Stancil McNair and other grassroots candidates who won the AFSCME Local 44 election last August to represent Baltimore sanitation workers are asking a judge to block an election rerun scheduled for Saturday.

The insurgents are seeking a court injunction against the union to stop it from conducting what they call an “unlawful and unjustifiable” second election, saying they “have exhausted internal union remedies” and are “at risk of being deprived of their protected interest in the election results.”

Filed by attorney Thiru Vignarajah last Wednesday, the lawsuit asks a Baltimore Circuit Court judge to issue an order declaring the original election “valid and binding” and to rescind the new election date.

McNair was sworn into office as Local 44’s president last August 30, but ever since “has been questioned and challenged” by Trevor Taylor, the candidate he defeated, and other union officials, the lawsuit contends.

Other members of his slate, who say they also have been stopped from taking an active role in their positions, include treasurer Timmeka Pettus and executive board members Teresa Blow and Crystal Boswell.

Taylor, who continues to work in the union hall, was among the two dozen AFSCME members hosted last Tuesday by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott at a ceremonial City Hall signing of a new contract for sanitation and other blue-collar employees.

The event took place a day after the December 6 election do-over became known after a judicial panel of AFSCME officers ordered a new election based on Taylor’s complaint about Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

Taylor was placed at the mayor’s side as TV cameras whirred, and Scott and others praised the new contract as a historic win for sanitation workers.

The judicial panel said social media posts by Cumming that called on union members to vote in the August election and citing McNair’s candidacy amounted to “employer interference” in the election. Cumming’s office had issued a series of reports detailing unsafe conditions faced by sanitation workers in the wake of two employee deaths, one from heat exhaustion and the other crushed by a garbage truck.

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The judicial panel said the AFSCME Constitution prohibits an “employer” or other manager from supporting a candidate for union office.

McNair and his insurgent slate were outspoken about conditions at city sanitation yards. Last March, they castigated AFSCME leadership at a City Council hearing for ignoring members’ plight. McNair pledged to fight for better working conditions and set the local on a new course.

Definition of “Employer”

AFSCME lawyers are asking for the lawsuit to be transferred from Baltimore Circuit Court to U.S. District Court, saying the case more properly comes under federal jurisdiction.

In its eight-page filing, the union says the key issue revolves around the definition of “employer.”

“The AFSCME Judicial Panel interpreted the term ’employer’ in this constitutional provision to encompass the Baltimore City Inspector General. Plaintiffs claim that ’employer,’ as used in the AFSCME Constitution, is narrower than the reading that the Judicial Panel gave to that term,” the lawyers said, going on to concede that the union could be at fault for misapplying the term.

“If Plaintiffs are correct, then AFSCME has breached its Constitution by ordering a new election. If Plaintiffs are incorrect, AFSCME is complying with its Constitution. Because the complaint rises or falls depending on whether AFSCME has breached its Constitutions, this case arises under [federal law].”

Vignarajah said this afternoon he has not decided whether to support or oppose removal of the lawsuit to federal court.