An Open Letter to the Citizens of Crestline

    This letter is in response to an article printed in a local paper July 19, 2012, when a Director of Crestline Sanitation District (CSD) was quoted as saying “I was disappointed the employees felt a need to be represented by a union” and a five percent raise was allotted for employees. Here is a little background for the community.

 When an initiative was put forth for CSD to become independent from the County, every employee was in agreement that the district would be better off.   All the employees contributed to purchase signs that were put up for the break away vote. We gave that money to the candidates running for directors in the event the ballot passed.

    After the ballot passed and CSD broke away from the County employees met with the new Board of Directors.  We asked questions about the future and the Board assured us salaries and benefits would remain the same and the future would be better. They told us they would deal fairly and in “good faith”. We thought this was good and as long as they were open and would deal fairly we did not need the representation by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association that we had.  So we stopped being represented. Presently, a rumor has been circulating that the directors wanted to lower our salary by an average of 200 dollars per pay period, we were perplexed.  This seemed incredible due to the fact that we are the lowest paid employees in our classifications anywhere on the mountain by an average of 20 %. Furthermore the District was putting about 1.3 million dollars into a reserve account bringing it up to about 8 million dollars! 

To date there have been no meetings between the Board and employees since the first one, only secrecy and behind the back planning.  We, the employees are not able to attend the meetings because they are at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we get off at 4:30.  This and several other notions by the Board brought us to the realization that we needed to be represented.  We chose the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to represent us.  If IBEW representatives had not attended the Board meeting in May we would now be an average of 27 % below local agency pay scales for like classifications.

    Now the 5% offer. The 5 % referred to was put there to give the Board enough room to give increases to some classifications and not others. Some people who are 20 to 30 % below the average might get 9% while others might get 1% or nothing.  We have discussed this and feel it is fair to give an across the board increase to all employees. This keeps morale up and is fair to all. We only wanted a 3 ½% raise due to the increased cost of living.  We did not ask for a salary adjustment to bring us up to what other local agencies are paying. We only asked to be treated fairly and that has not happened.

    The employees of Crestline Sanitation District are a professional and dedicated group of highly skilled people, which 90% of whom live on the mountain. They solve problems that arise during everyday work and under the harsh conditions of mountain winter storms and some very adverse conditions.  The average length of employment is fourteen years for each employee.  The employees work here because we like it here, like the area, like the management and work well together as a very cohesive and able team.

    In closing, we would like to thank the citizens of Crestline for their support and encourage everyone to attend the Board meetings even though we know it is difficult due to the time of day they are scheduled.  You, the citizens of Crestline, are the ones that need to participate and take note of what is happening at these Board meetings because ultimately it is your money being spent. 

Thank you, The Employees of Crestline Sanitation District        










                                                                                                                

New President Sworn In at Local 11

Joel Barton took the oath of office of President of IBEW Local 11 at the December General Membership Meeting at the Electrical Training Institute in Commerce. Former President Dean Todd was there to congratulate him and offer his support.

Conference Hits Jackpot

What’s your idea of a great organizing conference? For me it would be upbeat and fun while providing useful knowledge that could be put immediately to use. It would be at a nice location, easily accessible from an airport. Top industry achievers would be there and everyone would have a variety of opportunities to get to know each other, share experiences and ask questions. One last thing, the waitress at the buffet would slip me a coupon for a free meal. That really happened. It’s funny how free food always seems to taste better then food you have to pay for.

This year’s IBEW Membership Development Conference was held at Bally’s in Las Vegas. It was an upbeat week. Huge gains in signatory contractors and membership in the IBEW construction branch gave organizers reason for celebration. While there is much more work to be done the conference reflected the new mood of optimism. 

My own local union, Local 11 was recognized for signing the most electrical contractors. In a 2 year period 75 new contractors became signatory.  These are record breaking gains that only a few years ago would have seemed impossible. 

Conference planners did an outstanding job providing useful presentations. My favorite was Peter Cockshaw an expert on labor-related issues.  I’ve seen him speak before on construction industry developments but he was on fire at this event. He didn’t rely on Teleprompters or a script. He just told it like it is. He applauded the union’s commitment to training electrical workers. He denounced the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. for spreading falsehoods about their training being anything close to that of the IBEW. According to Mr. Cockshaw the ABC relies on deceptive use of research to promote itself. This is one of the most important issues requiring organizers attention in his view. 

Comedian with a message Bernie McGrenahan provided some much needed levity on Wednesday of the conference. He had everyone busting up but he also shared some touching personal stories. I spoke with him at the reception. Turns out he lives in my neighborhood. You really should check out his website. He’s amazing! 

Teamwork among organizers was encouraged on the last day of the conference. A football theme with video interviews of epic coaches provided inspiration. Though not much of a fan of sports, it was really effective and appreciated by the 1300 or so in attendance, myself included. Many of the organizers I spoke with at the conclusion of the conference said it was the best so far.