SEIU Front Man Jailed

A Fisher Island security and union proponent was nabbed for collecting unemployment while on the job

By Ben Torter

Willie Floyd

Willie Floyd, one of the Service Employees International Union Local 11’s front men in its battle to unionize Fisher Island, spent half of last weekend behind bars after failing to show up in court last week on felony charges of unemployment compensation fraud and grand theft.

The 39-year-old was released from jail Monday after being allowed to enter a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders. He is required to pay back $3,196 in unemployment checks the state alleges he collected after Fisher Island hired him as a security guard.

“If [Floyd] pays the money and completes the program, the charges are dropped,” said Ed Griffith, public information officer with the State Attorney’s Office. “If he doesn’t complete the program he’ll be prosecuted.”

The arrest came days before Floyd was set to make a second appeal of building permits issued to Fisher Island by the city of Miami Beach. Whether the appeal will be affected by the arrest is unclear, though both Fisher Island and SEIU are requesting a continuance of the hearing.

“We are saddened by Willie’s personal problems and believe that his personal problems shouldn’t get in the way of the hearing and issues raised,” said Cliff Schulman, an attorney representing the Fisher Island developments. “We hope that he manages to get his personal life together.”

Critics consider the building permit appeals another part of SEIU’s attempt to wear down Fisher Island. How Floyd’s arrest will affect the situation is unclear.

Floyd’s legal problems began when he allegedly failed to notify the state that he’d gotten a job. His start date as an employee of the Fisher Island Community Association was March 14, 2005. However, Floyd continued to collect checks until June 18, 2005.

“During those weeks, Willie Floyd represented to unemployment compensation that he was totally unemployed and received no earnings or wages, when in truth he was employed by Fisher Island Community Association during those weeks and earned $5,423, as verified by payroll records,” said Griffith, quoting a document in Floyd’s file with the State Attorney’s Office.

Griffith explained that if he’d paid the money back when he was first contacted, he’d have never been arrested.

“The state just wants its money back when you don’t deserve it,” Griffith said.

Floyd’s photo and description of his fight against the island are on the home page of the union’s Web site, www.seiu11.org, and he is listed on both building permit appeals, so his arrest is a bit of a public relations headache. Representatives from SEIU didn’t have much to say and haven’t made it clear whether they knew of his legal problems before backing him.

“The charges will be dropped once [Floyd] satisfies the agreement he made with the court,” said Kim Diehl, SEIU’s media relations person. Beyond that she could not comment.

Floyd and SEIU lost the first of his two building permit appeals before the Miami Beach Board of Appeals on March 7. The projects in question were Palazzo del Sol and Palazzo del Luna, for which ground was recently broken. The building sites are on the island directly across Government Cut from the southern tip of Miami Beach.

Floyd, at the behest of SEIU, had questioned why the planning director had allowed the addition of a large mechanical building and a wall separating the underground parking garage after plans were reviewed by the Miami Beach Design Review Board. City officials insisted such a process is standard. After a six-hour hearing, board members sided with the city and Fisher Island and denied the appeal.

Floyd also appealed the approval of two underground garages, arguing that since they could flood, they weren’t safe. Though he could not be reached for comment since his recent arrest, Floyd spoke with the SunPost in early March before the first appeal.

“We have a lot of water leaks in the underground garages,” Floyd said, adding that security guards are the first responders on the island. “We deal with a lot of electricity with those golf carts.”

Miami Beach Building Department Director Thomas Velazquez defended his department’s approval of the garages.

“The garage is in total compliance with FEMA standards,” Velazquez said. “You see more and more buildings all around with parking below the base flood elevation. Mixed occupancy buildings, as long as they are properly designed, can be built below the base elevation line. They are using this for their own agenda. It’s ridiculous.”

The appeal was scheduled to be heard by the Board of Adjustment Friday, April 4, though it may be continued to a later date as the SEIU is requesting.

“They have to find another point man, I assume,” said Velazquez. “That’s why they’re trying to postpone the hearing.”

Assistant City Attorney Gary Held explained it differently.

“Both sides were interested in having it continued because they were concerned about having enough time in one session,” Held said. Since the first appeal took six hours, he said both sides would like a special meeting to be held just for them.

Diehl told the SunPost that Held’s interpretation is correct and that the request for continuance has nothing to do with Floyd’s arrest.

“There were other agenda items also on the table for Friday, so we’re trying to find a date where only this item can be heard,” Diehl said. “Both Fisher Island and the SEIU are in agreement about needing more time to hear the whole case.”

SEIU has led a campaign to unionize Fisher Island’s approximately 700 workers since its high-profile success organizing workers at the University of Miami more than a year ago. It led a flotilla of boats to the island in November to get the message out that the island’s beaches, below the mean high-tide line, are open to the public. In October, the union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of 19 workers, alleging the Fisher Island ferry service discriminates against Haitian, Hispanic and black workers for requiring them to ride in a worker’s lounge separate from residents and guests.

The island has agreed to allow an election process to determine whether workers want to be unionized. The election would be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The SEIU is holding out for a different form of election known as card check that it says is more favorable to workers.

For now, Floyd is still employed as a Fisher Island security guard pending the outcome of his case, said Jose Cancela, a spokesman retained by Fisher Island.

“We wish Mr. Floyd the best in dealing with his current situation, but we will continue to fight him and the union every step of the way in showing this is a frivolous lawsuit that he filed,” said Cancela.

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com