Batavia picketers violating 'neutral gate,' school officials say

Union construction workers continued to picket both entrances to Batavia High School Monday, a practice school officials believe is wrong.

But a Laborers Chicago District Council official said Monday afternoon the union isn't breaking any laws. Furthermore, he said he intends to file a theft report with Batavia police over a missing picket sign he says school Superintendent Jack Barshinger took.

Toby Koth also said accusations that pickets took pictures of student athletes entering the grounds Friday afternoon were "ludicrous."

"My people on that job site all have children," said Koth, president and business manager of Local 582 of the Chicago District Laborers Council. The local is striking against Lamp Inc., the general contractor for the school expansion and renovation.

And he said it was he who called police Friday morning, to complain that Barshinger had removed three signs and took them in to the school. The Batavia police press report book, which gives summaries of incidents, states that a "union representative took exception to the removal of two signs" and that an officer advised school and union officials to speak to their attorneys before taking any further action. Deputy Chief James Dixon Friday characterized the incident as a "misunderstanding."

The school district contends the pickets are violating a "neutral gate" law that called for pickets only at the gate used by employees and suppliers of Lamp and L.J. Morse Construction Co., on the Main Street entrance. At the neutral gate off Wilson Street, unionized workers from other trades could enter without repercussion, and the laborers' local could station observers. Observers carry or post signs saying "observer;" pickets use signs that say "on strike."

Federal labor law provides, however, that if workers or suppliers of the primary firm use the neutral gate, it becomes "contaminated," and a union may then picket at the gate. Koth said that contamination began happening Wednesday or Thursday.

Since the Laborers started picketing on Wilson, members of other unions working for several dozen subcontractors have refused to cross the picket line, Steve Straub, vice president of operations for Lamp Inc., said Monday.

The Batavia school board is scheduled to meet Tuesday night to discuss taking legal action against the union. It was first scheduled to meet Monday, but could not gather enough members to establish a quorum.

Barshinger Sunday posted a note, "BHS Student Safety Alert," on the district's website. It advised parents and students that a school volleyball coach reported that striking construction workers had taken pictures of players entering the school grounds on both the Wilson and Main streets sides of the campus late Friday afternoon. It also said the district had received reports of "inappropriate hand gestures" being made to students and staff.

"These behaviors are meant to intimidate and bully our students and staff," Barshinger wrote. He urged people to call 911 immediately to report the behavior to police. If people did not feel safe doing so, they could report the matter to the school district, which would call police.

Friday afternoon, the district advised students and staff it had called police to the site.

The pickets are from Local 582 of the Laborers District Council of Chicago, one of two unions conducting a strike against employers in the Chicago area.

Straub said there aren't any Laborers employed at the site, and that he believes they are picketing the Batavia site because it is a "high-profile" site. Lamp belongs to the Mid-American Regional Bargaining Association, an association of employers against which the Laborers and the International Union of Operating Engineers are striking.

Koth confirmed there are no Laborers working there, and said they are picketing there because Lamp is the general contractor.

Pickets at the Wilson gate declined to speak on the record Monday. One of the workers was digitally taping the entrance and the construction site.

Batavia High School is in the last year of a three-year expansion and renovation. Barshinger said last week school officials are worried that areas under renovation, including a gymnasium, locker rooms, special education and vocational education classrooms, won't be finished in time for athletic practices to start Aug. 11 and school, which starts Aug. 25.