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In El Paso, Texas, IBEW Local 960 has for 63 years
represented approximately 320 linemen, power production employees,
substation technicians, meter technicians and other classifications
at El Paso Electric Company.
In the fall of 2003thanks to a strong organizing drive backed
by determined employeesLocal 960 successfully organized 75 additional
employees at the utility who work in previously unrepresented classifications.
Beginning in January 2002, Local 960 began receiving calls from
unrepresented employees at El Paso Electric who work as customer
service representatives, meter readers, revenue collectors, facility
services employees, and dispatchers.
The question was always the same: How do we get a union?
Workers who lacked union representation feared what would happen
with their jobs when El Paso Electric transitioned from a regulated
utility company into a deregulated market, IBEW organizers said.
Statements by management regarding budget cuts and outsourcing
jobs struck fear throughout the rank and file employees.
During 2002, a strong majority of employees signed authorization
cards. Organizers held meetings with workers and conducted union
rallies. Typically, El Paso Electric hired an anti-union consulting
firm. And as usual, the company promised employees that all the
changes they had asked for would be addressed and problems corrected.
Workers were told that union representation could only hurt the
company and would eventually threaten employees livelihood.
The IBEW filed a petition for an NLRB representation election.
The first election in June 2002 was lost by only nine votesout
of unit comprising more than 200 employees.
Renewed Determination:
Workers Absolutely Serious
By April 2003, the unrepresented El Paso employees were once again
ready to organize. All the promises the high-paid consultants had
made proved to be just thatonly promises. The company had continued
to make cuts and treat workers with disrespect.
IBEW Seventh District International Vice President Jonathan B.
Gardner assigned International Representatives Timothy D. Bowden
and Fernando Huerta, Sr. to assist Local 960 Business Manager Felipe
Salazar, Jr. in the campaign.
Union support was strongest among the meter readers, collectors
and facility services and the company agreed to an October 2003
election.
El Paso Electric hired the same anti-union consultants and among
those three groups Salazar filed numerous Unfair Labor Practice
charges against El Paso Electric. Again, Local 960 members held
rallies to show solidarity with the unrepresented workers.
Workers were absolutely serious about voting to gain union representation,
Bowden said. One employee was away on vacation at the time of the
election, so he flew in to vote and then flew back to his vacation
site. Another worker had recently been in a near-fatal car accident,
and he came in on crutches to vote. Yet another employee was stationed
at a New Mexico military base as a reservist at the time of the
election, and he got permission from a Superior to travel to Texas
to vote, Bowden said.
After months of the anti-union onslaught, a majority of the 68
determined meter readers and collectors voted for IBEW representation.
Thirteen days later, a majority of the seven facility services employees
also voted Yes for IBEW representation.
This campaign shows that even a small local union can increase
its bargaining strength through organizing, Bowden said. Even
in the face of high-paid union busting consultants.
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