Artesia employees say city manager ‘unfit’ to lead, thwarts efforts to unionize

Nine Artesia absorption employees person asked Mayor Rene J. Trevino to intervene amid complaints that City Manager William Rawlings is unfit to pb and has repeatedly stymied efforts by immoderate workers to articulation a labour union.

The managers — from the planning, finance, parks and recreation, assemblage improvement and administrative services departments, on with the City Clerk’s Office — presented the Artesia City Council with a missive past week detailing grievances against Rawlings.

Acting Assistant Finance Manager Karen Lee said Rawlings has “exhibited patterns of behaviour that person led to our statement that helium is nary longer acceptable to pb the city’s employees.”

Trevino declined to sermon the allegations against Rawlings due to the fact that it is simply a unit matter. “The metropolis is moving with the projected bargaining units successful accordance with the procedures established by the city’s solution governing employer-employee relations,” helium said Wednesday, Oct. 13, successful an email.

Rawlings, who was hired successful 2013, did not respond to requests for comment. Rawlings received $282,624 successful wage and benefits successful 2019, which is the astir caller twelvemonth that figures are disposable connected the website of Transparent California, a nationalist worker wage database. Before joining Artesia, helium was the city manager of Menifee successful Riverside County.

During a gathering past week, Lee told the City Council that Rawlings has submitted budgets to the City Council that neglect to see Artesia’s existent expenditures.

The metropolis manager has presented accusation to the City Council that raises “concerns from unit astir transparency and truthfulness,” she said.

Lee besides accused Rawlings of intimidating, berating and belittling employees arsenic good arsenic staying distant from City Hall during the COVID-19 pandemic portion requiring unit to beryllium present.

“We were without the metropolis manager’s beingness on-site for enactment and enactment for 12 months until determination was nationalist outcry,” she added. “To this day helium has not convened a corporate absorption meeting, either successful idiosyncratic oregon virtually, for implicit 18 months.”

Furthermore, Rawlings has damaged the city’s estimation by directing employees to instrumentality actions that tally antagonistic to the proposal of elder unit members, the city’s attorney, consultants and assemblage members, Lee alleges.

“The metropolis manager has manipulated the grievance process truthful that each complaints spell to him adjacent if helium is the taxable of the grievance, thereby leaving employees without recourse to code a morganatic ailment and support him from accountability,” she said successful an email to the Southern California News Group.

Rawlings besides has allegedly refused to judge a petition from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to admit the absorption workers’ efforts to unionize.

That prompted Lee to contiguous signed national involvement cards past week from 9 of the city’s 13 absorption employees and the AFSCME petition straight to Trevino. “We are asking for the City Council’s assistance by stepping successful and filling the relation that the metropolis manager has refused to fulfill,” she said.

Lee’s ailment follows a unanimous ballot of nary assurance against Rawlings successful September from AFSCME Local 1520, which already represents 20 rank-and-file employees successful the 1.6-square-mile community.

“The employees person been trying to pass the metropolis astir what’s going on,” Andrew Perry, an administrative expert for Local 1520, said successful a statement. “They’ve reported terrible allegations — ranging from predetermination fraud, harassment, discrimination, and the wide consciousness that the metropolis manager is trying to tally this metropolis similar a mob boss. Bill Rawlings is not bully for this city.”