The Duxbury Professional Employees Association (DPEA), is led by DeLuca and Library Director Elaine Winquist.

Deputy Fire Chief William Carrico, Board of Selectmen assistant Anne Murray and Water Superintendent Paul Anderson are also officers in the association, according to Winquist and DeLuca.

A labor attorney hired by the town and an attorney for the employees association have been negotiating the details of a list of department heads and middle management positions to be included in the new union, according to DeLuca. The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to rule on those positions on May 29, he said.

Winquist and DeLuca said they do not want to comment on what positions will be under consideration by selectmen at this point.

The professional employees association formed about one year ago, Winquist said.

“There was a collective gathering who found a need for this type of association,” said DeLuca. “It was a large group made up of all different departments.”

The employees association began meeting last spring, Winquist said.

There are about 50 people in the employee association, Winquist said. The association includes about 35 positions in the town’s personnel plan.

One of the main reasons the department heads and middle managers have looked to unionize is because of the inadequacy of the town’s personnel plan, DeLuca said.

“The personnel plan is inadequate and does not address anything that needs to be addressed,” he said. Winquist called it "a dog of a plan."

DeLuca noted that all of the employees covered by the personnel plan are employees-at-will and not covered by the same job protections as unionized town employees.

DeLuca and Winquist both said they did not want to get into too much detail of the formation of the association or mention any specific incidences that might had led to the need for greater job security.

However, DeLuca said members of the association met with the Board of Selectmen last year to discuss a change in the personnel plan that he said would have negated the need to unionize.

If the selectmen had agreed to a change in the personnel plan that would have allowed for independent arbitration for terminated employees, DeLuca said it is likely the employees association would not have gone ahead with efforts to unionize.

“That was the one underlying adjustment in the personnel plan that we asked for,” DeLuca said.

Under the current personnel plan, employees are terminated by the Town Manager with appeals going to the Board of Selectmen. DeLuca said he would like to see the same process as is used in other town unions, where terminated employees can make appeals before an independent arbitrator.

“As department heads, we deal directly with elected officials without the same type of insulation (as union employees),” DeLuca said.

DeLuca said the one thing the proposed union is not focusing on is salaries.

“I don’t think I’ve heard money come up more than twice in our meetings,” said DeLuca. He said the issue of salary is currently being addressed by a compensation and classification study.

While some might question why department heads would choose to unionize, DeLuca said he doesn’t see an issue with the process.

“Why should people who work for us be offered certain protections and benefits that we don’t get?” he asked. “The idea of a union is to ensure equity and fair treatment across the board.”

While it is unusual for municipal department heads to unionize, Winquist noted that some area towns, including Stoughton and Braintree have taken that step.

Reached Friday afternoon Board of Selectmen Chairman Jon Witten said the selectmen were taking the matter seriously. "This is not the time to comment directly... The process of discussions regarding a manager's union will proceed in good faith," he said.

Witten would not comment on any timetable for discussions, but did confirm that no executive session was planned for Monday night's meeting.