Nashua school custodial union doesn’t want its grievances ‘laid out in the press’

NASHUA – Representatives of the district’s custodial union walked out of a nonpublic session with the Board of Education last week, after board members could not promise the content of the meeting would be kept out of the newspapers. The representatives of AFSCME Local 365, Chapter Chair Donna Grady and Chief Steward Jason Guerette, requested the discussion, held at the end of the board’s regular meeting Tuesday, Nov. 13, be done behind closed doors to discuss a grievance filed by a union member. Once in the nonpublic session, however, board President Robert Hallowell said the meeting would still be recorded, and board members would determine after whether the minutes of the meeting should be sealed or be made a public document, as is required under the state Right to Know law. This did not sit well with the union representatives. “I don’t want it laid out in the press, OK?” said Grady, according to minutes released this week. “I’d like to go on record saying that … the union has a concern with the way the school board portrays Local 365 to the press.