ULP-5777                     City of Warwick/Warwick Public Library &                      1/12/07
                                    RI Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals

Filed by: Labor              Filed: 11/01/05         Complaint: 12/14/05                            Hearing: 02/07/06
Impact: Minor
Nominal Beneficiary: Labor
Actual Beneficiary: None
Dissent: Goldstein-M, Dolan-M, Jordan-P

After effectively agreeing to voluntary recognition of a union based on a “hard” card check, the Town insisted that it was simply auditing that effort and saw it as a “soft” card check, i.e. expression of interest not a union designation. Subsequent civil service alterations to classified status coupled with communication that union negotiations would open all questions of salary, benefits and conditions lead the employees to loose interest in representation, but were not ruled retaliatory. The order finds an unfair labor practice in failing to recognize the “hard” card check, but appears to apply the effect of the decision as an emphasis for future circumstances given the librarians later satisfaction that they did not need union representation, although this is ambiguous.