Safety Concerns Steer IBEW Campaign to Success in MinnesotaApril 29, 2010
Gone are the days when one organizing drive brings hundreds or even thousands of new members into the union. There are still a few big time campaigns, but for organizers like Minneapolis, Minn., Local 160’s Kevin Peterson, progress usually comes in building relationships with small groups of workers, helping them understand how collective bargaining can improve their lives and nailing down an election win.After Peterson solicited contacts in unrepresented shops in the local’s newsletter, he received a phone call from a member who provided the name of a municipal worker in Marshall, southwest of Minneapolis. Peterson, a 30-year journeyman inside wireman, called a meeting with 8 out of 13 linemen, meter and substation workers. By the end of the meeting, all eight workers signed authorization cards. Unsafe conditions resulting from lack of training drove interest in IBEW. Assisted by Business Representative Dan Kieffer, whose experience includes representing dozens of bargaining units in public utilities and rural electric associations, Peterson held a second meeting before petitioning the state Bureau of Mediation Services for an election.
Last December, Marshall’s utility workers voted for IBEW representation. Peterson says that union supporters are “rock solid” and looking forward to successful negotiations on a first contract. Following the Marshall win, Local 160 scored again, organizing five computer analysts one of Xcel Energy’s locations, where operations and maintenance workers already belong to IBEW. The campaign focused on concerns about the security of retirement benefits, the discontinuation of life insurance benefits and the employer’s refusal to continue contributions to health savings accounts. “They felt vulnerable because they were not in a bargaining unit,” says Peterson.
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