The Worker’s View: Upper Arlington stages anti-union ‘educational campaign’

Over the past year, five Upper Arlington employees – the fleet workers who maintain the city’s vehicles – have been trying to join an existing union that represents their coworkers in the public works division.

Public records show the city has responded by bad-mouthing the union, Teamsters Local 284, suggesting that representation would lower the fleet workers’ salaries and sending postcards in February, ahead of their election to join the bargaining unit, warning them against unionizing.

The five fleet workers unanimously voted in March to join the union. The state’s employment relations board (SERB) certified the results in April. Four days later, the city implemented a staff-wide policy prohibiting employees from recording meetings with management, according to documents obtained by Matter News and previously reported on by the Rooster.

The Teamsters previously filed an unfair labor practice against the city in April 2025, which SERB upheld, finding probable cause existed to support the charge. So far, the board has mandated both parties sit down and talk through their differences.

Teamsters Local 284 President Mark Vandak declined to comment while negotiations are ongoing.

Upper Arlington’s community affairs director, Emma Speight, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Mayor Ukeme Awakessien Jeter, who is running to replace Democratic State Rep. Allison Russo’s seat in the Ohio House of Representatives, previously told WOSU the dispute between the city and its employees was a “political attack” against her, just days before she won the Democratic primary. “We have three unions in the city. And we negotiate union contracts every single year with no drama … this timing just feels so politically targeted,” she said.

Vandak told the NPR station that UA’s city manager, Steven Schoeny, used taxpayer money to “run an anti-union campaign.”

Postcard paranoia

In a March council meeting, Upper Arlington’s attorney, Darren Shulman, and the assistant city manager, Jackie Thiel, told the mayor and council members they sent “an educational campaign” in the form of postcards and letters to the five fleet workers that were vetted by an outside attorney they hired named Jonathan Downes. (Downes has also represented the city in negotiations with Upper Arlington’s library employees.)

Shulman said the postcards included information about how the fleet workers’ wages and benefits would change if they joined the Teamsters union. He also said the city had no problem with the workers organizing, but it did not make sense for them to join the union that represents their coworkers in the public works division who repair roads, remove snow, collect leaves and maintain the sewer system.

“You’re not allowed to make promises,” Shulman said. “You’re not allowed to make threats. You’re not allowed to, you know, say anything like that. It’s gotta be factual.”

He said the “educational campaign” including the following facts:

• “Union promises are not a guarantee.” 
• “Wages and benefits are negotiated and may change.”
• “Union dues may exceed $1,000 per year, deducted from pay and subject to change.” 
• There is “no pay or health insurance during a strike when participating in a strike.”

“The educational campaign is making it very clear that the current contract doesn’t have [the fleet workers’ current benefits],” Shulman said. “I think it’s responsible on our part to at least tell them, ‘You’re joining an existing contract that has fewer benefits. If you’re cool with that, then we’re good.’”

Public records show that the division’s director, Gary Wilfong, told an unnamed fleet worker in April 2025 that the city did not have a good relationship with the Teamsters. “I appreciate being able to talk to you guys. … with the Teamsters in the middle, it doesn’t work … it just doesn’t, you know?” Wilfong said. “The city has a good relationship with the police union, the fire union. We just don’t have that with the Teamsters, you know?”

Vandak cited that conversation as well as a staff meeting from March 2025 as the reason the union filed an unfair labor practice against the city. “They sent anti-union materials to the homes of workers, encouraged employees to call them to talk about unions on work time, and were recorded by workers pushing their anti-union agenda,” he told WOSU.

Councilman Ben Tracy said during the March council meeting that despite the city’s intentions, its “educational campaign” inherently pressured employees because there is a power imbalance between the workers and the city that issues their paychecks. “Management has power. Workers do not,” he said. “When management appears to express a preference, albeit meant in the most responsible way, there is the possibility for misinterpretation.”