Unions weigh in on Rutland’s mayoral race

By Greta Solsaa/VTDigger

The two candidates, incumbent mayor Mike Doenges and current alderman Henry Heck, vying for Rutland City’s highest office went toe-to-toe for the first time in a forum Wednesday night, Feb. 12,  to discuss the pressing issues facing Rutland.

In the mayoral forum was held at PEG-TV. The topic list included affordability, public safety and the city’s aging infrastructure, allowing each candidate to strike his core messages. 

Doenges spoke about maintaining “momentum” on the projects and initiatives that he shepherded during his first term, including the Capital Investment Plan, affordable and market-rate housing development, and the development of the downtown with the TIF district and the hotel development in the works.

A previous city clerk for Rutland, Heck said that if elected, he will look to reduce costs for taxpayers, but otherwise has “no set objectives” because his goal is to listen to residents who feel unheard before determining his actions.

But this week’s joint union endorsement of the incumbent mayor and labor complaints leveled against his challenger suggest the two candidates’ track records with workers while serving in public office may sway the race as much as their campaign objectives. 

Unions take a stand

On Tuesday, the union representing 130 Rutland City municipal and school department workers — the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 91 Local 1201 — went public with a grievance and an unfair labor practice charge the union filed against Heck in 2022 and 2023, towards the end of his 14 years serving as city clerk. And just hours before Wednesday’s debate, the presidents of three of Rutland City’s labor unions —  including the police union, the fire department union and the AFSCME Local 1201 — gathered to proclaim their support for Doenges’ bid for re-election.

The AFSCME Local 1201 reached out to both Doenges and Heck to participate in the endorsement process, but only Doenges completed the candidate survey, according to the AFSCME Local 1201’s president Tom Franzoni.

Heck said in an interview Thursday that he did not complete the survey because one of the questions asked about previous conflicts with unions. Heck said that he didn’t want to disclose details of “a personnel issue that was involved with a union member” during his time as city clerk in 2023, and so he could not “fully fill out” the questionnaire.

Heck characterized the disclosure of previous complaints as a “smear campaign” and questioned the timing of the release of the complaints as the election nears. 

All three union presidents said that the endorsement of Doenges was decided through votes by their union’s membership, and was informed by Doenges’ financial support of their departments, bargaining in good faith, and positive day-to-day interactions with their fellow workers. 

“We stand with those who stand with us, and Mayor Doenges has been a steadfast advocate for public safety, not just for firefighters, but for our police officers, public works employees and for all those who dedicate their lives protecting and serving Rutland,” said Kyle Robillard, the president of Rutland firefighters union, the International Association of Firefighters Local 2323. 

‘Anti-union bias’

The unfair labor practice complaint, submitted to the Vermont Labor Relations Board in 2023, described Heck questioning AFSCME Local 1201 members for their endorsement of Doenges’ bid against the then incumbent mayor, David Allaire, and using derogatory language against the union’s president.

According to the charge filed by AFSCME, Heck also questioned a female municipal employee, saying that he considered her his “work wife” and that she “cheated on him” through her involvement in the union.

The female municipal employee “felt intimidated by these remarks and certainly did not welcome these remarks,” according to the charge, and ultimately resigned from her position as union chair due to fear that her job would be in jeopardy if she continued to affiliate with the union.

The grievance filed against the city administration led by then Mayor Allaire and City Clerk Heck, cited “anti-Union bias,” describing a union member that “suffered an 8 day suspension without Just Cause” in September of 2022.

The AFSCME grievance contends that the union member was suspended because Heck took issue with her entering his office to photocopy a draft memo that she shared with the union. The memo was “neither secret nor confidential” and the union member “did not break any City rules, personnel policies, nor Contract provisions,” according to the grievance. 

Last week, Heck also faced criticism from the Rutland City police officials for breaching confidentiality by commenting on ongoing police union negotiations in a Facebook Live video. The police union, the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge 410, subsequently filed an unfair labor practice charge and ethics complaint against him, according to union president Tim Rice.

Heck responds

Heck said that he received a document from the city’s attorney in November of 2024 that discussed an investigation into “potentially unlawful harassment” by an appointed City Hall official.

The document read that the investigation was closed because even if union members’ accounts were accurate, the “conduct they described would not constitute a violation of the standards,” according to Heck. 

Heck said he was not certain whether the document referred to the grievance or unfair labor practices charge filed while he was city clerk, or even if the investigation was regarding his alleged conduct. Heck said he believed the accusations against him had been proven false.

But David Van Deusen, the Vermont coordinator for the AFSCME, said in an interview that the local union withdrew the unfair labor practices charge against Heck once he was not reappointed to City Hall.

“After the sea change took place and after it became clear that Henry Heck would no longer be in a position of authority over our women members, we considered the issue resolved,” said Van Deusen.

Doenges said that he could not discuss why he did not reappoint his challenger Heck as city clerk when he took office as mayor in 2023, but that he interviewed all municipal employees who wanted to keep their jobs, and he chose to reappoint those who shared a similar vision on how to steer Rutland into the future.

In Heck’s closing statement during the mayoral forum, he acknowledged the onslaught of accusations he has faced of late, but said that he would like to focus on the issues.

“There’s been a lot of things out there lately with me in the press,” Heck said. “I’ve had to answer for those things, which I have done unwavering as far as that goes, but there comes a point in time where, you know, I would really like to just get back to campaigning and not have to worry about all the allegations all of a sudden before Election Day.”