Warren union votes no confidence in Reitsma

Jan Reitsma said he's disappointed; says he wants to work with union to improve town

By Ted Hayes
Posted 8/15/17

Warren’s largest public employees union has cast a vote of no confidence in Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma.

The membership of the United Steelworkers Local 14845, which represents employees at …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Warren union votes no confidence in Reitsma

Jan Reitsma said he's disappointed; says he wants to work with union to improve town

Posted

Warren’s largest public employees union has cast a vote of no confidence in Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma.

The membership of the United Steelworkers Local 14845, which represents employees at Warren Town Hall, civilian police employees and employees of the Department of Public Works, took the vote Tuesday, Aug. 8, hours before Mr. Reitsma was to receive his yearly performance evaluation before the Warren Town Council.

Union representative Frank Amaral did not return a phone call left Monday, but Mr. Reitsma said Tuesday morning that he was disappointed to learn of the vote last week; from what he’s heard, he said, “none of the union members in town hall signed off on it. To me that’s very telling.”

“Not everybody is happy with the way grievances are being handled. I believe there is a place for the union and we should all be working together for the good of the town, but I think there’s a better way for us to go about that.”

With Mr. Amaral not returning a call for comment, there was no specific word on what circumstances led to the no confidence vote, or what the vote count was. But Warren Town Council member Chris Stanley said councilors, Mr. Reitsma and the Warren Town Solicitor received a memo from the union last Tuesday which confirmed the vote and “outlined a number of specific personnel issues.”

Mr. Reitsma, the former head of the state Department of Environmental Management, was a popular choice for manager when the council voted last June to hire him to replace former manager Thomas Gordon. But Mr. Stanley said that recent events have been “peculiar,” including the recent departure of DPW head Thomas Degnan with no warning.

“I cannot think of a time in the town’s history when a department head vacated their position seemingly overnight,” Mr. Stanley said of Mr. Degnan’s departure two weeks ago.

“That action has caused a number of individuals throughout the community to ask a number of questions.”

Mr. Reitsma said Tuesday that he doesn’t know of any specific reason for Mr. Degnan’s departure. He and other town employees learned of his departure through a short and “professional” letter of resignation that gave no clues as to his reason for leaving.

“It could be that he moved, it could be for another job; we don’t know,” Mr. Reitsma said.

As for the no confidence vote, Mr. Reitsma said he hopes to be able to reach common ground with union leadership and members, iron out potential differences and issues, and “work together.”

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.