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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Northampton County Drags Feet in Producing Arbitration Ruling

On October 13, I told you that an arbitrator has upheld a grievance on behalf of AFSCME Local 1435 over healthcare reductions unilaterally imposed by Northampton County Exec John Brown last year. This impacts about 650 Gracedale employees. That day, I also filed a Right-to-Know request, seeking a copy of the order or ruling. It was a perfunctory request for information to which the public is clearly entitled. I did not seek a copy of the underlying opinion, just the order itself. It likely is no more than two pages long.

Yesterday, the County invoked a 30 day extension until November 19, in which to respond to this request.

That's ridiculous, and is obviously intended to delay the public's right to know concerning a matter of vital importance to both employees and taxpayers. The deliberate foot-dragging concerning this information betrays a lack of transparency, which remains a hallmark of the John Brown administration.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are not being fair. How much time do you think the PT Asst. Solicitor has to field all the RTK requests? Brown/Scomillio at their corporate efficiency best.

Bernie O'Hare said...

In the time it took to send me his 30-day extension, he could have sent the arbitration ruling that he is going to have to send anyway. He is making himself more work.

Anonymous said...

When can we vote the head of this shipwreck out of office?

Anonymous said...

This is definetly a stall tactic. Other unions and soon to be formed unions in NorCo will be using this when they go to arbitration or the bargaining table. By new year Brown and his clown posse will have to deal with a few more unions

Anonymous said...

Brown the Clown and his Blundering Herd of minions ride again!