Victory for Municipal Utility Workers
in Oregon
Employees at Eugene Water and Electric
Board were instrumental in the successful outcome of Local 659s
organizing campaign. Key EWEB players included, from left: Tony
McCallum, Glen Lane and Mark Hankins.
Workers at a municipal utility in the city of Eugene,
Oregon, have at long last gained IBEW representation.
A unit of 142 employees at Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB)
celebrated their long-sought victory in late summer following a
successful organizing drive conducted by IBEW Local 659, Medford,
Oregon.
New members at EWEB work in the operations and maintenance outside
units, said Local 659 Business Manager Ron Jones. The municipal
utility provides all water and electric service for the city. The
IBEW Ninth District office supported Local 659s campaign.
Most utilities across Oregon are union, but EWEB had remained nonunion
for more than a century, organizers said.
"The EWEB has been in existence for 100 years, and this is
the first time weve been able to break through with a successful
organizing drive, said Local 659 Organizer Ron Johnson. Numerous
past attempts to organize over the last 50 years were unsuccessful,
he said, and a representation election held approximately three
years ago was lost by a mere seven votes.
A 95 percent voter turnout for the 2003 representation election,
conducted by mail-in ballot August 7-22, resulted in a vote tally
of 95 to 41 in favor of the IBEW. The Oregon Employee Relations
Board conducted the election.
Johnson credited employees at EWEB for their role in the success
of the organizing drive, noting the contributions of several key
players who were especially instrumental: Mark Hankins, an EWEB
journeyman lineman, who was the first to call local union organizers;
Tony McCallum, also a journeyman lineman; and Glen Lane, an equipment
operator. Local 659s campaign began in May.
A key to winning the election was gaining the support of "non-electric
employees, including grounds workers, construction and backhoe crews,
and others," said International Representative Brian Ahakuelo
who coordinates industrial organizing in the Ninth District. "Prior
campaigns did not bring in support from the non-electric guys,"
and "that was a major hurdle." International Representative
Juanita G. Luiz "talked to EWEB employees who work in a non-electrical
capacity about how she organized a water district of about 500 employees
in California and that was persuasive," Ahakuelo said. "Luiz
met with employees at an organizing meeting just prior to the election."
International Representative Richard "Dick" Rogers also
contributed to the campaign.
Approximately 300 administrative/clerical employees at EWEB remain
unrepresented, Ahakuelo said, and "the IBEW is already talking
with those workers" about the union. "If IBEW organizes
the administrative/clerical workers, it would be a wall-to-wall
contract," he said. "Organizers are hoping for a snowball
effect.
"Industrial organizing in the Ninth District is really taking
off," Ahakuelo said. "We have a ton of campaigns going
on and IBEW organizers are very motivated district wide."
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