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‘High Road’ Campaign Brings IBEW Membership
to Montana Co-op Workers

March 5, 2008

Twenty five employees of an electric cooperative in Cut Bank, Mont., are now members of Kalispell Local 768 following an overwhelming vote in favor of affiliation by their in-house union.

Glacier Electric’s non-management workers agreed 18-1 to the affiliation, a decision that did not require a National Labor Relations Board election. Management agreed to recognize the IBEW following a high-road campaign that involved managers at other state cooperatives with IBEW-represented employees calling those at Glacier about their cooperative labor-management relations, said Region 5 Lead Organizer Bob Brock.

Cut Bank was also made aware of another recently organized group of workers at a Montana telecommunications co-op whose management fought an affiliation by their in-house union, and lost at the NLRB.

“The stars aligned,” Brock said. “I don’t think they wanted to get into a big fracas with us.”

Following the Feb. 6 vote, Glacier management called a company-wide meeting and told workers they were supportive of their decision. “Seeing that the employees feel that union representation is in their best interest, I respect this decision and will help to support their effort,” said General Manager Jason Bronec in a press statement released jointly by the company and the IBEW.

Although the workers had what had technically been considered a union, they now have more of a voice in their workplace. “They had their foot in the door with collective bargaining, but they really didn’t know how to use it,” Brock said.

In the spirit of cooperation, Brock and Eighth District International Representative Don Herzog gave Glacier managers a presentation on how to negotiate a contract and generally have a collective bargaining relationship with a union, after they expressed their lack of experience with unions.

“We were really honest with them,” Brock said. “We told them about impasse, right of last, best and final offers and that they don’t have to agree to anything. We didn’t tell them anything they couldn’t find out on their own.”

They also included a primer on the National Labor Relations Act, the role of union stewards and management’s rights and responsibilities.

Nearly all of Montana’s electric cooperative, utilities, power generation facilities and line construction contractors are organized by the IBEW.