Related Articles
Related Articles
S.F. ‘Power Grab’ Defeated AgainJanuary/February 2003 IBEW Journal Northern California Local 1245 helped soundly defeat a November 5 ballot measure that could have taken over Pacific Gas & Electric’s assets in San Francisco. The ballot issue, Proposition D, is the third in two years aimed at the municipalization of the investor-owned utility. Each effort has been frustrated largely by grassroots campaigns of IBEW members. Proposition D would have given the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission responsibility for generating electricity for city residents, and could have led to a takeover of PG&E’s gas and electric power distribution systems in the city. The proposition contained no provisions to safeguard the wages, working conditions or union status of Local 1245 members working for PG&E in San Francisco. "We have nothing against municipal power. We represent workers at many municipal utilities. But this particular measure threatened to displace thousands of our members while doing nothing to address San Francisco’s energy supply problems, so we had no choice but to fight it," said Business Manager Perry Zimmerman. Local 1245 launched a vocal campaign aimed at convincing the public to vote against Proposition D. Local 1245 members distributed 98,500 informational flyers in neighborhood leafleting, and garnered support from neighborhood groups, political leaders and other unions. The IBEW contended a buyout of PG&E would saddle residents with higher rates while doing nothing to augment power supplies. Local 1245 feared hundreds of its members would opt for PG&E jobs outside of San Francisco, further threatening service reliability and potentially displacing thousands of other union members throughout the PG&E system. Local 1245, based in Walnut Creek, has approximately 12,000 members working for PG&E throughout Northern and Central California.
|
IBEWCURRENTS
|
