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Victory for Municipal Utility Workers
in Oregon


Employees at Eugene Water and Electric Board were instrumental in the successful outcome of Local 659s organizing campaign. Key EWEB players included, from left: Tony McCallum, Glen Lane and Mark Hankins.

Workers at a municipal utility in the city of Eugene, Oregon, have at long last gained IBEW representation.

A unit of 142 employees at Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) celebrated their long-sought victory in late summer following a successful organizing drive conducted by IBEW Local 659, Medford, Oregon.

New members at EWEB work in the operations and maintenance outside units, said Local 659 Business Manager Ron Jones. The municipal utility provides all water and electric service for the city. The IBEW Ninth District office supported Local 659s campaign.

Most utilities across Oregon are union, but EWEB had remained nonunion for more than a century, organizers said.

"The EWEB has been in existence for 100 years, and this is the first time weve been able to break through with a successful organizing drive, said Local 659 Organizer Ron Johnson. Numerous past attempts to organize over the last 50 years were unsuccessful, he said, and a representation election held approximately three years ago was lost by a mere seven votes.

A 95 percent voter turnout for the 2003 representation election, conducted by mail-in ballot August 7-22, resulted in a vote tally of 95 to 41 in favor of the IBEW. The Oregon Employee Relations Board conducted the election.

Johnson credited employees at EWEB for their role in the success of the organizing drive, noting the contributions of several key players who were especially instrumental: Mark Hankins, an EWEB journeyman lineman, who was the first to call local union organizers; Tony McCallum, also a journeyman lineman; and Glen Lane, an equipment operator. Local 659s campaign began in May.

A key to winning the election was gaining the support of "non-electric employees, including grounds workers, construction and backhoe crews, and others," said International Representative Brian Ahakuelo who coordinates industrial organizing in the Ninth District. "Prior campaigns did not bring in support from the non-electric guys," and "that was a major hurdle." International Representative Juanita G. Luiz "talked to EWEB employees who work in a non-electrical capacity about how she organized a water district of about 500 employees in California and that was persuasive," Ahakuelo said. "Luiz met with employees at an organizing meeting just prior to the election." International Representative Richard "Dick" Rogers also contributed to the campaign.

Approximately 300 administrative/clerical employees at EWEB remain unrepresented, Ahakuelo said, and "the IBEW is already talking with those workers" about the union. "If IBEW organizes the administrative/clerical workers, it would be a wall-to-wall contract," he said. "Organizers are hoping for a snowball effect.

"Industrial organizing in the Ninth District is really taking off," Ahakuelo said. "We have a ton of campaigns going on and IBEW organizers are very motivated district wide."

ORGANIZINGWIRE

October 2003 IBEW Journal

IBEW LU 659