The U.S. Department of Labor recently filed suit to force the Our Virgin Islands Labor Union to hold elections after the union allegedly canceled elections in 2012, and then failed to respond to complaints about not holding the election, according to documents filed in federal court.
OVILU represents about 950 employees in government and the private sector, including the V.I. Departments of Public Works and Justice, Triangle Construction, St. Thomas Healthcare Management Inc. and Carambola Beach Resort, among others.
The complaint – filed on behalf of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez on Dec. 23 in U.S. District Court for the Virgin Islands on St. Croix – alleges OVILU failed to hold elections for 16 positions on its representative council in December of 2012, although those elections are required by the union’s bylaws.
In a letter dated June 26, 2013, union member Shalima Edwards protested the failure to hold an election, and after three months went by without a response, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The U.S. Labor Department investigated and "found probable cause” to believe that “a violation had occurred” and “had not been remedied," according to the complaint.
It asserts OVILU violated U.S. labor law requiring unions to hold regular internal elections in accordance with their own constitutions and bylaws "by failing to hold its annual election for the sixteen positions of Deputy of the Representative Council."
The Labor Department is asking the court to direct OVILU to hold an election and to require it to pay the cost of the lawsuit.
OVILU has not yet filed a response to the complaint and no court hearings have been scheduled to date.
