Keith James implicated in numerous grievances

Security head claims union attacked him with trivial charges

A history of tense relations between Director of Safety and Security Keith James and the Oberlin College Security Association (OCSA) has come to light in the advent of OCSA's recent filing of an unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

OCSA, the union representing Oberlin College Safety and Security officers, cites unsafe working conditions, inappropriate letters of reprimand and blatant contract violations as the contentious highlights of James' three-year tenure. James claims that petty grievances created by a minority of individuals in the union have cost his office valuable time. The unfair labor charge is currently pending with the NLRB.

"He is putting the officers into unsafe conditions. He is making threats to them, threatening their job security," said Sandy Naples, a representative from the Office of Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), OCSA's national affiliate.

OCSA and James worked out a new contract in July. According to museum security officer and union vice president Christine Diewald, the union believes James has violated the contract by mandating officers to work overtime and neglecting to issue officers retroactive pay. The contract was signed in July, but was supposed to include time worked between March and July, when security officers were working without a contract.

"The director of safety and security needs to abide by the agreement that he was a party to," Naples said.

A serious bone of contention is the new organizational system that has been implemented by James. Under James' new system, each work shift has one supervisor along with the security officers on duty. Before this new system, it was a common occurrence for security officers to be left without any direct supervision. According to James, officers took advantage of this system and sometimes did not work a complete shift. James also claims officers with seniority balked at the changes because it required more experienced officers to work on weekends and nights.

"It is unfortunate the most people impacted are the senior people in the staff. I have officers threatening one another. Conflicts have arisen between junior and senior staff about day shifts," said James.

Diewald said, "The officers do not have a problem rotating shifts. The officers have a problem with not enough officers on a shift."

Under James' system, one security officer is on duty during the day shift, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., in addition to a dispatcher and a supervisor. The one officer on duty has to take care of all of the officer responsibilities associated with the day shift, including enforcing the new and stricter parking regulations.

Former Director of Safety and Security Richard McDaniel did not designate a supervisor for the day shift during his tenure from 1980 to 1995. "When I was there, I considered myself capable enough of handling the supervisory duties during the day shift. We didn't need to waste a uniform supervisor on day shift," said McDaniel.

OCSA harbors other criticisms of James' revised system. James had to create new management positions in order to have a supervisor on duty at all times. He currently has six upper management positions: four supervisors, an assistant director and himself.

The promotion of officer Ralph Francis to sergeant left a vacancy in the officer corp. The recent resignation of Officer David Walker left another vacancy for a full time officer. The union feels that James should address the officer vacancies rather than create new management positions.

Diewald said, "We've asked that these positions be filled as quickly as possible."

Without a full staff, officers have had to work overtime and take double-shifts to fill in for the vacant positions. "I believe that an officer can safely work a couple of shifts or a shift and a half," said James.

Diewald disagrees, "I think it provides an unsafe working condition."

The union feels that James has created other unsafe working conditions, including asking officers to work shifts by themselves. James feels that the union has been inconsistent with its treatment of officers working alone on shifts. James claims he allowed officers to work alone on Christmas so that other officers could have time off. On a later occasion, when he asked an officer to work by themself, a grievance was filed. "I think I have been more than fair to my staff. Many times as a director you are caught between and rock and a hard place," said James.

OCSA has been using grievances to challenge James and his policies. According to Diewald, approximately 75 to 80 grievances have been filed against James in his term as director. This includes level one, two and three grievances. A level one grievance occurs when a worker verbally raises a problem to his or her superior. The union records these grievances, but the security office does not keep track of them. A level two grievance occurs when the grievance cannot be settled at the first level, so the worker puts his or her problem into writing. If the grievance can still not be settled, it is heard by the human resources office on the third level. Human Resources then makes a decision in the matter.

According to the director of Human Resources Ruth Spencer, 14 level three grievances have been heard by her office this year. Spencer said, "I would say that there are more grievances from this particular union than other unions this year."

Spencer did support James' claim that the grievances have come from a minority within the security staff. "There are a smaller number of people who have filed the grievances."

James asked, "Does the union speak for two or three disgruntled individuals or do they represent the mass of the staff?"

The volume of the grievances filed during James' three years as director of safety and security has drawn some attention. "I've had a conversation with both Mr. James and his supervisor [Interim Dean of Students Deb McNish] regarding grievances. I think without a doubt there is at present more dissatisfaction with the security staff [than other departments]," said Spencer.

Naples said, "[James] relays to his immediate superiors that the union has human resources wrapped around its finger." James did express some frustration with the human resource department. "I know the arena we are playing in, but there has to be some fairness," said James.

During his 15 years as director of safety and security, McDaniel dealt with five grievances from his staff. None of them got beyond level two, and all were dealt with in the office of safety and security. "It would seem to me that the number of grievances is excessive, and it speaks to some weakness in the organization," said McDaniel.

With such a strong conflict existing between OCSA and James, Diewald asserted the union's main concern, "We want the student body to know that our number one priority is to serve and protect the students." The security officers have a no-strike clause in their contract, so a work stoppage is not on the horizon.

James echoed Diewald's sentiment. "My focus is really to provide a service and meet the needs of the campus and community."

Insecure security: Security officer Quin Barbee communicates with his colleagues. (photo by Pauline Shapiro)