National Union Takes Over Local 3144

 by Thomas Breen

A national union has taken temporary control over one of the city’s largest municipal unions — and has suspended the affiliate’s executive board — after finding that a local leadership dispute has risen to the level of an “emergency situation.”

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Lee Saunders announced that decision in a letter sent to erstwhile Local 3144 President Gildemar Herrera on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

His placement of Local 3144 in “administratorship” means that the national union has now assumed control over the local union’s day-to-day operations, including its finances.

“In my opinion, an emergency situation exists in New Haven, Connecticut, Supervisory Employees Local 3144, AFSCME, AFL-CIO (“AFSCME Local 3144”), due to the local union’s executive board acting in violation of the International Constitution,” Saunders wrote to Herrera in that Feb. 17 letter. “Therefore, in accordance with Article IX, Section 37 of the International Constitution, I am placing AFSCME Local 3144 under administratorship, pending notice and hearing, effective immediately.”

Saunders has appointed AFSCME Eastern Regional Assistant Director Timothy Birch to serve as Local 3144’s administrator in the interim. He ordered Herrera to turn over “all books, records, funds and other property of the local that are in your possession, custody or control.”

In a follow-up comment sent to the Independent on Friday, Birch confirmed his appointment.

“The decision to place an AFSCME affiliate under an Administratorship is never made lightly,” Birch said. “As President Lee Saunders stated in his Feb. 17 letter to Local 3144’s officers, in his opinion an emergency situation exists due to the local union’s executive board acting in violation of AFSCME’s International Constitution.”

He declined to elaborate on the rationale behind Saunders’ decision, as “this is an AFSCME internal matter.”

Local 3144 is a union of management and professional workers employed by the City of New Haven. As of earlier this month, there were 397 city workers in filled Local 3144 positions — including legal assistants, accountants, public works forepersons, engineers, city planners, building inspectors, and elderly services specialists, among many other roles. Local 3144’s current six-year contract, approved by the alders in June 2023 and retroactive to July 2020, is set to expire on June 30, 2026.

The “administratorship” decision comes amid an extended period of tumult for the union’s leadership.

The most recent president, Herrera, works as the city school district’s information technology director.

Herrera remained president of Local 3144 even after she was suspended (in February 2024) and then fired (in September 2024) and then un-fired and reinstated in her city job (in October 2025) after an arbitrator found that the city’s school district was wrong to fire her following a months-long city investigation into a $6 million cybersecurity theft (in June 2023).

Local 3144’s website states that Herrera won a leadership election held on Oct. 17, 2025. She beat challenges from Malinda Figueroa, a previous Local 3144 president who works as the city’s purchasing agent, and Jeff Patton, a deputy director of the city’s 911 call center.

However, on Nov. 24, AFSCME handed down a decision invalidating Herrera’s October 2025 victory on the grounds that she had not actually been eligible to run because she was not a member in good standing after failing to pay her dues in a timely manner while fighting her suspension and termination.

That decision came in response to an eligibility challenge filed by Figueroa against Herrara. AFSCME ordered Local 3144 to rerun the leadership election within 60 days, or by Jan. 23.

The union had scheduled a rerun election to take place on Feb. 6. The union’s “Election Committee” abruptly canceled that rerun in order to investigate “multiple formal election challenges.” (Velma George, the city’s homelessness services coordinator and a member of Local 3144’s election committee, did not respond to a request for comment for this article.)

Patton, meanwhile, told the Independent that he dropped out of the election on Feb. 11, and is therefore no longer seeking the presidency, leaving Figueroa as the only remaining candidate.

In a phone interview with the Independent Friday, Herrera confirmed that she and the rest of Local 3144’s leadership have been suspended by the national union.

Herrera said that this came in response to a complaint made by Figueroa about the rerun election not being run in a timely manner. (Figueroa did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.)

“There were multiple challenges,” Herrera said, “not just from her [Figueroa’s] side.”

Herrera said that AFSCME will host a hearing in early March to consider the latest round of complaints. (Birch, the administrator charged by AFSCME with overseeing the local union, said no specific hearing date has been set.)

What exactly does Local 3144 being in “administratorship” mean for its members?

“Everything that we do, all the grievances, all the issues that we’re having,” now have to be addressed by Birch, instead of by the executive board and president.

“It’s sad,” Herrera said. She said that much of AFSCME was slow to help her as she fought her suspension and termination — while the parent union has moved quickly to side with her presidential opponent. “Just because one person complains.”

What lessons does she take away from this experience? What message does she have for her Local 3144 colleagues?

“I think what they need to remember is: If they have found that this isn’t what they want, they need to learn to stand up,” Herrera said. “Stand up for what you want. It doesn’t mean I’m the answer. Make sure you get the outcome you want. Don’t allow other people to dictate what your future’s going to look like. We pay into this institution [AFSCME]. The reality is: They work for us.”