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PRINGLE &#8212; The teachers union at West Side Career and Technical Center filed a labor complaint too late, a hearing examiner for the state Labor Relations Board ruled in dismissing the case involving the librarian position at the school.While the complaint involved the decision to eliminate a full-time librarian and give duties to a non-union employee, the hearing examiner&#8217;s report focused almost entirely on the question of timely filing.According to the report, Dawn Harding had been the librarian for five years, a position that had been a union job for at least two decades. On March 23, 2012, the Joint Operating Committee that runs the center announced Harding would be furloughed at the end of the school year.Timing of events was key in the decision because, by law, a complaint had to be filed within four months of the action in question.Union President Michael Dennis met with then-administrative director Nancy Tkatch, who told him the library was going to be eliminated. But when the 2012-13 school year started, it remained open, renamed the multi-purpose room.Teacher Thomas Pieczynski contacted the main office in his capacity as a member of the union executive committee to see who was doing the librarian duties. He was told &#8220;all the library services, books, things of that nature would go through&#8221; secretary Samantha Warnagiris, not a member of the teachers union.The CTC also posted a sign at the library stating anyone wanting a book should see Warnagiris. And Warnagiris sent an email Nov. 13, 2012, with the same information. Pieczynski and Dennis admitted receiving the letter.The hearing examiner noted that removal of union work &#8220;is a mandatory subject of bargaining and an employer commits an unfair practice&#8221; by not bringing such a change to the union first. The examiner also notes the library was renamed, not closed, and that the decision to move library duties to a non-union secretary was done without consulting the union.But the complaint was filed April 26, 2013, and the CTC argued the union should have known about it as early as the March 2012 JOC meeting and certainly should have been aware by the November 2013 email. The union countered that it did not learn &#8220;the full scope&#8221; of the work being done by Warnagiris until Pieczynski talked to Tkatch in January 2013.The hearing examiner report said the union&#8217;s argument doesn&#8217;t explain why Pieczynski waited so long to ask Tkatch about the move, and that taking such an argument to its logical end would allow a union representative &#8220;to set its own timetable for asking questions and investigating an alleged removal&#8221; of a union worker.Pennsylvania State Education Association northeast region spokesman Paul Shemansky said the issue has been turned over to the PSEA legal team and that no determination of future action has been made.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

State rules West Side Career and Technical Center union complaint came too late