Unions sometimes compete to represent workers, and that has been the case in Colorado with the Denver Sheriff’s Department. With budget cuts and tightening discipline, about 125 of the 760 deputies have turned to the Teamsters Union. What they have gotten is Ed Bagwell, Local 17’s director of the public service division—a stocky and aggressive person.
Bagwell is aggressive. During one meeting, a supervisor looked at his Teamster’s shirt and said, “Nice bowling shirt.” Bagwell responded by looking at the supervisor’s uniform and remarking, “Nice clown suit.” After that, the fight was on, and the meeting became so tense that the department ended up closing the meeting and turning the matter over to internal affairs. During another meeting, Bagwell got so mad he invited a supervisor outside. His behavior so offended an assistant city attorney that the attorney wrote to Bagwell’s boss about “unnecessarily hostile and inappropriate behavior.” At yet another meeting, when Bagwell was asked to tone it down, he roared, “You have no idea how aggressive I can be!”
Such behavior has had the city attorney’s office all atwitter, but it seems to resonate with
the sheriff’s deputies. A group of those deputies want the Teamsters to take over for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which has handled collective bargaining for the deputies since 1993. The momentum is with the Teamsters, which signed up more than 100 deputies in a recent year.
The president of the FOP thinks his union will stave off the Teamsters, who will need votes from more than half of the 700 deputies before the Teamsters can represent them. The Teamsters have insinuated that the existing union is not tough enough, according to the FOP, but the FOP president disagrees. “I think we have in case after case shown that we are willing to fight what we think is a fight,” he said.
Two deputies who have recently switched to the Teamsters disagree with the FOP. One deputy who is accused of lying about what he saw in a discipline case involving another deputy has chosen the Teamsters over the FOP to defend him in his disciplinary hearings. The other has switched to the Teamsters because he feels an outside organization will be more likely to challenge the status quo. He says, “It’s time for a change.”

1. Is it good or bad for one union to challenge another to represent these deputies, and why?

2. Discuss whether the aggressive approach of the Teamsters is appropriate and legal under the circumstances.