24/hour; and the Special Ed Secretary receives an adjustment of
.25/hour.
¶ 19. After the initial adjustments, the classifications receive
adjustments for each period of three years of service. Those
adjustments range from .10/hour to .20/hour with some classifi-
cations receiving an additional .01/hour every few years. For
example, during years 9-11, all classifications receive an
adjustment of .10/hour, except the School Secretaries at FKES/CHS,
who receive an adjustment of .11/hour during that three-year
period. Once all classification have received the additional
penny/hour adjustment, the rotation of positions to receive that
added adjustment begins anew.
¶ 20. 4) similarity in employment benefits, hours of work and
other terms and conditions of employment:
¶ 21. a) employment benefits:
All of the employees whose positions are proposed for inclusion in
the bargaining unit receive the same employment benefits, except
where noted below. The benefits are described in the MSAD 27
Classified Employee Manual and include: group health insurance,
paid vacations (except for 46-week employees hired after July 1,
2014), bereavement leave, emergency personal leave (the Employer
stated that its practice is to pro-rate for 46-week employees),
[end of page 6]
paid holidays, paid sick leave (except for 46-week employees hired
after July 1, 2014), access to an employer-sponsored I.R.S. §
403(b) tax sheltered annuity retirement plan, Social Security
retirement, and a retirement stipend (after 20 years of continuous
service).
¶ 22. b) work year and standard work weeks:
All of the other positions involved in this proceeding have a 52-
week work year, except for the Principal Secretary at Eagle Lake
Elementary School, and the Principal Secretary and the School
Secretary at Fort Kent Elementary School, who all have a 46-week
work year.
¶ 23. Historically, the Continuing Education Secretary worked
from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except when
evening hours were required. During the 2015-16 school year, in
weeks when she was required to work from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on
Tuesday evenings, the Continuing Education Secretary would work a
shorter day, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Due to a
budget shortfall in the Spring of 2016, the Tuesday evening work
hours were eliminated. The budget shortfall is continuing at the
time the record was produced in this matter. The Guidance
Secretary is the only employee, among those involved in this
proceeding who begins work before 7:00 a.m. and works until 3:00
p.m., Monday through Friday. The standard work week for the other
clerical employees is from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday.
¶ 24. c) other terms & conditions of employment:
All of the clerical employees are subject to the same terms and
conditions of employment set forth in the Classified Employee
Manual. These include: an initial 6-month probationary period,
annual performance evaluations, time card use, travel and
reimbursement policy, break policy, inclement weather policy,
complaint procedure, and adherence to policies concerning:
student confidentiality, contact with students and reporting
obligations, smoking and use of controlled substances, and non-
harassment.
¶ 25. 5) similarity in the qualifications, skills and training of
employees:
The qualifications, skills and training of all of the clerical
employees are substantially the same. All are proficient in
office suite software, such as Microsoft Office, and some of them
utilize specialized computer software that is tailored to the
[end of page 7]
unique needs of the academic program that they support. All of
them attend similar or the same training programs.
¶ 26. Only the Continuing Education Secretary enters data in the
Maine STARS program. This is a state-wide reporting system that
is used to compare the performance of continuing education
programs for funding purposes. In addition, the Continuing
Education Secretary extracts the district-wide attendance for all
day students from the Powerschool program each week and prepares a
report for the Continuing Education Director.
¶ 27. 6) frequency of contact or interchange among the employees:
Typical of school employment settings, the clerical position
employees whose worksites are located in the same building have
frequent professional contact or interchange with each other.
When located at separate buildings, they have much less contact
with each other.
¶ 28. The worksite of the Continuing Education Secretary is
across the hall from that of the High School Secretary and the
Principal Secretary/Bookkeeper at Community High School. The
Continuing Education Secretary covers lunch for one of the High
School Secretaries daily.
¶ 29. The Continuing Education Secretary rarely covers for the
High School Secretaries at other times when one is out, and only
if no temporary employee is available.
¶ 30. 7) geographic proximity: See factor 6
¶ 31. 8) history of collective bargaining: None for any of the
clerical support employee classifications.
¶ 32. 9) desires of the affected employees: Beyond the showing
of interest indicating that at least 30% of the employees in the
proposed bargaining unit desire to be represented for purposes of
collective bargaining, nothing can be inferred regarding the
desires of the employees in connection with the configuration of a
bargaining unit.
¶ 33. 10 and 11) the employer's organizational structure and
extent of union organization:
The Superintendent of Schools is the chief executive officer of
M.S.A.D. 27. The enterprise consists of 5 organizational units,
with the director position for each indicated in brackets: 1) the
central office/infrastructure support unit [Director of Finance
[end of page 8]
and Projects] , 2) the schools for Pre-k-through-12 day students
[building Principals and Assistant Principal], 3) the Special
Education Program [Director of Special Education], 4) the
Continuing Education Program [Director of Continuing Education],
and 5) the school transportation system [Director of
Transportation].
¶ 34. The central office/infrastructure support unit consists of
the central office clerical staff (4 employees), the information
technology staff (3), and the food services operation (11). Of
these employees, only the 2 Technology Aides are represented by a
bargaining agent (in a 2-person bargaining unit represented by
Teamsters Local 340).
¶ 35. There are four schools in the district: Community High
School and the Fort Kent Elementary School located near each other
in Fort Kent, Wallagrass Elementary School, and Eagle Lake
Elementary School. Currently, the school administrators are as
follows: Eagle Lake Elementary has a part-time Principal, who
also serves as the Vice Principal at Fort Kent Elementary; Fort
Kent Elementary has a Principal and Vice Principal; Wallagrass
Elementary has a part-time Principal, who also serves as the Dean
of Students at Community High School; and Community High School
has a Principal and a Dean of Students. The employee groups in
the schools unit include the Classroom Teachers (represented by a
local affiliate of the Maine Education Association); the Guidance
staff (4 employees, including the Guidance Secretary); Head
Custodians (at CHS and FKES, not represented); Small School Head
Custodians and Custodians (represented together with the Bus
Drivers by Teamsters Local 340); Information technology staff (the
Technology Aides are represented by Teamsters Local 340); Food
Services Staff (Head Cooks, Assistant Cooks, and Kitchen Aides
represented by Teamsters Local 340); and the School Secretaries.
The School Transportation System includes Bus Drivers and an
Assistant Mechanic/Bus Driver (together with the Custodians,
constitute a bargaining unit represented by Teamsters Local 340).
¶ 36. The Special Education Program includes Specialists in
speech, occupational therapy and social work; Special Education
Teachers (represented by a local affiliate of the Maine Education
Association); Educational Technicians I, II and III (represented
by a different local affiliate of the Maine Education
Association); and the Special Ed Secretary.
¶ 37. The Continuing Education Program includes a College, Career
and Family Resource Coordinator, Continuing Education Instructors,
and the Continuing Education Secretary. None of the
[end of page 9]
classifications in this organizational unit is currently
represented by a bargaining agent.
¶ 38. The primary work locations of the positions proposed for
inclusion in the bargaining unit at issue in this proceeding are
as follows:
Community High School
positions in proposed unit: Principal Secretary/Bookkeeper
School Secretary
Guidance Secretary
Continuing Education Secretary
Fort Kent Elementary School
positions in proposed unit: Principal Secretary/Bookkeeper
School Secretary
Special Ed Secretary
Wallagrass: Wallagrass Elementary School
position in proposed unit: Principal Secretary
Eagle Lake: Eagle Lake Elementary School
position in proposed unit: Principal Secretary
DISCUSSION
Section 966 (2) of the Act requires that bargaining units
created through the unit determination process must only consist
of classifications that share a clear and identifiable community
of interest to be appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining. The purpose of the instant unit determination is to
ascertain whether the bargaining unit proposed by the Union is
appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining; it is not that
the proposed unit be the most appropriate unit. Sanford School
Committee and Central Office Staff EA/MEA/NEA, No. 12-UDA-01 &
12-UCA-01, at 18 (May 24, 2012). The Board has developed and
consistently applied an 11-factor community of interest analysis,
Council 74 AFSCME and City of Brewer, No. 79-A-01, at 3-4
(Oct. 17, 1979), which has been codified in Chapter 11, § 22(3)
of the Board's Rules adopted in January, 2001.
[end of page 10]
The parties have agreed that the following positions
constitute an appropriate bargaining unit: Principal Secretary (2
employees), Principal Secretary/Bookkeeper (2), School Secretary
(2), Guidance Secretary (1), and Special Education Secretary (1).
In weighing the community of interest of the position that is at
issue, I concluded that the parties' agreement is based on the
requisite clear and identifiable community of interest; therefore,
the agreed-upon unit is appropriate for collective bargaining.
The Employer objects to the inclusion of the Continuing
Education Secretary (1 employee) in the proposed bargaining unit,
on the grounds that the position lacks the requisite community of
interest with the other classifications. In developing the
stipulated record in this matter, the parties provided facts
relating to each of the community of interest factors.
The following factors support the conclusion that the
Continuing Education Secretary shares a community of interest with
the administrative support classifications: similarity in the kind
of work performed; common supervision and determination of labor
relations policy; similarity in scale and manner of determining
earnings; similarity in employment benefits, hours of work and
other terms and conditions of employment; and similarity in the
qualifications, skills and training of employees.
Similarity in the Kind of Work Performed
The nature of the work performed, while not dispositive, is
a very important factor. All of the classifications provide
clerical support to building administrators or specialty program
directors. The work involves word processing, data entry, filing,
and record-keeping. The specific application of those skills
varies, depending on the function of the administrator and the
program being supported. When considering the nature of the work
being performed among several classifications in a community of
interest analysis, the focus is on the "essence or basic type of
the functions being performed," rather than on "the details of
[end of page 11]
each position"s work responsibilities." Auburn Education Ass'n/
MTA/NEA and Auburn School Committee, No.91-UD-03, at 11 (Feb. 27,
1991), aff'd, No. 91-UDA-01 (May 8, 1991).
The Employer stresses the differences in the details of the
work performed, but even such differences were relatively minor.
One distinction that seemed significant on its face is that the
Continuing Education Secretary interacts with different types of
students than all of the other clerical positions. In addition to
day students, with whom all of the other classifications have
interactions, the Continuing Education Secretary has professional
contact with adult and other non-day students. On reflection,
this difference is no more significant than the differences
between the contact the elementary school secretaries have with
kindergarteners and what the high school secretaries have with
high school seniors.
Another alleged difference is that only the Continuing
Education Secretary collects employee work hours, enters them on a
spreadsheet, which is reviewed and approved by the Continuing
Education Director, and then forwarded to the central office for
payment. The school secretaries submit a weekly absence report to
the central office, showing which salaried employees were out that
week and when each was out. Reporting employee time worked
contrasted with employee time absent during the standard work is a
distinction without a difference. Furthermore, the school
secretaries at the small elementary schools collect the time cards
for hourly employees and submit them to the central office each
week, in essence the same work as the Continuing Education
Secretary.
While the type of promotional work done by the Continuing
Education Secretary for testing and training events is more
[end of page 12]
extensive than that performed by the high school secretaries for
trainings and by the Guidance Secretary for college visits, all
these positions secure and schedule rooms for these events, as
does the Special Education Secretary for I.E.P. meetings.
Finally, there is one job duty that is only undertaken by the
Continuing Education Secretary: that is to proctor exams and
assessments. The alleged differences in the work performed by the
Continuing Education Secretary from that of the other clerical
support employees together do not alter the conclusion that the
nature of the work they all perform is essentially the same.
Common Supervision and Determination of Labor Relations Policy
All of the positions in the proposed bargaining unit are
supervised by building administrators, except the Continuing
Education Secretary and the Special Education Secretary who report
to the Continuing Education Director and the Special Education
Director, respectively. The District argues that since most of
the unit positions are supervised by building administrators and
the Continuing Education Secretary is not, the latter does not
have a community of interest with the former group. The Union
argues that, since the Continuing Education Secretary and the
Special Education Secretary both report to program directors,
there must not be any problem from the difference in the
supervisors' programmatic responsibilities. An examination of the
District organizational chart shows that each of the positions
sought to be included in the proposed bargaining unit, including
the Continuing Education Secretary, is supervised by one of the
District's senior managers, who in turn report directly to the
Superintendent; therefore, they share common supervision within
the enterprise structure. In addition, the labor relations
policies for all the clerical positions are determined by the
[end of page 13]
School Committee and are contained in the District's Classified
Employees Handbook.
Similarity in Scale and Manner of Determining Earnings
The base rate for the Continuing Education Secretary is
somewhat lower than that for all of the other classifications
involved in this determination; however, there is no evidence in
the record of how the base rates were determined nor was there any
justification for the differences among positions. All of the
administrative support employees are compensated on an hourly
basis and all the classifications are included together on the
same wage schedule that provides regular adjustments for each
period of three years of service. The Employer argues that the
Continuing Education Secretary?s wages point to a lack of
community of interest with the other positions; however, they have
assigned the Continuing Education Secretary to the same wage
schedule as the other positions, a schedule which is different
from the 5 other schedules for the Employer?s other types of
hourly employees. While the lower rate of compensation for the
Continuing Education Secretary suggests a lack of community of
interest with the other positions, the balance of the facts
relating to this factor offset the difference in the base pay
rate, particularly since there is no evidence regarding how the
base rates were determined.
Similarity in Employment Benefits, Hours of Work and Other Terms
and Conditions of Employment
All of the administrative support classifications share
essentially identical employment benefits, including group health
insurance, except for certain types of paid leave which are pro-
rated for 46-week employees hired after July 1, 2014. All of the
classifications work 52-weeks per year, except the Principal
Secretary at Eagle Lake Elementary School and the Principal
[end of page 14]
Secretary and the School Secretary at Fort Kent Elementary School,
who work 46 weeks per year. All have a 40-hour work week and most
work from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The
Guidance Secretary begins work before 7:00 a.m. and works until
3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the Continuing Education
Secretary works from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through
Friday.[fn]3 All of the administrative support classifications are
subject to the same terms and conditions of employment. With
minor variations in the beginning and ending of the work days each
week and the 46-week work years of three of the positions, the
Continuing Education Secretary shares essentially identical
benefits, work schedules, and terms and conditions of employment
with the other administrative support classifications.
Similarity in the Qualifications, Skills and Training of Employees
All of the administrative support classifications have very
similar qualifications, skills and training. All are proficient
in office suite software, such as Microsoft Office, and some of
them utilize specialized computer software that is tailored to the
unique needs of the academic program that they support, such as
the Continuing Education Secretary's entering data in the Maine
STARS program. All of them attend similar or the same training
programs.
The facts relating to the following community of interest
factors tend not to support the conclusion that the Continuing
Education Secretary shares the requisite community of interest
with the other clerical support positions: frequency of contact or
interchange among the employees; geographic proximity; history of
collective bargaining; desires of the affected employees; and the
employer's organizational structure and extent of union
organization.
[fn]3 The Continuing Education Secretary worked Tuesday evenings in past years and a
shorter day on Fridays; however, the evening hours were eliminated due to
budgetary reasons in the last school year and have not been reinstated.
[end of page 15]
Frequency of Contact or Interchange Among the Employees and
Geographic Proximity
The Continuing Education Secretary's office is across the
hall from that of the High School Secretary and the Principal
Secretary/Bookkeeper at Community High School, and the Continuing
Education Secretary covers lunch for one of the High School
Secretaries daily. Other than rarely covering for an absent high
school secretary and attending some of the same training programs,
there was no additional evidence of contact or interchange between
the Continuing Education Secretary and the other administrative
support employees, particularly those who do not work at the high
school. This is not unusual in school employment settings.
History of Collective Bargaining
None of the clerical support employee classifications has
ever been represented for purposes of collective bargaining. The
District argues that if the Continuing Education Secretary is
included in a bargaining unit (and if the unit employees opt for
representation), it will be the only represented position in the
Continuing Education Program. This point is not of much conse-
quence because the Continuing Education Secretary's uniqueness
with respect to the other positions in the program is simply
because it is the only non-professional employee in that program.
It has nothing to do with her community of interest with the other
positions proposed for the unit nor is it related to any history
of collective bargaining.
In this case, the history of collective bargaining factor
has a neutral impact on the determination.
Desires of the Affected Employees
There is no evidence in the record regarding the wishes of
[end of page 16]
the Continuing Education Secretary. This factor has no impact in
the instant determination.
The Employer's Organizational Structure and Extent of Union Organization:
The Employer reiterates the argument it presented under the
history of collective bargaining factors and my analysis there
applies equally here.
Community of Interest Determination
All of the community-of-interest factors have been weighed
separately and together. The factors supporting the finding that
the Continuing Education Secretary shares a clear and identifiable
community of interest with the other classifications in the
proposed bargaining unit are qualitatively more significant than
those that warrant the opposite result.
The Employer relies on Sanford School Committee and Central
Office Staff EA/ MEA/NEA, Nos. 12-UDA-01 & 12-UCA-01 (May 24,
2012), for propositions that performing similar type of work,
enjoying similar benefits, and having similar qualifications may
not be dispositive. Reliance on Sanford for these propositions is
misplaced because the facts of that case were very different from
those here. In Sanford, there was a school secretary bargaining
unit represented by the local affiliate of the American Federation
of Teachers. The petitioner, a local affiliate of the Maine
Education Association, proposed a bargaining unit of central
office secretaries that also included a position whose worksite
was located at the high school. In deciding which unit to assign
the latter position, the Board was required to compare the two
separate communities of interest: that of the school secretaries
and that of the central office secretaries. The Board concluded
that, while the positions in both units performed similar work,
[end of page 17]
had similar qualifications, similarity in scale and manner of
determining earnings, and similarity in benefits, working in the
central office was vastly different than being located in a
school. The Board stated:
[The] position [at issue] is a poor fit with the
central office employees because we consider the "terms
and conditions of employment" to be a factor of
particular significance in this case. We conclude that
the significance of [the] position's being located in
the high school goes well beyond its effects on
geographic proximity and interaction with the others in
the proposed unit. [The incumbent employee in the
position] testified that she and her supervisor, the
Special Education Director for grades 7-12, were located
in the high school so that the director could be "smack
in the middle" of the population they serve. Working in
a school is fundamentally different than working in an
office building and presents working conditions that are
simply non-issues in an office building. With a
building full of children, not only is the working
atmosphere different, the expectations and need for
appropriate interactions with students are of paramount
importance. All adults in the building share the
responsibility for protecting the welfare of the
children in their charge, whether it be related to
safety and security or creating an environment conducive
to learning. These issues are not present in an office
building. This difference in conditions of employment
also supports our conclusion that the special education
support position for K-6 [whose work site was at the
central office] should be in the central office
bargaining unit as proposed, even though it includes job
duties similar to those of [the position at issue].
Sanford, supra, at 13 (footnote omitted). Thus, the Employer's
citation of Sanford to support its argument misses the critical
point of the Board's decision.
The Continuing Education Secretary is a public employee
within the meaning of the Act, who shares a clear and identifiable
community of interest with the other administrative support
positions; therefore, all of the administrative support
[end of page 18]
classifications, together, constitute an appropriate bargaining
unit.
ORDER
On the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and discussion
and by virtue of and pursuant to the provisions of 26 M.R.S.A. §
966, the executive director ORDERS:
1. The petition for appropriate unit determination filed by
Teamsters Union Local 340 on June 29, 2016, is granted.
2. The Principal Secretary, Principal Secretary/Bookkeeper,
School Secretary, Guidance Secretary, Special Education
Secretary, and Continuing Education Secretary employed
by M.S.A.D. #27 together constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit.
3. A representation election for the M.S.A.D. No. 27
Administrative Support Employees Bargaining Unit should
be scheduled in the normal course of the Board's
business.
Dated at Augusta, Maine, December 2, 2016
MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
/s/
____________________________
Marc P. Ayotte
Executive Director
The parties are hereby advised of their right, pursuant to 26
M.R.S.A. § 968(4), to appeal this report to the Maine Labor
Relations Board. To initiate such an appeal, the party seeking
appellate review must file a notice of appeal with the Board
within fifteen (15) days of the date of issuance of this report.
See Chapter 10 and Chap. 11 § 30 of the Board Rules.
[end of page 19]