Members creating the future: Organizing Steward program to launch in 2014

IBEW 1245 celebrated some important victories—and made some big plans for the future—at a summit meeting for organizers at Weakley Hall on Oct. 5.

Members came from PG&E, from NV Energy, from Frontier Communications. They came from Davey Tree, Trees Inc., Merced Irrigation District and Turlock Irrigation District. Two members participated via Skype, from southern Illinois, where they are helping a sister IBEW local with a critical organizing drive.

These IBEW 1245 activists—sometimes referred to as member-organizers—have shown over the past couple of years they have the capacity to make real change in the world. At the same time, they’ve been laying the groundwork for a new position to be formally launched in early 2014: the organizing steward.

“Organizing stewards are going to stand and represent the union and say, ‘This is why we fight, this is why we exist—we’re going to protect our voice, and we’re going to protect our wages, our benefits and our working conditions,” IBEW 1245 Organizer Eileen Purcell told the gathering of about 30 activists.

Business Manager Tom Dalzell, offering some background on the union’s new focus on organizing, said IBEW 1245 has always been a strong “bread and butter” union, able to negotiate good wages and benefits for its members. But with the onset of the Great Recession, attacks on our wages, healthcare and retirement security have escalated at NV Energy, at PG&E and throughout the public sector.

This cold economic reality has made it necessary to rethink how the union fulfills its mission to protect members’ economic interests.

New Forms of Engagement

The union began experimenting with new forms of member engagement in 2009, when younger members were recruited to serve on PG&E bargaining committees and to engage members in a fight-back campaign against PG&E attacks on Clerical wages and benefits. About the same time, the union helped retirees at NV Energy raise some hell over cutbacks in retiree medical benefits.

IBEW 1245’s leadership development program—emphasizing intergenerational, hands-on training in live fights—was born.

By 2011, the union was recruiting young (and not-so-young) members to help sister unions defend collective bargaining laws in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida, Dalzell said. More recently, he noted, the union has dispatched members to fight similar battles in Alaska and Illinois, and assisted workers fighting abuses at Wal-Mart.

“We send people out and they come back trained and experienced,” Dalzell said, noting that the AFL-CIO, the California Labor Federation, and the International Office of the IBEW have all recognized IBEW 1245’s leadership development program as one of the most effective in the country.

It’s a strategy that has enabled IBEW 1245 to become more effective in fights affecting its own members In 2012, IBEW 1245 deployed dozens of volunteers in the successful campaign to defeat Proposition 32 in California, winning a reputation as a union that gets things done.

Dalzell singled out member-organizer Jacinto Hernandez of Trees Inc. for his creative tactics in that fight. Hernandez placed a large “No on 32” poster on the side of a taco truck, sparking discussions about the threat Prop. 32 posed to workers and their families. Hernandez and co-worker Rosario Garcia hit the streets in Manteca, recruiting others to join the fight.

What began as something of an experiment in 2009 was no longer an experiment. These legions of activist members were putting IBEW 1245 on the map. But the union didn’t even have a name for them.

The Executive Board took care of that problem in May when it officially created the position of organizing steward. It was an acknowledgment of the valuable service these members are providing.

Educating, Training, Agitating

“The organizing steward will be recognized as a formal role in our union, same as shop steward or safety steward,” IBEW 1245 Organizer Fred Ross Jr. explained in an interview.

“The organizing steward will be educating, training and agitating coworkers around issues that matter, whether it’s right there in the workplace, or solidarity campaigns, community building, raising money for charities—it’s putting the face of labor out there in the community in a positive way,” Ross said.

Like the shop steward and the safety steward, the organizing steward will play its own unique role in the organization.

“Shop stewards are the backbone of our organization,” said Purcell. “You defend our coworkers, you defend the contract, you deliver the representation that people expect when they pay dues. It’s a core function of the union.”

The safety steward, too, has a unique role—increasing safety awareness through peer-to-peer interaction on the job.

The organizing steward’s role will be equally important to the success of the union and our members, Purcell said.

“Organizing stewards are going to stand and represent the union and say, ‘This is why we fight, this is why we exist,’” said Purcell. “We’re going to protect our voice, and we’re going to protect our wages, our benefits and our working conditions.”

Purcell said the purpose of the union is “to protect our rights” and to “build participation.” Participation creates the community, she said. “Participation makes us strong.”

The Power of Solidarity

PG&E Operating Clerk Kevin Krummes, who most recently worked on the campaign to defend workers’ rights in Anchorage, Alaska called the organizing steward a “novel idea.”

“It really shows the power of solidarity when you’re working with other unions and how powerful you can be and how you can affect an outcome,” said Krummes, pointing to labor’s smashing success in defeating Proposition 32.

You could sense the commitment and energy in the room as members recounted their experiences in various campaigns. Many of these IBEW 1245 members initially had doubts about their ability to pick up the phone, knock on doors, talk to legislators, speak up at a meeting, or organize a letter writing campaign.

“I thought it was scary,” said Donchele Soper, who worked on the campaigns in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida. “I didn’t know how to talk to people, especially strangers. It was very new to me.”

But she quickly found that people are just people.

“You get a sense we’re all the same, even if we come from different backgrounds. We all want success, we all want our fair share, we’re not asking for too much, we just want to live, to have freedom.” The campaigns offered a chance to be “engaged in the community,” she said, “and I feel like when we left, a part of us was still there with them.”

Rey Mendoza, who works at PG&E’s Fresno Contact Center, had a similar experience working in Fresno on the campaign for justice for Wal-Mart workers.

“It was my first experience dealing directly with strangers, trying to communicate an idea,” Mendoza said. “Speaking with a stranger, there’s really no connection there, so you have to find one … so they can feel comfortable around you discussing their problems at work.”

New Model for Action

IBEW 1245’s new model for action is beginning to tear down the wall that has insulated collective bargaining from the outside world.

For example, when Merced Irrigation District stonewalled the union at the bargaining table, IBEW 1245 fought back using the tools of democracy. Member-organizers Rodrigo Flores and Craig Tatum successfully mobilized volunteers to replace two of the District directors when they came up for re-election, replacing them with new people better understand the workers’ legitimate right to fair bargaining.

Similar tactics were used to defeat an anti-labor director at Modesto Irrigation District.

But the Oct. 5 meeting wasn’t just about basking in past victories. Flores from Merced Irrigation District teamed up with Turlock Irrigation District Lineman Aaron Baker to discuss the union’s current campaign to elect Dan Argundez to bring a fresh perspective to the Turlock Irrigation District Board of Directors, which has been stonewalling at the bargaining table. They invited their fellow organizers to join them for a Get-Out-the-Vote precinct walk and barbecue in Modesto on Oct. 19.

Dalzell reminded the organizers that there are other battles looming large on the horizon. These include upcoming negotiations with PG&E, which could be under a severe financial strain from penalties imposed in the wake of the San Bruno explosion. Dalzell also warned of a likely confrontation with billionaire Warren Buffett, who is in the process of acquiring NV Energy.

Flipping a Switch

What makes an IBEW 1245 member decide to become engaged in these important battles?

Dalzell acknowledged it’s a bit of a mystery. He singled out member-organizer Georgette Carrillo, a PG&E Customer Service Representative who had not been involved in the union at all until the IBEW 1245 leadership conference last spring.

But over the next several months, Dalzell said, Carrillo led the successful campaign against Measure G in Fresno, participated in the Our Wal-Mart summer campaign, and led a workshop at the IBEW International RENEW conference in September – all in a period of just 9 months.

Dalzell said it was like someone had “flipped a switch,” creating an organizer.

The task ahead, he said, will be to connect in that way with other members, to get them engaged in community and political action to defend their rights.

“What started as five young people four years ago, has grown to all of you here in this room,” said Dalzell. “And we’ve only just begun.”