Councilmen accused of meddling in labor deal

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 07:53 p.m., March 26, 2008
Updated 10:51 p.m., March 26, 2008

Three Denver councilmen with close links to the city's labor unions are being accused of overstepping their authority by probing into contract negotiations between labor and a company vying for a $70 million contract at Denver International Airport.

In a closed-door meeting at City Hall last week, Councilmen Paul Lopez and Chris Nevitt spent about an hour and a half with officials from the Service Employees International Union and Standard Parking, which was in line to get the contract until questions and concerns about its bid stalled the deal.

Councilman Doug Linkhart also attended the meeting, but only for about 30 minutes.

Lopez, Nevitt and Linkhart denied engaging in contract negotiations, saying they were simply seeking more information about the way the bid was structured.

But Jack Ricchiuto, Standard's executive vice president who was at the meeting, said Wednesday that he found it "unusual."

"I haven't been in a situation like that where it seemed as though the council members were openly advocating certain things for the union, such as health care and so forth," he said.

"It was certainly unusual to be involved and have as much of an in-depth discussion relative to a union contract as we had prior to even having an opportunity to begin to discuss or to engage in labor negotiations with the union," Ricchiuto added.

Councilman Charlie Brown said he was "disappointed" in his three colleagues.

"Even the appearance of council members negotiating contracts bothers me," he said.

The city charter prohibits the council from negotiating contracts, Brown said.

"They're not adhering to our city charter, and they're not listening to the legal counsel that they have received on several occasions from (Assistant City Attorney) David Broadwell," he said.

The meeting, held in a small conference room off council chambers on the third floor of the City and County Building, took place a day before the council's economic development committee met to discuss the lucrative contract.

The 5-year agreement has generated concerns because of a nearly $786,000 disparity between the annual management fee proposed by Standard and the one proposed by Ampco System Parking, the current operator who also bid on the contract.

The lower fee was Standard's.

The contract passed out of committee but was put on hold until April 7 at the request of DIA's new manager, Kim Day, who asked for more time to review it.

Council is expected to take up the bid again on that date.

Lopez, who used to work for SEIU, said he went to the meeting last week because he wanted to find out whether the "huge discrepancy was going to be on the backs of the employees."

"It was a good opportunity for me to learn more about that contract and also to learn about some of the issues that are on the table for employees," he said.

"Let me make it clear to you," added Lopez, "our role isn't to negotiate union contracts. That's between employees and their employer. But I think it's in the best interest of the city to make sure that that contract is a good one."

Linkhart said he wanted to gather general information about how Standard structured its bid.

"I was just interested to hear more information," he said. "I think I asked a question, but I don't feel like we were advocating anything in particular."

Nevitt, a self-described "union egghead," agreed. He said he even made it a point to tell Ricchiuto that they weren't going to get in the middle of negotiations.

"I told him that a couple of times because it's an important point to make," he said.

"Our job is to subject that contract to due diligence and close scrutiny," Nevitt added. "But we don't negotiate contracts."