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STATE OF WASHINGTON BEFORE THE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION |
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TEAMSTERS UNION, LOCAL 117, |
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Complainant, |
CASE 10313-U-93-2364 |
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vs. |
DECISION 4473 - PECB |
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SEATTLE HOUSING AUTHORITY, |
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO MAKE COMPLAINT MORE DEFINITE AND CERTAIN |
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Respondent. |
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Schwerin, Burns, Campbell and French by John Burns, appeared on behalf of the complainant.
Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, by Ronald J. Knox, appeared on behalf of the employer.
On March 9, 1993, Teamsters Union, Local 117 (union), filed a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Commission, charging that the Seattle Housing Authority (employer) had committed unfair labor practices and had encouraged and sponsored the circulation of a decertification petition among the members of the complainant’s bargaining unit.[1]
A preliminary ruling issued pursuant to WAC 391-45-110 on March 15, 1993, which concluded that an unfair labor practice could be found on the union’s allegations concerning:
The employer’s interference with employee rights by its supervisors authorizing the use of their offices and work time for preparation and filing of a decertification petition for the rank and file unit.
On that same date, the employer filed a motion with the Commission to have the complaint made more definite and certain. Specifically, the employer argued that the third paragraph of the statement of facts provided with the complaint was so indefinite as to hamper any answer that it would later be requested to file.
On August 11, 1993, the undersigned Examiner was assigned to conduct further proceedings in the matter, beginning with the employer’s motion.
Having examined the pleadings thus far placed into the record by the parties both in this charge and the underlying representation proceedings; it is apparent to this examiner that the employer’s motion is well founded. Although the complaint complied with the Commission’s rules sufficient to support a preliminary ruling, by alleging a period of time during which the alleged events were to have taken place and that a generic group of persons, “supervisors”, were alleged to have committed the unfair labor practices, the complainant did not supply information specific enough to enable the employer to file anything other than a “general denial” of the allegations.
NOW, THEREFORE, it is
ORDERED
1 The employer’s motion to make the complaint filed in the above-entitled matter more definite and certain is GRANTED.
2 The complainant is hereby given twenty (20) days to amend its “statement of facts” to make its complaint in this matter more definite and certain.
Issued at Olympia, Washington, on the 19th day of August, 1993.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS COMMISSION
[SIGNED]
WALTER M STUTEVILLE, Hearing Examiner
[1] On February 24, 1993, Virginia Mitchell, who identified herself as a “Floater Manager” with the Housing Authority, filed a decertification petition involving the bargaining unit represented by Teamsters Local 112. That petition was dismissed on June 11, 1993. Seattle Housing Authority, Decision 4420 (PECB, 1993).