Communication Workers of America

December 21, 2006

Bruce Nigro, Director
Essex County Division of Welfare
18 Rector Street , Floor 9
Newark , NJ , 07102 00

Re: ABBRY Guards' Comportment CWA Local 1081's Second Recounting of Concern

Dear Mr. Nigro:

As you will please recall, CWA Local 1081 submitted the attached presentation of April 3, 2006 to the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders inquiring into specific aspects of the then proposed contract with the ABBRY Security Company, L.L.C., "a subsidiary of The First Occupational Center, providing the security for our members assigned to 18 Rector Street". You will please recall, as well, CWA Local 1081's attached letter of July 14, 2006 written you stating "It has been brought to our Union's attention that certain guards employed by ABBRY have been acting in the following unacceptable and unprofessional manner" while citing specific alleged incidents provided us Our Union by our members.

Attached, also, are the following memoranda regarding alleged unpleasant, unprofessional and unproductive activities of two of the ABBRY Security Company's guards of much more recent vintage:

1. A Family Service Worker's memorandum of December 19, 2006, written Supervisor Kimberly Tookes, reporting that on December 14, 2006 a guard assigned then to the Downtown Citizen Services Center approached her with a client's reception slip belonging to his sister requesting our member afford his sibling special treatment to the detriment of clients that had arrived within the office before she.
2. Training Technician and CWA Local 1081 Executive Vice President Greg Payton's memorandum, written Training Supervisor Hilda Berios, at the supervisor's directive, in which he recounts having witnessed the incident of December 14, 2006 between our Union's Family Service Worker member and the abovementioned guard and how Brother Payton had responsibly immediately attempted to respectively and constructively speak to the guard about his having left his post, improperly in possession of his client sister's reception slip, and having sought special consideration for her. Brother Payton's memorandum also recounts the guard's profane, provocative and belligerent reaction to our Union 's senior officer's attempt to ameliorate the situation in order to afford the guard the opportunity to avoid having his titular superiors, and the Division of Welfare's management, apprised of his unwarranted actions.
3. A Senior Clerk Typist's memorandum of December 20, 2006, written Brother Payton, recounting an intolerable incident she reported to her titular superiors that occurred within the Office of Investigational Services several months ago between the same abovementioned guard and her. Our Union member submits that the guard had unilaterally and improperly inserted a video tape into that agency floor's reception area's television that contained verbal vulgarity for any client awaiting service to involuntarily witness. When our member removed the tape and admonished the guard for treating the work area as though it were his personal abode, he became verbally belligerent to both her and a co-worker whom had come to her assistance by attempting to reinforce the same message to the guard of the impropriety of his actions. Our Union has been informed the guard was merely transferred from the eighth floor office of 18 Rector Street , Newark to the seventh floor office as a result of his unseemly comportment.
4. A Clerk Typist/Bilingual's memorandum of December 19, 2006, written CWA Local 1081, that on that date a different guard refused to provide assistance to a Family Service Worker interviewing a client, the guard attitudinally telling our requesting member he could not assist the worker because he was on the phone at the moment. To append additional insult to injury, the same guard later warned our Clerk Typist/Bilingual member, and another of her coworkers, that the former was never again to bother him while he was on the telephone as he extraordinarily proceeded with heightened hubris to ask the former for her name so he "could write her up".
5. A handwritten letter of December 15, 2006, written "To Whom It May Concern", apparently prepared and signed by the first guard cited above, alleging that Brother Payton had later on December 14, 2006, following their disturbing discourse precipitated by the guard, approached him anew respectfully requesting to once again speak to him about the incident that had earlier taken place within the Downtown office and that, when the guard refused, our senior officer supposedly responded with an expletive of his own, a charge that, in the opinion of our Union, bears no merit considering the guard's above noted aggressive and disrespectful behavior toward at least two of our members assigned to two different offices within the 18 Rector Street, Newark facility.

   Finally, please note the attached memorandum of July 31, 2006 sent all ABBRY security staff "Assigned to Essex County Division of Welfare Site (sic)" noting the company had "received numerous complaints from our clients; the Essex County Division of Welfare, and we must address these issues." The author of the memorandum, one Jack Milazzo, responsibly delineates what should represent the proper decorum of guards assigned to our agency. However, it is painfully apparent to CWA Local 1081, and its affected members, that Mr. Milazzo's memorandum has not been heeded by a number of these guards employed by ABBRY.

As a result, CWA Local 1081 requests the County of Essex undertake the following:

Investigate all of the above allegations made by our members about the two ABBRY guards. Discern why the first guard cited above was apparently merely transferred to another floor within the same building rather than being either transferred from the building, or demonstrably disciplined, if not terminated from his employment with ABBRY.

Sincerely,

David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081

C: Lynn Buckley, CWA Representative
Stephen Weissman, Esquire