A proposal to unionize the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office — an effort that the sheriff and county leaders publicly opposed — has been halted, according to the county.
Five days before an election was set to determine whether sheriff’s office employees would choose to be represented by a union — the local Fraternal Order of Police branch — county officials received notice that the FOP had pulled its petition and requested the election be canceled, the county announced.
In March, the county’s elected leaders said they stand with Sheriff Darren Weekly in opposition to the effort to unionize, arguing the move would hamper the interests of employees and the public.
Union representation of the sheriff’s office would have enabled employees to negotiate salaries, benefits and other aspects of their jobs through collective bargaining, a possibility the sheriff’s office leadership opposes.
“We’ve never believed unions belonged in the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and are pleased to inform those we all serve that there will be no election next week,” County Commissioner George Teal said in an April 26 statement.
When asked why it moved to cancel the election and why it wanted to unionize the sheriff’s office, Colorado FOP Lodge 47 did not respond to the Douglas County News-Press for comment.
“We worked diligently to ensure that each member of our team was equipped with the necessary information to make an informed decision on collective bargaining,” Weekly said in the statement.
County accuses effort of ‘trickery’
Teal, one of the county’s three commissioners, said the FOP sent out information to sheriff’s employees implying that Weekly supported a union effort.
“This trickery by the union caused many employees to sign their names in support of a union because they were falsely led to believe Sheriff Weekly supported it,” Teal said in a commissioners’ video message in March.
The sheriff’s office provided the News-Press a letter that Teal apparently was referring to.
“In the spirit of transparency and support, I met with Sheriff Weekly to share the survey results and discuss our proposed course of action. Sheriff Weekly expressed his continued support for us and the FOP,” the letter said.
Employees told the sheriff and undersheriff that they felt misled by the information in the letter, titled “Collective Bargaining Progress and Next Steps,” according to the sheriff’s office.
“When read in context of the entire letter, (many) employees have expressed confusion about the sheriff’s stance,” said Deborah Takahara, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
Asked about the accusation that the FOP’s communication was misleading, the organization did not respond for comment.
Arguing against
The county commissioners have argued that union activity would make county residents less safe.
“We’re concerned unionization will endanger public safety,” or that it could, Teal told the News-Press.
He argued that FOP “politics” could push good deputies out of the sheriff’s office.
“The evidence is there that they’ve been deceptive in their recruiting … that’s the politics that FOP brings to an organization,” Teal said.
Unionization would add a level of bureaucracy in the sheriff’s office that county officials are concerned about, Teal added.
Asked whether county officials are concerned that unionization would result in sheriff’s employees demanding things like higher pay and more benefits, Teal said: “No, because we can do that ourselves. We feel like over the last two years, we’ve done that ourselves.”
It’s not up to the Sheriff to oppose an election effort by deputies to unionize. The argument unions would make the community less safe is preposterous, inflammatory propaganda. The FOP by its existence is evidentiary of this fact. “Law and Order”, “Back the Blue” trumpers like Teal are the true danger to our community.