Within a week, union member Larry Ervin was accused of threatening another Ohio University employee, put on leave, banned from university property ' and now reinstated.
Ervin, a bargaining member of the classified employees' union received a call yesterday afternoon telling him to show up for work this morning, when he expects to pick up his reinstatement papers.
He was put on paid administrative leave Sept. 25 for allegedly threatening a University Human Relations employee. After a hearing on Monday with Human Relations official, Ervin still doesn't know who reported him or what exactly he was accused of.
When he was placed on leave last week, Ervin and union chapter President Dave Logan said it was another union member who filed the complaint. At Monday's hearing, Ervin and Logan were told it was an administrator.
It's the same kind of doublespeak we put up with all the time
Logan said. It's just their tactics.
Officials in both Human Resources and University Communications and Marketing did not respond to phone calls yesterday.
While on leave, Ervin was not allowed on OU's campus and had to call Human Resources if he left his house and when he returned, he said. He spent the week contacting every state representative and senator, Gov. Ted Strickland and Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut. He also continued picketing, as sidewalks are considered city property.
They say I wasn't hurt because I was paid but my reputation and record are all in danger he said.
Ervin said the allegations stemmed from difficulties the union encountered when attempting to print fliers through the University Printing Resources Center. According to the handbill that was eventually printed off-campus, Printing Resources told the union Sept. 20 that it had to fax the handouts to Human Resources and Legal Affairs to be examined. The fliers were not approved until after the union picketed that day, Ervin said.
I think they were just on a witch hunt
Ervin said. I don't think it's an attack against me. It's about shutting the union up and getting this situation to go away.
While both he and Logan said Ervin's leave scared some members, they both said the union as a whole is more determined than ever.
The university is trying to silence the union and intimidate our picketers
and it's not going to work
Logan said. We're not slowing down
we're picking up steam.
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Laura Bernheim
