Nearly 60 workers at the California Independent System Operator ratified their first contract, making them the newest members of Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245.

CAISO is one of 10 independent grid operators in the U.S., managing the flow of power for 80% of California and part of Nevada. It is also the parent of RC West, which helps guarantee continuity of electrical service across parts of seven states and Mexico.

The bargaining unit includes generation and transmission dispatchers, reliability coordinators, market operators, transmission security, and the lead positions for those classifications.

"Our members are responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the power grid," said Senior Assistant Business Manager Al Fortier, the lead negotiator for the CAISO workers. "Very few people knew about CAISO until the last few summers, when heat waves started knocking out power. Then we became a household word."

The contract was overwhelmingly ratified by the bargaining unit; more people voted for the contract than originally voted to organize in 2021.

"I take pride in that. The membership took a risk voting to join in union, and we were able to justify their faith," Fortier said.

A marathon series of negotiations, nearly 40 meetings in just under a year, resulted in a contract with immediate pay raises that average more than 20% and annual increases of about 5% for the next three years.

"The primary motivation for most of the pro-union CAISO workers was the uncompetitive salaries, which led to staffing shortages and so more work and unpredictable schedules for the people who stayed," Fortier said. "If you went back 10 to 20 years, at one point they were paid relatively fairly. As the market changed and wages rose for unionized operators at utilities and co-ops, CAISO fell further and further behind."

Local 1245 first heard from CAISO workers in 2020, but an all-too-familiar mix of promises to do better this time and not-so-veiled threats to the first volunteer organizers stalled the drive.

A year later, CAISO released a misleading comparison of its wages with what it said were comparable agencies.

"The wage survey included operator positions with less responsibility in Little Rock and Chattanooga and excluded all of the local comparisons, notably agencies represented by Local 1245," Fortier said.

It was like a defibrillator to the ailing organizing campaign.

Within four months, volunteers and Local 1245 Assistant Business Manager Rene Cruz Martinez had collected a majority of cards, and a mail-in vote was set for November 2021. Organizing stewards Charlotte Stevens and Alvin Dayoan, participants in Local 1245's signature leadership and training program, coordinated get-out-the-vote plans.

The results weren't even close, with more than 80% in favor of joining the union.

At that point, Business Manager Bob Dean said, what had been a contentious relationship began to change.

CAISO's relatively new president and CEO, Elliot Mainzer, came to the union with what Dean described as an olive branch.

"The previous administration was terrible. Mainzer has been a great partner," he said. "We were convinced that we could find a deal that was better for both parties than what was in place before, and we delivered for both our members and his managers."

Fortier said CAISO's highest priority was reforming the overtime policy, and the agreement created a system that was more transparent and more equitable than the one that came before.

Almost as important, Dean said, the contract cements a key connection for the IBEW. California has an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target — net zero by 2045, slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 85% and cutting oil usage by 94%.

"The nuts and bolts of the emissions goals are not in any legislation. Regulatory agencies — including CAISO — have a lot of responsibility and power, and we want to make sure we figure it out together," Dean said. "We now have a seat at a new and important table."

And it takes Local 1245 another step closer to the union's central goal.

"If there is an electron flowing, an IBEW member should be doing the work," Dean said.