Someone's milking the system

Chris von keyserling

RTM member Chris von Keyserling was arrested for goosing a town employee last January 11th. Regardless of the seriousness of his act (it sort of depends on where he touched her - there are two different stories), there's another issue here, and it involves the woman's union. I read in the Greenwich Time today that the "victim", a 57-year-old woman who is Secretary of the town's labor union LIUNA, hasn't been back at work since the incident. Taking a paid vacation of a month-and-a-half to "recover" from this vicious assault is outrageous, but I suspect that she's got a grievance going against the town, and our leaders are afraid to stand up to her.

The same article, by the way, says today's court hearing was postponed until March 8th to give the state's attorney time to speak with that same victim. Again, the goosing happened January 11th - it shouldn't take two months to find and speak with someone in Greenwich, should it? Unless that someone is recuperating in the Caribbean.

UPDATE, February 23rd:  My speculations yesterday about the motives behind this kerfuffle would seem to be borne out by the Greenwich Free Press's interview with the union members protesting outside court.

Among the protesters were several Town of Greenwich employees, including Tree Warden Bruce Spaman and Deputy Tree Warden Steve Gospodinoff.

“She’s a town union employee. We’re town union employees,” Spaman said, summing up his reason for protesting.

“We’re here to support our union sister,” Gospodinoff said. “I’m sick of being bullied by the RTM.”

“There should be a mechanism to get him off of the RTM,” said [union member] Sandy Heath who works at the Witherell.

Bill MacCormick, the business manager for Liuna Local 136, the supervisors union for the Town of Greenwich, said he was disappointed in the management of Nathaniel Witherell.

“We’re here to show support for our sister union member. We’re trying to make her whole and get her back to work,” McCormick said. “And to get the people responsible to take the appropriate steps.”

McCormick said it was the union that brought the incident to the attention of the Town Human Resources department, not the Witherell management.

Von Keyserling’s victim remains on leave from The Nathaniel Witherell. “Because the management are refusing to take action on her behalf and recognize the impact this has had on her, she’s out on leave,” McCormick said.