New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Judge orders another election for teachers union president
NEW HAVEN — For the third time in two years, teachers in the city should expect to vote on who leads their union.
About one year after the U.S. Department of Labor filed a federal complaint against the New Haven Federation of Teachers, alleging the union acted improperly by disqualifying challenger Tom Burns from running, U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant ruled that another election for president is needed.
In December 2018, Dave Cicarella won his fifth two-year term as president of the union by about 20 votes over Burns, who had been vice president until that race. A third candidate, Cameo Thorne, received the fewest votes in that election. Following that election, the national American Federation of Teachers union ordered a re-do when it was found that 27 union members who work in private schools were not issued ballots.
The AFT ruled Burns ineligible to run in that re-do election in February 2020, after a union investigation concluded that Burns had threatened to go pub
lic with allegations that Cicarella was mismanaging union funds unless Cicarella agreed to leave the race. The union investigation found no evidence that Cicarella mismanaged funds.
In the subsequent re-do election, Cicarella easily beat Thorne.
In her decision last month, Bryant said Burns’ complaint about financial issues was separate from any protests about the fairness or legitimacy of the election. She said the union failed to properly notify Burns in writing that he was being considered for possible disciplinary action before a hearing with the union prior to his disqualification, ruling he was unable to adequately prepare. She also found in her ruling that there is no evidence that Burns’ complaint about financial management was being used as an attempt to install himself as president of the union.
“The Court discerns no evidence that NHFT has put forth that had Burns been on the ballot in the February 2020 rerun election the results would have been the same. On the contrary, since he came within 20 votes of unseating Cicarella in the original December 2018 election, he may well have prevailed in the rerun,” Bryant wrote.
Cicarella said an elections committee has been set up within the union to oversee another election for president of the union before the end of the school year; he said the Department of Labor is supervising that process.
Although Cicarella said the process will follow the same timetable as prior elections, with ballots going out for at least 25 days, the deadline means the process of setting up another election needs to move faster than usual. He said that, although nominations have not yet been opened, he intends to run to finish the remainder of this term.
“We are working directly with the Department of Labor on the next election,” the AFT said in a statement.
Burns is set to retire this summer. However, he said the future will depend on the result of the election.
“I have my retirement papers in for June 17. I will run. If I win, I stay; if I lose, I go,” he said.
Thorne, who currently is on medical leave, said Wednesday that she does not intend on running in the election. She said she does not believe she can commit to serving the union while she is in recovery from surgery.
“I like to feel I can keep a promise that I make,” she said.