The Oregon Employment Relations Board sided with union firefighters in an unfair labor practice complaint that prompted a hearing last October.
The governing body determined that Crook County Fire and Rescue's Fire Chief Matt Smith has demonstrated anti-union animus, citing multiple examples. It also determined that the fire district violated state statute by interfering with, restraining or coercing the union president and vice-president by subjecting them to third-party investigations and issuing excessive supervisory notes when they were engaging in protected activities.
The Employment Relations Board has ordered the district to cease and desist from violating the state statute, and to remove any instructed supervisory notes placed in supervisory files of the union president Chad Grogan and vice-president Sam Scheideman between Oct. 25, 2017, and April 23, 2018. In addition, the district is ordered to post a notice of its violations via email to all union represented employees.