Aaron Fullerton was happy enough working as a nonunion line clearance tree trimmer with Asplundh. But when the company abruptly decided last November to ax health benefits for Fullerton and his co-workers, the married father of two decided to phone the IBEW.

"I knew that the union would go to bat for us," Fullerton said. He'd been an IBEW member for 10 years with Wichita, Kan., Local 1523 starting in 1993, but he later began doing nonunion work closer to his home in El Dorado—about 30 miles northeast of Wichita.

In February, Fullerton and his co-workers voted 4-0 in a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election for representation with Local 1523. "The company didn’t put up too much of a fight," Fullerton said. "It wasn’t a real hard sell." The workers hope that a contract will help mitigate the $500 in health care coverage fees each worker is now getting hit with every month.

"Health care is incredibly expensive when workers are paying for it out of their own pockets," said Local 1523 Business Manager Merv Wiltshire. While Wiltshire agrees that the company didn't appear to use any union-busting tactics prior to the NLRB vote, "I still see a potentially hard fight ahead at the bargaining table," he said.

Wiltshire is also working on collective bargaining agreements for Asplundh units in the cities of Coffeyville and Winfield and Butler County who recently voted for IBEW representation. His goal is to get the company to accept a pattern agreement that would streamline negotiations.

Whether or not Asplundh pushes back at the table, Fullerton already sees benefits for himself and his co-workers.

"I feel a lot more secure knowing I have some backing from the union," Fullerton said. "Before, you could complain about problems on the job but there was nothing you could really do to solve them. I’m in a much better situation now being back with the IBEW."