Workers’ emergency motion to halt rerun of Local 44 election to be heard in federal court
McNair and other winners of the August leadership vote are seeking a court injunction to stop a new election on December 6
Above: AFSCME Local 44 members amass outside the union hall on August 23 before the vote where Stancil McNair was elected president. (Madeleine O’Neill)
A federal court judge will hold a hearing on Friday to determine whether to grant an injunction barring the rerun of an AFSCME Local 44 election where Baltimore sanitation workers defeated the union’s handpicked candidates.
U.S. District Court Judge Adam B. Abelson will hear a motion by Stancil McNair, elected Local 44 president in August, and five others seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against an election do-over on Saturday, December 6.
McNair and the other grassroots candidates filed a lawsuit last week asking a Baltimore Circuit Court judge to halt what they called an “unlawful and unjustifiable” second election of union officers.
The lawsuit was transferred to Maryland U.S. District Court on Monday at the request of AFSCME International, and the request for an emergency hearing was granted today by Judge Abelson.
McNair was sworn into office on August 30, but says he “has been questioned and challenged” ever since by Trevor Taylor, the candidate he defeated, and other officials, the lawsuit contends.
The other plaintiffs, who say they have been blocked from taking an active role in their elected positions, include treasurer Timmeka Pettus and executive board members Teresa Blow and Crystal Boswell.
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The court hearing is the latest twist arising from an election that became a lightning rod for rank-and-file dissatisfaction with union leadership after two city sanitation workers died on the job, one from heat exhaustion and the other crushed by a garbage truck.
McNair and his slate claim the union has long stood silent as members faced harsh working conditions and low pay. Last month, the union struck a new contract toued as “historic” by Mayor Brandon Scott, who brought Taylor and other union leaders before the media in a celebratory press conference last week.
An AFSCME judicial panel ordered the vote do-over in October, saying Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming had interfered in internal union affairs by posting social media tweets about the election.
McNair’s team argued that Taylor, an AFSCME vice president, misused union resources in pursuit of winning the presidency.
A date for the election rerun was not announced until November 24, prompting the emergency lawsuit by McNair.