Calif. Water Use Law To Gain
IBEW Representation
February 24, 2006
A little-known procedure laid out in California public employee labor law allowed an enterprising group of public employees to join the IBEW – without a drawn-out NLRB election or even employer recognition.
On Feb. 23, nearly three quarters of a 43-worker unit at the Yucaipa Valley Water District signed San Jacinto Local 1436 obligation cards and joined the IBEW. With that, they became IBEW members, without the contentious election campaign process that they had gone through twice in the past four years.
“The employees made it real clear they didn’t want to go through a massive campaign again,” said Ninth District International Representative Brian Ahakuelo, who with International Representative Juanita Luiz, researched the laws and reached out to the unit. “They just wanted to be members of the IBEW. And that’s what happened.”
The law that allowed this method of organizing says that public sector employees who have employee associations have the right to select a legal representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. The workers – who perform technical, maintenance and clerical functions at the water district east of Los Angeles – have an employee association. But they were tired of having their proposals on pensions and wages shunted to the side by a management team that did not respect them. Their memorandum of understanding with the water district expires in June, when the IBEW will join members of the bargaining team to hammer out a new contract.
“Hopefully we can get the district to recognize the IBEW formally on paper as bargaining agent for the employees,” Ahakuelo said. “If they don’t, the workers are still dues-paying members of the IBEW, whether the district likes it or not. They still have to sit at the table with us.”
Like most traditional organizing campaigns, the employees formed a volunteer organizing committee, performed house calls and phone-banked in the past several weeks. At the Feb. 23rd meeting, one or two had reservations about joining, after having been told by management that things would improve -- without the help of the union.
“Several fellow employees told their co-workers they understood and respected their views but they’d heard this before,” Ahakuelo said. “They said we need to have a seat at the table and now we do.”
Organizers are planning a renewed push to organize unrepresented public employees. There are thousands in Southern California alone, Ahakuelo said.
Luiz was among a unit of 400 employees of the Eastern Municipal Water District, which was organized under similar circumstances in 1994. That group, which forms the bulk of the Local 1436 membership, now has a decent relationship with managers that came around and recognized the union three years after the workers signed IBEW cards. Back then, Luiz said she was among unsure about union representation. But the IBEW representatives earned her trust and she never looked back.
“This is bringing it home for me,” Luiz said. “It comes from the heart when I am talking to the Yucaipa Valley workers. We are confident that we are going to grow in our relationship. It’s up to us to prove it to them.”
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