Division of labor

IBEW local leans on S.F. unions to oppose Proposition D

By Rachel Brahinsky

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 is pulling out all the stops in its efforts to help Pacific Gas and Electric Co. block public power. The local's latest move: an unusual Oct. 1 letter sent to unions in the Bay Area, asking that they refrain from supporting the San Francisco Labor Council, which has endorsed the public power ballot measure, Proposition D.

Local 1245 represents some 12,000 PG&E employees statewide.

It's a late-in-the-game attempt to convince some of the roughly 80,000 union members who are part of the Labor Council to side with PG&E, done by a union that's no longer part of the council's membership. And it doesn't seem likely that it will have much impact.

Last year Local 1245 withdrew from the council in protest after the group backed two public power initiatives. Council members said the decision to go against the union's wishes was not made easily. The council traditionally takes its cues on political issues from the unions that are most affected, and some members told us the split over public power hurt.

Even so, after IBEW officials gave presentations against Prop. D this year, the council's membership voted to again support public power. Union leaders have played a major role in the Prop. D campaign; 28 of them signed ballot arguments in favor of the measure for the official voter handbook.

"It's unfortunate that a union like ours has to battle our own brothers and sisters in the labor movement just to defend our jobs," says the letter, which was signed by Local 1245 business manager Perry Zimmerman.

The letter elicited a strong response from longtime labor leader Dennis Mosgofian, who is also a spokesperson for the Yes on D campaign. "What a crock of shit," said Mosgofian, former president of the Graphic Communications International Union Local 4N. "IBEW says workers wouldn't want to work for the city. In fact the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is totally unionized, and the city and county of San Francisco has contracts with several dozen unions."

Mosgofian added that Local 1245's anti-D position doesn't consider public policy concerns that "are so important to working people, such as clean and affordable electricity. IBEW says nothing about eliminating pollution, nothing about what they are going to do to make rates more affordable, and nothing about reducing PG&E's monopoly control."

Bob Boileau, vice president of the Labor Council, added that PG&E workers anxious about losing their hard-won contracts will probably fare better as city employees. "IBEW Local 1245 electric distribution and maintenance workers affected will be treated better by labor-friendly San Francisco than they would be by corporate PG&E," he said.

The IBEW's Zimmerman did not respond to our request for comment.

Meanwhile the more public face of PG&E's campaign has taken shape. PG&E-funded signs plastered around San Francisco state that Prop. D takes away "your vote." The campaign is using the fact that the measure allows the city to issue revenue bonds without further voter approval as a scare tactic.

Not mentioned, of course, is the fact that right now PG&E customers have no say over PG&E's financing decisions and have been helping for years to pay off debt from PG&E's bad investments, like the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. PG&E also doesn't point out that there are already several city agencies that can issue bonds without a vote, including the port and airport. The SFPUC can do the same, under limited circumstances.

According to campaign filings released Oct. 7, PG&E has already put a staggering $962,352 into its campaign front group San Franciscans Against the Blank Check. PG&E is the only contributor to the group, which has spent its cash on ads in community newspapers and on radio stations, on polling, billboards, and high-priced campaign consultants. The pro-D effort has far less. It has taken in a total of $15,518 in cash (from sources including Bay Guardian editor and publisher Bruce B. Brugmann) and another $10,261 worth of donated advertising space from the Bay Guardian.

For more information go to www.powertothepeople.com.

E-mail Rachel Brahinsky at rachel@sfbg.com.