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Threats reported against those who take extra work

Wednesday, January 08, 2003

By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Due to a contract dispute, some truck drivers in the city Public Works Department are refusing to work overtime to plow and salt streets and are threatening drivers who do take the extra work, officials said yesterday.

One driver was told he would "get a bullet" in his head if he worked overtime on Sunday, according to Public Works Director Guy Costa. Costa said a phoned threat also was left with a driver's daughter Monday, scaring the driver into quitting his route early.

The contract for truck drivers from Teamsters Local 249 and more than 500 other blue collar workers in an umbrella union organization called the Pittsburgh Joint Collective Bargaining Committee expired Dec. 31.

The contract was extended through March, with the understanding that contract benefits will be awarded retroactively once a deal is reached. Representatives of both sides said yesterday the talks were going slowly but well.

Most Teamsters drivers and other Public Works employees have been accepting overtime shifts, Costa said, but two groups of drivers are pushing for a slowdown and intimidating the other drivers as part of an effort to pressure the city into accepting a contract favorable to the union, he said.

"It's unfortunate that a few drivers take it upon themselves to try to embarrass the city and risk injury to motorists in city," Costa said. "We think we know who they are. We will catch them, they will be arrested and charged, and we're looking for ways to terminate [their jobs]."

Teamsters Local 249 Vice President Joe Rossi did not return phone calls. Gerald Pecora, Laborers Local 1058 president and a spokesman for the collective bargaining committee, said no union member had reported threats to him. He added that his organization did not condone such tactics.

"I haven't heard reports of members being hindered in any way from performing. It's not unusual for people to be off, or not work during the holidays. It's an awkward time to come in to work," he said.

According to Costa and city councilmen Jim Motznik and Gene Ricciardi, most of the problems are occurring in Knoxville and the North Side, two of the city's six Public Works Divisions. According to Assistant Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski, just 11 of the 96 workers in those two divisions have taken the extra shifts, which the department relies on for staffing during snowy weather.

Working extra shifts Saturday through Monday would have earned the average driver $510 in overtime pay, Costa said.

Motznik and Ricciardi, who represent hilly southern neighborhoods, were livid about the slowdown. They said they supported city unions and it is an employee's right to turn down overtime, but not to threaten others to do the same.

"This is not the way to come to [a contract] agreement, by jeopardizing the safety of residents of the 4th Division," Ricciardi said.

Over the weekend, Costa and other Public Works managers climbed into trucks and salted streets themselves. Motznik, a former Public Works employee, displayed his commercial driver's license at yesterday's council session and said he would drive a plow if necessary.

He also announced his office phone number -- 412-255-2131 -- and challenged disgruntled drivers to threaten him, too.

"I'll take the threats over the phone and deal with them accordingly," Motznik said.

Ricciardi called for the Office of Municipal Investigations to look into the threats and said police could escort truck drivers if the threats continue. Police spokesperson Tammy Ewin said there have been no requests for escorts, but an extra patrol was put on Monday night by the 4th Division headquarters in Knoxville.

Ewin said only one police report has been filed on the threats. A report at the West End station Sunday says a victim alleged receiving a "harassing phone call" at 12:30 p.m. that day, but it gives no other details about the call.