Taking on the governor<br> to protect unionized workers

George Nee is a lightning rod. As one of Rhode Island’s most powerful union leaders – and a man not afraid to wield his political influence – he is at the center of many major controversies, not just involving labor rights, but also issues such as the state’s workers’ compensation system and The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., both of which he helped shape.

Last month, when Gov. Donald L. Carcieri withdrew his renomination of Adelita S. Orefice as director of the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, he cited Nee’s intention to testify against her in the Senate. As the governor saw it, it was retaliation for Orefice’s whistle-blowing about corruption at Beacon, where Nee was a board member.

PBN: What are your feelings on the governor’s allegations about you and Adelita Orefice?

NEE: I don’t know where to start with my adjectives. It’s totally unfounded, slanderous, totally irresponsible and nonfactual. I was going to testify against her to suggest that the Senate not provide advice and consent for her for the second term. There were representatives from about six other unions that were also there to testify against her.

PBN: Why were you going to testify against her?

NEE: For the record, the issue of Beacon was never coming up. … The department, in our judgment, has done a very poor job of enforcing the prevailing wage law. The department is attempting to undermine the apprenticeship system in Rhode Island, and that system is the single most successful labor-management job training program in the history of our country. She has been a strong advocate of the positions put forward by the [Associated Builders and Contractors] … to weaken the standards for apprenticeship, which we believe would undermine that system as well as jeopardize people’s health and safety. She has still not satisfied us with the privacy issues of allowing all those records to end up at the landfill. She’s just not an advocate for working people.

PBN: Are any of the governor’s statements about you and Beacon accurate?

NEE: The governor attempted to knock me off of the Beacon board before my term last May and the issue went to court and the court ruled in my favor that the governor has no grounds to remove me from that position. He lost all the way to the Supreme Court. In the Giuliani report, which was done with permission of the board itself, my name was never mentioned in that report of being involved in anything. So to suggest that is where he has crossed the line.

PBN: What are the labor movement’s priorities right now?

NEE: I would say the most important thing is to reestablish the role of organized labor in the community … and to deal with the present mood both nationally and locally where it seems like it’s popular to discredit the labor movement. So we’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to remind people of how their life has improved for example minimum wage, OSHA, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, parental leave laws and health and safety laws. The country and the economy would look a lot different if there [wasn’t] a strong labor movement.

PBN: How big of a threat is privatization of state services?

NEE: There’s two pieces to that. The sad thing is that most people are just trying to make a living, have a job where they have some security … and it seems like as soon as they get to that point someone wants to knock them down and replace them with someone making substandard wages with no benefits. So I think at least in the public sector, the privatization is being used as a club and as a threat to their standard of living. The hypocrisy is incredible when you look at what has been happening at [the R.I. Department of Transportation] and at [the R.I. Department of Environmental Management] and some of these high-priced consulting contracts and no-bid deals. … Privatization has the potential for tremendous political abuse and corruption. What ‘s really outrageous at DOT is they start off with very small contracts and then they morph into huge contracts.

PBN: Do you think there’s pressure from taxpayers to privatize?

NEE: At this stage in the game it seems to be coming from the governor. There have been other privatization efforts that have gone on in other communities over the years. For example, there have been many efforts to privatize the water systems and the sewer systems in some communities, but it’s always been done in conjunction with the labor community, and it’s always been done not to put people out of work – to respect their work, respect what they’re making, respect their benefit package and keep them employed. This latest effort by the governor’s office to privatize the dietary and housekeeping at the three state hospitals was really no more than an attempt to put those people out of work and replace them with low-paid people with no benefits without even asking, how do we get that work done more efficiently? The irony of this whole thing is we were meeting with the administration to try to solve the problems when they pulled the plug.

PBN: How effective do you expect the privatization controls approved by the assembly to be?

NEE: I think it sets a very high bar, and I think that’s a good thing. I think that you don’t just put people out on the street to save a dollar; it has to be a substantial savings. And it has to be something where people who are doing the job have an opportunity to sit down with the management and see if they can work something out so they can maintain their jobs. And it provides for due process. Why shouldn’t someone have a right to appeal when you’re taking someone who’s done a job for 25 years and putting them out on the street?

INTERVIEW: George H. Nee

RESIDENCE: Cranston