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Not this time. The 300 gas and electric workers who form the nucleus of the new Local 36 worked in solidarity with the out-of-town crews, just as they stuck together during the six-month organizing campaign. In fact, IBEW Special Projects Director Rocky Clark said the workers were not so much organized by the IBEW as they were organized by each other.

"The employees did most of the heavy lifting in the campaign," Clark said. "We encouraged them to build power within the work force and demonstrated to them that concerted activity creates power. Organizing is basically a shift of power from the employer to the employees, which a successful campaign accomplishes."

President Hill joined RG&E workers at the Local 86 union hall for the April 2 celebration.

The sustained cooperation among the workers lasted throughout the campaign, following a strategy laid out in an early eight-hour training session of the organizing committee. It was reinforced by periodic informational meetings, one-on-one communications, worksite polling and employee "inoculation" to counter misinformation about unions.

Organizers emphasized the importance of securing union victory by a wide margin to place the union in a favorable bargaining position for the first contract, Clark said. "A high percentage of yes votes signifies employee solidarity to the employer and assists in reaching a first contract," he said.

The election of temporary officers, development of local union structure, creation of employee committees to draft bylaws and contract languagebefore the electionlent the campaign an aura of inevitability, Clark said. Involvement by the Rochester chapter of the Labor-Religion Coalition, part of the Interfaith Justice Committee, helped cement community support.

A survey just before the mail-in election started in mid-March showed the union winning 264 to 26. The actual result when the ballots were opened by the National Labor Relations Board was 253 to 22.

No Union Tradition

Rochester Gas & Electric was one big northeastern utility that many thought could weather any organizing campaign. Several attempts at organizing workers at the company failed in recent years. A failed Utility Workers of America campaign in 1997 reinforced the results of an IBEW survey in 1996: interest among workers for union representation was not strong enough to warrant an election unless the atmosphere changed.

The conventional wisdom held that workers in this town long dominated by the paternalistic, nonunion Eastman Kodak Company couldnt be swayed.

But change, particularly in a deregulated state like New York, is often accompanied by layoffs. In mid-2002, only a few months after RG&E was purchased by one of the largest energy providers in the Northeast, two workers reached out to the IBEW. After the company purchase became final, rumors of layoffs started circulating. That uncertainty, combined with benefit issues, had the workers looking for options that offered more job security.

"This has been an uphill battle for a long time," said RG&E underground facility inspector Craig Rode, a member of the internal organizing committee, who borrowed an analogy his co-worker Rick Irish used throughout the campaign to convince fellow workers to consider the union. "For 150 years, RG&E has been the father and weve been the children. Weve grown up now and learned that nobodys going to take care of you anymore."

Rick Irish was active in the RG&E organizing
campaign. Here, hes grounding switchgear.

Irish, a cable splicer with 23 years on the job, said he spoke frankly to his family about the risks involved in the campaign but everyone agreed they were worth taking. "I realized even if I lost my job over this, it was something that needed to be done."

Economic Reality Hits A Company Town

Its almost an understatement to characterize Rochester as a company town. Before the effects of increased competition forced the first of many rounds of layoffs and early retirements in the 1980s, it seemed virtually everyone in Rochester either worked at Kodak or had a relative working there. The nonunion Kodak jobs, at least until then, provided the security of good wages, enviable benefits and a sound, secure retirement.

The perception that Rochester was not a union-friendly place owed much to Kodaks attitude toward unions. But that image has faded as Kodak has continued to lay off workers by the thousands. Residents have watched as the companys last camera manufacturing plant in Rochester recently closed to head to Mexico.

"If you look at whats happening in Rochester, its no different than whats happening in the rest of the country. Theres no cradle to grave employment anymore," Clark said. "Workers have to get security for themselves."

Kodaks decline has provided opportunities for unions. Local 86 members now perform much of the work under contract there since Kodak downsized its operations, organizer OBrien said.

An Untraditional Approach

Third District International Representative Mike Flanagan credited untraditional organizing tactics for the unions big victory.

Early in the campaign, Flanagan placed an ad in the towns main newspaper to alert workers to the campaign and invite them to a meeting. The advertisement piqued the interest of a reporter at the newspaper, who wrote several articles about the effort, a novelty in a place like Rochester. In the end, the small ad was the only one the IBEW had to purchase. The rest of the favorable media attention was free.

The reporter wrote more than 10 articles. "He listened to what we had to say and talked to the workers," Flanagan said.

Every level of the Brotherhood came together to ensure an IBEW win, Flanagan said. Local 86 opened its union hall for frequent meetings and even loaned a couple organizers for periodic handbilling. Workers from neighboring utility locals also came to meetings to lend moral support, Flanagan said. Third District International Vice President Donald Siegel stayed in close touch with RG&Es parent company, Energy East, in a successful effort to convince them to stay neutral.

"I dont think it would have come together without all of the different facets," Flanagan said.

The fact that the IBEW already has a working relationship with another utility owned by Energy East also helped the RG&E campaign. IBEW Local 83, Binghamton, Local 249, Geneva, Local 966, Lancaster, and Local 1143, Chatham, represent a total of 2,300 workers across central and western New York at New York State Electric & Gas Corp.

Rochester Gas & Electric workers gather on April 2, one day after they voted for representation by the IBEW.

At twice monthly "union" meetings, the workers elected a temporary slate of officers and formed committees to start developing a structure for the new local. April 2, the first such meeting after the votes were counted, was a buoyant affair attended by International President Edwin D. Hill, Secretary-Treasurer Jerry OConnor, Vice President Siegel and Executive Assistant to the International Officers Larry Neidig. The meeting at the Local 86 hall, headed by the temporary officers, drew more than 100 people.

"They ran it just like a regular IBEW meeting," OBrien said. "They went right from the guidelines in the IBEW Constitution. It was touching to watch the birth of a new local union."

The new Local 36 members, totally new to a union, asked a lot of questions that night. But the next day, the rain came, the temperatures dropped and the 03 ice storm tightened its icy grip on Rochester. The utility workers attention turned to repairing damaged lines and restoring power. They will have a year to elect a slate of officers and apply for a charter, Flanagan said. Early plans call for an election in June 2004.

In the meantime, the local will concentrate on starting negotiations and bargaining for a few job classifications that were not originally designated as part of the unit, Flanagan said. And powerhouse workers at RG&Es nuclear plant and office workers are two groups that would add approximately 600 workers to the local.

"We have said right from the start we are continuing our campaign for the other classifications," Flanagan said. "They are more interested now."

Bargaining priorities include development of means to recall as many as possible of the 225 workers laid off from the 1,900-member (1,100 non-management) work force that started taking effect in April, Flanagan said. Benefits are an issue, especially health insurance and pensions. They will concentrate on making the bargaining unit responsible for some line, gas and meter reading work now being performed by contractors. Negotiators also look forward to establishing a system for better communication between workers and management, Rode said.

As in any organizing campaign, hard work and a systematic approach played a large part in the union win. But through the use of tested methods, continual assessment and positive reinforcement, organizers were able to predetermine the election results before the polling even started.

"We just went up there and showed them how to do it," Clark said. "The credit belongs to the employees."

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