Atlanta Local 1997 came into being just six years ago, following a successful organizing drive that earned IBEW representation for about 675 gas employees of Atlanta Gas Light.
It was a moment to celebrate. But AGL employees who were leaders in that drive, such as Tim Dasher, knew significant challenges had to be met for the local to grow.
Specifically, how do you convince bargaining-unit members of the value of paying membership fees? They aren’t required to by law in a so-called right-to-work state like Georgia, and the Deep South might be the most anti-union part of the country.
Plus, how do you persuade other AGL employees to support organizing drives in their units and become Local 1997 members themselves?
“People don’t just join,” said Dasher, who was elected business manager in 2020 and has served in the role ever since. “You have to show them we’re fighting for them.”
They must be doing something right.
Local 1997 is growing at an impressive rate. The number of fee-paying members is up to about 830, which is between 85% and 90% of the employees with representation, Dasher said.
Local 1997 is in first-contract negotiations with Southern Co., AGL’s parent, for its call center employees. First-contract negotiations will soon begin for the construction coordinators, who oversee outside contractors that perform work for AGL, which services the entire state.
Once completed, membership should surpass 1,000. Other groups of employees are clamoring to join.
“It’s almost crazy,” Dasher said. “It’s like we have people lined up waiting to come in.
“I think everyone is waking up and seeing the benefit of a bargaining unit, especially after [the COVID-19 pandemic],” he added. “Instead of someone telling you, ‘Here are the rules, and you can take it or leave it,’ people do not want to just take it. They want their own pathway.”
Start with call center employee Yvonne Goring, who has seen the value of IBEW membership in her own home.
Goring’s husband, Brent, is a gas employee and helped organize the original bargaining unit. He now serves as Local 1997’s vice president.
Brent and his Local 1997 brothers and sisters received wage raises of at least 7% during the first two years of their initial collective bargaining agreement. They routinely got less than half of that before becoming IBEW members.
Yvonne and others in the call center noticed and knew they deserved something similar. They also wanted protection against a disciplinary system that allows call center employees to be suspended for three days at management’s discretion, with little written guidance and no grievance process.
“Basically, it’s for us to have a voice,” said Yvonne, who has worked in the center for 19 years. “For the length of time I’ve been here, it’s never been that way. There’s always been favoritism. The wage disparity was horrible. It’s really hard for someone to come into the call center and live off the wages they are offering.”
Brett Copeland works in training for AGL and has been with the company for more than 20 years.
Earlier in his career, he assisted the IBEW on two other campaigns to organize AGL that fell just short. Instead of giving in, he was a leader in the successful campaign that culminated with the charter signing in 2019.
He remains active in Local 1997’s volunteer organizing committee. He’s found a receptive audience in AGL employees who are not part of a bargaining unit and want to form one, some sharing similar family concerns to those he had.
“It’s not just the wages, but the long-term benefits of everything we’ve negotiated,” Copeland said. “They see the fairness in how the company is now because of the bargaining units and how it’s slowly transforming relationships.”
Jacob Ezell, a Local 1997 steward who works in distribution, grew up in Georgia and admitted he heard little positive about unions for most of his life.
But he felt like he was hitting a breaking point in 2019 while working for a natural gas crew repairing a leak. Ezell’s wife was home with the couple’s newborn child, but AGL continued to have him work 12-hour shifts for 10 consecutive days.
He contacted Local 1997 leadership, and Fifth District International Representative Anna Jerry was sent to investigate. One day later, the company sent in two additional crews to help on the jobsite. Ezell went back to working normal hours and could spend time with his family.
“I thought: ‘This union says they’re here for us? Let’s see,’” Ezell said. “They showed up, and I’ve been involved ever since.”
Jerry has worked closely with Local 1997 since being assigned to the district office in 2018.
“The wages are a really touching story,” she said. “Before our union came in, people were living paycheck to paycheck. Now they’re able to buy a home, buy a car and take care of their children in a way they have never known.”
Improving the relationship with the company — which has proved frustrating at times — remains a priority.
Southern has union-represented workers at many of its subsidiaries. These employees enjoy good wages and benefits. AGL employees haven’t seen their wages rise to those levels yet.
But Jerry, who has worked with IBEW members at utility companies throughout the South, sees progress and believes Southern will get there with its AGL employees.
Copeland agreed that the relationship could be better but is improving. He noted that Dasher and a Southern Co. Gas executive filmed a video stressing the importance of a positive union-management relationship.
“That’s a big thing, to get together and synchronize labor and management,” Copeland said. “We’ve spent a lot of time peeling the Band-Aid off and trying to get a relationship started, where we can have those conversations and an open dialogue. We’re starting to close some of those differences.”
Dasher said a positive byproduct of the ongoing campaigns is that everyone has more appreciation for the work performed by AGL employees across the company, not just in their own units.
For instance, he said, he and others who worked in the field for AGL didn’t realize the importance of the company’s clerical staff. Now they’re viewed as brothers and sisters working together to lift each other up.
“We always thought they had it made,” he said. “But after representing them and helping them get that first contract, we see just how hard they work, too.”
Dasher noted that he’s had the support of all three Fifth District international vice presidents who have served since the beginning of the organizing drive several years ago, including current IVP Glenn Brannen. Having access to support from leaders in the IBEW’s Utility Department and organizing staff was invaluable, he said.
He praised Local 1997 Volunteer Organizing Coordinator Darryl Holliday, who recently passed away after a long cancer battle. Even while undergoing treatment, Brother Holliday helped organize AGL’s construction department. He worked to secure a better future for other Local 1997 members while knowing his death might be imminent and planned to serve on the first-contract negotiations team.
“It’s been a thing of beauty to watch them grow and become IBEW leaders,” Jerry said. “You do not walk into the IBEW and understand all the inner workings. It’s been a joy teaching this local all those things and watching everyone grow.”
