Snow plowing dispute in North Providence

January 27, 2016 10:05 pm

By Rebecca Turco

rturco@abc6.com

North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi is calling out his Public Works team after several workers didn’t show up for the town’s first snowfalls.

It all began on January 18th when only four of the town’s 17 union employees came into work during a minor snowfall. Over this past weekend, when the town saw six inches of snow, four workers were missing.

"It’s going to be within my power never to let this happen again," says Bernie Salvatore, head of the DPW, calling the situation unacceptable.

Salvatore claims workers are either calling out sick or not answering calls to come in as a tactic in ongoing contact negotiations.

"The taxpayers can’t ever, ever be put in this position. Whatever the reasoning is, that just clearly cannot happen," he says.

The head of the union wouldn’t go on-camera, but tells ABC6 News he strongly disagrees with the statement, denying there’s any master plan.

The workers can technically choose not to show up for a snow event, but not if the Mayor declares it an emergency, which he did not do in either case.

"Maybe we don’t want to force them to come into work if they don’t want to come into work. If we can get it done without them, let them stay home in bed," says Mayor Lombardi.

The town hired outside drivers to help with the past two snowstorms. The Mayor says he’ll keep doing that, and even consider outsourcing the town’s snow needs of this keeps up.

"If we’re dealing with a few malcontents at this point in time, it’s okay. We really don’t need them," says Lombardi.

The union head doesn’t understand the outcry, but sent a statement to ABC6 News saying absences like this are not absurd for non-emergency events. He adds that one of the four who called out sick over the weekend is a clerk who wouldn’t have been plowing anyway.