Employees of the City of Sunrise, Fla., are taking steps to fire their union. Employees say they’ve lost faith in the Nat’l Fed’n of Public & Private Employees after years of watching management and commissioners increase their own benefits and salaries while neglecting the workers. In Mar. 2002, 72% of the union and non-union employees have signed cards indicating their interest in switching over to the Fraternal Order of Police, general employees union member Paul Mink said. FOP staff representative John Puleo said the FOP has already received 331 cards expressing interest in switching to FOP. Before any switch could be final, employees must take a formal vote.
NFPPE president Walter J. “Buster” Browne and his sister Patricia B. Devaney were indicted in Nov. 2001 on charges that they cheated their union out of more than $400,000. Browne is awaiting trial on charges of racketeering, embezzlement, and mail fraud.
People are just fed up, Mink said. “Walter Browne, and being he got indicted, and being they haven’t done much for the general employees, people lost faith,” Mink said. The employees have been without a contract for five months. [Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) 3/22/02]