Correction/clarification: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect legal term to describe the action that led to the city having to post a notice assuring union workers of their protected rights. The hearing officer actually concluded the city violated the law “based on the mayor’s (James J. Fiorentini) comments that the union would regret supporting his opponent and then declaring he would not bargain with the union president individually going forward as these comments could reasonably be seen to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their Section 2 rights.” On the matter of specifically a lowered COVID-19 stipend, the officer ruled “the city did not retaliate against the union.”
The City of Haverhill recently won half of a labor dispute brought by the firefighters’ union, but findings in the other half didn’t depict the former administration in a flattering way.
A hearing officer for the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations decided Jan. 15 former Mayor James J. Fiorentini illegally acted against Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 when the union endorsed the then-mayor’s rival during the 2021 city election. The ruling came after the state heard four alleged prohibited practice charges brought against the city in January of 2022, following the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the decision, the city was ordered to post notices of its wrongdoing for 30 days around city hall. Former union President Tim Carroll told WHAV the notices reassure union members they can take part in political activities.
“It vindicated what we were telling the city that was going on between the local and the mayor at the time. That’s vindicated us and told us we were being truthful in the situation,” he said.
Signed by current Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, the required notice promises, “We will not make threatening comments about the union’s protected activity or other statements that would tend to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights guaranteed under the law.”
The two issues were summarized by the officer as “whether the city interfered with, restrained or coerced its employees” when “Fiorentini told the union president that if the union endorses his mayoral opponent, ‘you’ll be sorry’ and when the then-mayor said “he would never sit down for any type of negotiations with the union president again.”
During a hearing last April, Fiorentini admitted he said “some angry things.” The hearing officer ruled Fiorentini’s words can “reasonably be seen as threatening, and therefore I find that his comment would reasonably chill protected activity.”
Members of Haverhill Firefighters Local 1011 voted Oct. 6, 2021 to endorse then-City Councilor Colin F. LePage who challenged Fiorentini that year for the corner office.
Fiorentini told WHAV he came out of retirement last spring to testify even though he said he believes the city should have settled the matter without a state hearing. He said he disagrees with the state that he should have been willing to sit down one on one with Carroll, saying, “I always want someone else there.”
He added he met with the firefighters more than he met with any other union.
The state disagreed with the union, however, that the former administration made—and then improperly withdrew—an offer to pay firefighters more than “a one-time $500 (COVID-19) vaccination stipend for employees who provided proof of vaccination by Dec. 31, 2021.”
Fiorentini said, “I’m very happy they moved for the city. They said I never promised the firefighters twice as much as I promised every other union. And, that’s correct. I never did. I always thought this was an absurd complaint.”