Sports authority Union dispute won’t derail Meadowlands track takeover

Listen to this article

An internal union dispute among tellers at the struggling Meadowlands Racetrack is slated to return to court Nov. 9, but the litigation is not expected to change the state’s plan to turn over operations of the track to developer Jeffrey Gural, according to the New Jersey agency that currently operates the track.An internal union dispute among tellers at the struggling Meadowlands Racetrack is slated to return to court Nov. 9, but the litigation is not expected to change the state’s plan to turn over operations of the track to developer Jeffrey Gural, according to the New Jersey agency that currently operates the track.

The new date was set after a judge in Jersey City refused to lift an order preventing leaders of the tellers’ union from signing a new contract with Gural, who is leasing the track from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. John Samerjan, a spokesman for the agency, said Tuesday that the case “has no impact on us signing a final lease” with the New York-based developer.

The agreement is expected to be finalized Dec. 4, Samerjan said.

The court battle centers on an April 26 vote by the executive board of the union, Local 137 of Laborers International Union of North America AFL-CIO, to approve a new contract with Gural’s company that included a 20 percent pay cut for the clerks. The approval was challenged by union members Cathy Follo and Greg Tarantino, who alleged the vote was illegal and deprived rank-and-file union members of their right to vote.

Less than two weeks earlier, union members voted to table the contract matter in order to review the proposal, Follo and Tarantino argue in court papers. Their Wall-based attorney, Catherine Elston, said Tuesday that the move prompted the executive board to hold “clandestine meetings” and ratify the contract without the full membership.

“Your executive board is supposed to operate in the best interest of all the members, not take a parental view and say, ‘We’re doing what we think is best for you guys, so we’re going to vote and deprive you of your right to vote,'” Elston said. “You can’t do that. It’s about the right to vote. That’s what this has been about from the start.”

Raymond Heineman, an attorney for the executive board and the union, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

In late July, Superior Court Judge Maurice Gallipoli, sitting in Jersey City, issued an order preventing the executive board from signing the contract until he decided whether it was legal. After two months of legal wrangling, Gallipoli on Oct. 12 rejected a motion by Heineman to lift the order.

Gallipoli’s most recent opinion said the case will return to court Nov. 9, after both sides have the chance to file additional arguments.

Gural could not immediately be reached for comment.