When Vashon Watson, a Department of Public Works (DPW) employee for the City of New Orleans and a member of AFSCME Local 2349 (Council 17) attempted to file a grievance with his supervisor for pairing him with an untrained new hire, his supervisor made his feelings about Watson’s concerns clear: he literally shredded the grievance presented to him by Watson’s AFSCME union representative.
Unfortunately for the supervisor, his actions were caught on tape. That is just one example of the way AFSCME city workers in New Orleans describe being mistreated, threatened and abused by management in the workplace.
Those incidents were detailed last month at a New Orleans City Council meeting.
Watson, who provided first-hand testimony of what he’s experienced at DPW, said at the meeting, “The abuse that the supervisors give us over there is ridiculous. They handle us like if we were slaves or in a jail.”
Watson explained that for years he has reported supervisors were not properly training new hires — in violation of AFSCME’s historic collective bargaining agreement with the city, established in 2023, but there has been no improvement.
The city has refused to actually negotiate a contract with AFSCME.
Watson is not the only DPW worker who’s described a pattern of mistreatment. Other AFSCME members also told the City Council harrowing stories of verbal abuse, wage theft and job misclassification.
Thanks to those members’ bravery — and the fact that they provided video evidence of several incidents of abuse — the City Council last month adopted an ordinance reasserting the fact that AFSCME represents city workers, a measure supporters felt was necessary since the city itself has repeatedly stalled its negotiations with AFSCME.
Now, on the heels of testimony by Watson and others, the city is finally negotiating with Council 17, and pressure on New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is mounting to come to the bargaining table. AFSCME members in New Orleans hope to finally come away with an enforceable contract that will help put an end to the rampant workplace violations they’ve suffered for too long.