Laid Off Security Officers File Complaint Against Orange Ed Board

ORANGE, CT — The union representing security officers for the Orange Board of Education has filed a complaint with the state Department of Labor concerning district layoffs.

Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees claims an undisclosed number of layoffs by the Board of Education violated municipal labor law, because the board did not bargain in good faith.

The union claims the board said in the layoff notice that revenue to pay the security guards salaries has declined due to a drop in after school enrollment this year.

"I was shocked to get my pink slip," said John Winchell, one of the security officers. "I know these kids, it’s like an extended family. The parents know I have a vested interest. I’ve never done this for the money, it was always about my love of being there and around the kids."

Winchell started out volunteering at his daughter’s school before becoming a full-time security officer in 2018, according to the union.

Patch reached out to Board of Education Chair William Kraut and Schools Superintendent Dr. Vince Scarpetti for comment, but did not immediately receive responses. The Orange School District operates elementary schools in the town.

In the complaint, the union also alleges employees were discharged because they signed a union petition. On January 28, 2021, the bargaining unit won their union election and was certified by the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations. Previously, they were the only Board of Education employees to not have union representation.

Part of their motivation to organize stemmed from demands to perform other work outside their duties as security officers, such as custodial duties, according to the union.

"We wouldn’t mind helping out and keeping our environment clean, but it was taking us away from our desks and monitors where we’re keeping an eye on things and doing what we’re supposed to," Winchell added. "It just seems that we organize a union and suddenly we’re let go. They didn’t even wait until we could sit down at the table and work out a contract."

Union Field Representative Alex Guzman said the layoffs feel "like retaliation and retribution."

"These workers want fair treatment, respect, and dignity," Guzman said. "The actions of the Orange Board of Education are shameful, especially in a global pandemic, and proves why they need a contract."

The union questions the board's assertion that it lost funding due to a decline in afterschool enrollment, in part because those enrollment figures have not yet been shared with the board, union officials said.

"If they had the money from September until now, but the only thing that has changed is that we are union, then it boggles my mind how they can justify doing this," Winchell said.

The AFSCME bargaining unit maintains that laying off dedicated public servants in the middle of a global pandemic, in addition to being illegal, is a demonstration of bad faith by the Orange Board of Education. In their February 9th budget meeting, a Board of Education member discussed hiring retired police officers to replace currently employed security monitors.

"How can they lay us off with the possibility of replacing us with others?" asked Winchell. "Where’s that money coming from if they can’t afford to pay us?"