Multiple sources have told Forward Kentucky that when the staff of the Kentucky Democratic Party joined a union, the State Central Executive Committee (SCEC) was not involved at all during the process. The SCEC did not learn of the decision to join a union until after it had happened, in an announcement during a virtual meeting. As far as our sources knew, no members of the Executive Committee knew anything about the unionization of the staff before or during the process.
The KDP staff joined Local 369 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and have already put a collective bargaining agreement in place.
The bylaws of the KDP specify that the Finance Committee is to “recommend salaries,” which would appear to be pertinent to agreeing to a collective bargaining agreement.
We reached out to the Executive Director of the KDP, Mary Nishimuta, and to Marissa McNee, the Deputy Executive Director, to ask about the process of unionization, why the SCEC was not involved, who was covered by the CBA (which staff members), and the terms of the CBA. Nishimuta wrote back and said:
“While it’s not appropriate for us to comment on personnel or internal matters or share confidential information, we are very happy with the partnership with IBEW. Attached is our press release regarding the staff unionizing.”
We then followed up with the same questions again, but got no response.
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