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Civil Rights Commission refuses further action on city union inclusion of commission positions
Summary
The Davenport Civil Rights Commission reaffirmed its prior position that commission staff positions should not be included in the city's union and voted unanimously not to take further action after discussing the city attorney's request.
The Davenport Civil Rights Commission voted unanimously to take no additional action on whether commission positions should be included in the city’s labor union.
The issue arose after the city attorney questioned whether newly approved commission positions — including an intern and an on-call role — would be automatically added to the city union. Director Lacey told commissioners she had received correspondence from the city attorney and provided personnel documents she said already addressed the questions raised.
Director Lacey said she was told the commission’s positions had been added to the union “back in the eighties,” but she noted the city council’s 2005 amendment to the commission’s ordinance “expressly delineated the commission’s authority over staff.” She said there was no documentation showing the commission had authorized the city to negotiate on its behalf with the union.
The chair asked whether any commissioner wished to change the commission’s previously adopted position that the commission’s positions should not be in the union. The chair then called a roll; each named commissioner answered “No,” which the chair summarized as a “resounding no” and a decision to take no further action. The chair added that if the city attorney believed the positions lawfully belonged to the union and that the city was the lawful employer, “that would not be a decision for the commission to make, but rather a decision for the city council to make.”
Why it matters: The discussion touches on the commission’s control over its staff and whether municipal HR and city council processes determine union membership and negotiations. Director Lacey said the city’s HR department typically handles union negotiations.
Process notes and next steps: The director said she is still awaiting a substantive response from the city attorney and that the commission had already approved the positions; the posting of those positions was still pending. The commission did not pass a new motion to change its prior vote; instead, it reaffirmed its earlier position and elected not to pursue further action at this meeting.
