The Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees

The Guild of Pacific Northwest Employees

by the members for the members

Media

Media Contacts

Jael Komac, President
(360) 820-5235
pnweguild@gmail.com

Summary of Court Actions & Status

San Juan Superior Court of Washington: Case 19-2-0517928
This court action is what is called an “Interpleader”. Simply, it means that our attorneys are bound by ethics, rules and laws that guide their work. In this case, they needed to turn our (1849, 114, Maycock & Komac’s) legal file over to the Court and let them decide who “owns” it. The file in question concerns Federal Court Case No 2:19-cv-00562-TSZ (Documents can be obtained from the Court and are also be available here.) Local 1849 members will recall that your union and Local 114 in Bellingham along with individual members Jael Komac and Colin Maycock (Presidents and individual members of their respective unions) were the four plaintiffs in that Federal Lawsuit. We sued AFSCME & Council 2 for not obeying their own constitution regarding disclosing financial information to its members.

The case was dismissed when AFSCME represented to the Court that  it would provide the requested information to its members. You can find links to those court documents at the bottom of this page. AFSCME & Council 2 were clearly upset that any of its Locals or members would dare step out of line by questioning them, let alone take them to court. Pressure tactics increased, retaliation ensued. Our staff rep retired early due to corruption within the Council, then his replacement quit as well. Council 2’s Political Director started coming to our meetings in Bellingham, wouldn’t assign us a staff rep and threatened to “drop us” and leave Local 114 with no representation. A few members in Bellingham decided to work in the background and form a 501c5 (labor organization) so that if Council 2 followed thru on their threat there would be a soft place to land and we wouldn’t be left unrepresented.

Oct 2019 arrived and we filed our Change of Representation Petition. AFSCME President Lee Saunders immediately put us into Administratorship and stripped our treasury. All officers were forcibly removed and all stewards but one resigned in protest.

Here’s where the Court Action comes into play. Now that President Saunders had put Local 114 under Administratorship, the Administrator that AFSCME put in charge of Local 114 now contacted our Friday Harbor Attorneys who filed the Federal Court Case No 2:19-cv-00562-TSZ. The administrator demanded that Attorney’s Grifo and Power give him the entire legal file. Yes, you heard that correctly. The people that were our adversaries in Federal Court were now pretending to be the client and wanted our legal file. Our attorneys decided to file an Interpleader action in San Juan Superior Court. This means that all the parties would explain the situation in front of a judge and the Court would decide what was appropriate. The court documents and timeline are listed below.

Summons
Declaration of Jael Komac
Declaration of Colin Maycock
Stipulation and Partial Order of Dismissal with Prejudice
Motion to Seal
Court Order to Seal the file – granted
Defendants Answer and Counterclaim filed 12/18/2019
Plaintiffs Reply to Counterclaim filed 12/27/2019
New Hearing Date 3/27/2020
New Hearing Date 4/24/2020
New Hearing Date 6/26/2020
Declaration of Andy Wojciechowski filed 6/15/2020
Declaration of Kirk Juneau filed 6/15/2020
Jael Komac Response to Motion for Summary Judgement filed 6/15/2020
Colin Maycock Response to Motion for Summary Judgement filed 6/15/2020
8/7/2020 The Court sent a letter to the parties asking for more information on the status of the Administratorship appeal.
Declaration of Tamra Miller filed 8/17/2020
Declaration of Tom Veitch filed 8/17/2020
Declaration of Anne Boerner filed 8/17/2020
Response of Jael Komac in response to The Court’s letter filed 8/17/2020
Brief by AFSCME in response to The Court’s letter filed 8/17/2020
Supplemental Declaration of Jeremy Kruse filed 8/17/2020
Declaration of Dean Tharp filed 8/24/2020
Declaration of Local 114L President Katie Bray filed 8/24/2020
Declaration of Local 114WD President Ken Zangari filed 8/24/2020
Reply by Jael Komac to AFSCME’s brief in response to The Court’s letter filed 8/24/2020
Second Supplemental Declaration of Jael Komac filed 8/24/2020
Second Supplemental Declaration of Jeremy Kruse filed 8/24/2020
DECISION (filed 9/2/2020)
AFSCME and Council 2 continues to spend its members dues to fight other labor organizations. Their lawyers convened another hearing to ask the judge questions that she has already answered. On your dime of course.
DECISION ISSUED AGAIN

3/24/2021
NOTICE OF APPEALWashington State Court of Appeals, Div I, Case #825046
Because AFSCME & WSCCCE Council 2 just can’t take no for an answer, they appealed the San Juan County court decision to the Court of Appeals of Washington State.  Verify who brought this action by clicking on the NOTICE OF APPEAL document linked above. You will see that AFSCME brought this court action.

4/22/2022
Oral arguments were heard at the Court of Appeals, Div I in Seattle, WA. As you can see from this picture of the court calendar AFSCME are the appellants, they brought this court action.

5/31/2022
The Court of Appeals issued the following OPINION
– 825046 – Public – Letter – Cover Letter – 5 31 2022 – Opinion
– 825046 – DI Court Secured – Opinion – Unpublished – 5 31 2022

7/20/2022
The Court of Appeals issued the following MANDATE
– – 825046 – Public – Disposition – Mandate – 7 20 2022 –

12/16/2022
AFSCME & Council 2 lawyers (on your dime) have now filed a motion for accounting. They have already received the information they are seeking as they have already audited both Local 114 & Local 1849. What they are seeking to find is not there, we’ve told them that, yet they continue to harass both their former unit and their current local 1849 – using AFSCME members money. We all know what they want – to root out dissenters and punish them.
Motion for Accounting
Komac Declaration in response to Motion for Accounting
Maycock Declaration
2/3/2023 San Juan Superior Court Calendar You are invited to watch – the Zoom link will be posted here or locals may visit in person. The Judge issued an order for an IN CAMERA review of the Accounting information.
2/17/2023 ACCOUNTING PURSUANT TO COURTS ORDER OF FEB 3, 2023 FILED UNDER SEAL
3/1/2023 San Juan Superior Court Judge Loring issues an ORDER TO UNSEAL THE FEB 17, 2023 ACCOUNTING WITHOUT REDACTION
8/2023 Stipulation and Order of Dismissal filed

Federal Court Case No 2:19-cv-00562-TSZ
Documents can be obtained from the Court and will also be available here. AFSCME does not want anyone to see them so they removed them from the Local 114 site when they put us under illegal Administratorship. Thank you for your patience while we reconstruct all of our information so it’s available to our members.

Judicial Panel Cases

JP 20-29
Transcript

JP-66
Judicial Panel Case 19-66 Original Charges – scroll to the last pages in the document to read the original charges
Unanswered Request by member Komac to participate in “trial”
Komac striking Panel Members from List as requested by AFSCME (was ignored)
Email exchange with Abelson – Komac
Defendants Motion to Dismiss (was ignored)
*See Rules of the Judicial Panel* (for the most part, timelines and notifications ignored by AFSCME)
Status of the case currently: Komac has been kicked out of the Union but AFSCME is still collecting her dues money.
Appeal is pending before the entire Judicial Panel.
Decision
Appeal – (sent Feb 7, 2020)
Full Panel Appeal Notice (received Feb 11, 2020)
Komac Expelled – According to a memo sent to the membership by Dugovich, Ms Komac has the distinction of being the first ever member to be permanently expelled from AFSCME Council 2. Thank you President Dugovich and Mr. Abelson, we finally have agreement on something. Our membership also considers it a badge of honor.

JP-83
Judicial Panel Case 19-83 Original Charges Local Officer to repay $43,000
Trial Notification
Stemler Request to Withdraw Count III
Komac Protest & Request for Continuance due to Defective Notice
Francis Protest & Request for Continuance due to Defective Notice
Veitch Protest due to Defective Notice
Ableson Denial
Komac Response
Komac Written Answer to the charges, Supplemental Document, Copy of Check for $3000
Abelson Decision

JP Charges against Chris Dugovich, Council 2 President
1. Violation of Saunders Order
On June 4th, 2019, AFSCME’s full Judicial Panel, at the direction of President Lee Saunders, issued a reprimand and order to Dugovich to provide requesting locals and individuals of Locals 114 and 1849 with the information they requested in 2018. To date, Dugovich has made no effort to comply with President’s Saunders’ order to release the requested information. Despite repeated requests, no local officer or member has ever received any requested information or been allowed to view it. Dugovich and his successor continues to defy the Judicial Panel Order.

2. Misrepresentations to Federal Court On June 11th, 2019 and September 11, 2019
Dugovich provided a written declaration to Federal Court Judge Zilly that information requested by individual members and Locals 114 and 1849 would be made available when it was not and has never been. Dugovich continues to imperil AFSCME’s reputation by misrepresenting to the Court his promise to provide access to the requested information.

3. Threat of Abandonment of Local 114
On April 9, 2019 Dugovich knew or should have known the actions of his employee and Deputy Director, J. Pat Thompson when he made public, verbal threats that Council 2 was preparing to abandon Local 114. Instead of immediately terminating Thompson ‘s employment, Dugovich rewarded Thompson with a lucrative contract to provide services after Thompson’s retirement. On June 11, 2019 Dugovich made a presentation at a Local 114 meeting in Bellingham where he again threatened that Council 2 would abandon us if the members did not vote out all the current officers. He stated that our members would not get a good contract if the Local did not start behaving.

4. Denial of Representation
Since 2016, over 30 members of Local 114 have been denied by Dugovich the arbitration of grievances and/or unfair labor practice charges. The record shows (or lack of records in this case) that Dugovich has operated a council-wide scheme to deny the rights of individual members and local unions to arbitration of grievances, representation for charges of unfair labor practices, and representation at unit clarification hearings.

5. Election Rigging
On August 3, 2019 we allege Dugovich rigged his reelection as Council 2 president and improperly held a Council 2 convention by the following actions:
a) On March 8-9, 2019 Dugovich prohibited Local 114 member Keith Fredrikson from distributing his campaign literature criticizing his salary. Mr. Dugovich requested the Executive Board pass a motion to suppress the free speech of members. Mr. Stemler, the member’s legal representative did not voice opposition to the proposed motion. This charge was sustained in the Judicial Panel ruling of October 15, 2019. As a result, a new election had to be scheduled, wasting valuable union time and money;
b) On multiple dates from Dec 2018-Aug 2019 Dugovich either directed his staff to refuse to provide Local 114 members with Election rules or he himself refused to provide Council 2 election rules to Local 114 and its declared Council 2 Executive Board candidate, Keith Fredrickson;
c) On April 10th, 2019, Dugovich set the convention on a date in August 2019 which is prohibited by the Council 2 constitution. When his mistake was discovered, he took no responsibility and blamed others.
d) In the weeks leading up to the Council 2 2019 State Convention, Dugovich used union-paid resources in his own election campaign by ordering staff (on paid union time and using union resources) to collect proxy votes for himself. It is commonly known in this Council that keeping their boss in office is part of the Staff Reps job and if they fail to collect votes for him on company time, using union resources, they will be terminated.
e) On August 2, 2019 Dugovich (as the presiding chair of the event) prevented a rival candidate and the candidate’s supporters from speaking at the convention even though the rules in the convention packets clearly stated that they have the right to do so;

6 Retaliation and Interference with Duties of Officers
On October 11, 2018 Dugovich banned all members of Local 1849 from the annual Council 2 President’s conference—a training session for Council 2 local leaders. This action was in retaliation for the inquiry made by Colin Maycock for the information he requested and the Judicial Panel appeal Maycock filed.

6a Interference in Elections
Dugovich came to the June 2019 Local 114 meeting and stated that the membership needs to vote out all of the current officers or Council 2 would not work with the Local to get a good contract. He said a new slate of officers were needed for the city and the Council to work with our Local.

7 False Accusations against Union Members
On or about April 2018 Dugovich conducted a phone conference with Council 2 staff alerting them to the Freedom Foundation website which publicizes Dugovich’s compensation package. A Council 2 Staff Representative shared this information with a Local 1849 leader and executive board member, Colin Maycock. Maycock referenced this website in his inquiry to Dugovich. Despite the origins of this information, Dugovich has continually falsely accused Local 1849 leaders of working with Freedom Foundation. Through the summer and fall of 2018, Dugovich ordered Council 2 employees to spread false rumors to union members alleging that the Freedom Foundation was behind Colin Maycock’s Judicial Panel appeal and subsequent federal lawsuit.

8 Surveillance of Union Members
At the Council 2 Annual Weekend Legislative conference held in early 2019, Dugovich placed union member delegates and conference attendees known or suspected to oppose him in the upcoming election under personal surveillance by paid staff, Mike Rainey (and others). Staff members Mike Rainey and Matt Miller shadowed Local 1849 members at the 2018 President’s Conference in Chelan. J. Pat Thompson shadowed members at the Summer 2018 AFSCME International convention.

9 Collusion with Employer
On June 5, 2018 Dugovich colluded with employer representatives to undermine Local 114 efforts to bargain a fair contract. Dugovich went behind the backs of the Local 114 bargaining committee (including then staff rep Matt Miller), exchanged proposals with City of Bellingham representatives and reached an agreement which Dugovich then compelled Local 114 members vote on. He falsely stated to Local 114 officers and members that a “no” vote was a “strike” vote.
10 Violation of Fiduciary Responsibility

a. Stock Ownership in Council 2 Real Estate.
In the past decade it appears Dugovich has engaged in a scheme where he became a part-owner, through stock ownership, of approximately $3.5 million in real estate assets of Council 2. Dugovich is also the president of this private corporation called the “Rainier Building Corporation.“

b. Excessive Compensation.
In the past decade, and likely longer, Dugovich’s paid compensation was in excess of comparable positions within AFSCME. Dugovich has made himself eligible for two retirement plans. Further, as noted above, he has engaged in efforts to conceal his compensation by ignoring or denying all requests, including from an executive board member, to view his compensation. Not one executive board member likely can give a complete accounting of Dugovich’s compensation. This action violates IRS standards.

c. Failed Obligations as a Trustee.
Since 2014, Dugovich has failed in his role as trustee of Council 2 trusts by engineering his appointment as president of all Council 2 controlled trusts. For example, Dugovich has the sole authority to deny or pay benefits of the Dental Trust. Dugovich has refused to provide details of trust expenditures, leaving many questions of Dugovich not acting in the best interest of members by and using the trust as a revenue source for purposes other than the benefit of members.

d. Co-mingling of Personal and Union Resources. Dugovich has co-mingled union resources with his own private company.

e. Withholding Dues Payments.
-On May 31, 2019 Dugovich withheld payment of local dues from Local 114. This was done without notice, hearing or reason.
-On June 30, 2019 Dugovich withheld payment of local dues from Local 114. This was done without notice, hearing or reason.
-On July 31, 2019 Dugovich withheld payment of local dues from Local 114. This was done without notice, hearing or reason.

f. On August 23 the past due reimbursements were paid. Subsequent communications from Dugovich referred to a “normal rebate” procedure as if there was some reason to not treat our Local as “normal”. He also cautioned us “not to dig the hole any deeper.” This was yet another retaliatory action on Dugovich’s part toward us. This is stealing. This is not and never was his money.

g. Season Tickets for Sporting Events. Over the last decade Dugovich has authorized union funds to be spent on season tickets, including suites for professional sports teams. These purchases were originally to be spent on legislative and lobbying purposes. However, these have become the personal playground of Dugovich. He refuses to provide the amount spent, the purpose behind the purchase, or the policy whereby members can gain access to this benefit.

Current Status: A “trial” date has been finally set with maximum convenience on time and location given to the Council 2 President. The “trial” will be in Everett, Wa during a work day for Local 114 members despite what the Rules of the Judicial Panel state.

WE DO NOT KNOW THE STATUS OF THESE JUDICIAL PANEL CHARGES

JP-65 – 2019 Washington State Convention Election Protest
Letter 1 to AFSCME and Council 2
Letter 2 to AFSCME and Council 2
Local 114 Member(s) Convention Protest
Formal objections were also raised by members in San Juan County, Island County and Snohomish County
Hearing Held – Objection to Members Attorney’s ejection from room
Decision of Judicial Panel Chair – Convention Elections ordered
Convention Redo – To be Held Feb 7 & 8 at members expense of approximately $135,000
Local 114 Administrator decides who can attend and vote on member’s behalf and informs us that no overnight accommodations will be provided. At the convention it is discovered that Council 2 is paying the hotel bill for everyone who stayed overnight. This is done to discourage attendance from any dissenter.

Judicial Panel Case 114-1901 – Original Charges
Judicial Panel Case 114-1901 – Nov 2 Hearing Cancelled by AFSCME International
Current Status: Awaiting “trial”
The administrators state that they have decided not to hold a hearing. This makes complete sense as they support the individual members who the charges are filed against.

Audit of Local 114 by Council 2 Documents can be found here

Administratorship
Imposition of Illegal Administratorship by AFSCME – Letter to Employer
Appeal of Administratorship & Supplemental Text
AFSCME Acknowledgement and Response to Appeal
Hearing delayed by AFSCME until an unknown date in March 2020. Of course, no hearing was ever held.