Unions line up for city workers

WASILLA — In the seven weeks since voters gave city employees the ability to organize, unions have literally lined up to represent them. As of Tuesday, five unions have filed petitions with the Alaska Labor Relations Agency to represent a variety of city departments.

For Wasilla police officers and employees, both the Public Safety Employees Association (PSEA) Local 803 and Teamsters Local 959 are vying for their membership. Two police officers first proposed Wasilla Proposition 1, which passed Oct. 2 and paves the way for city employees to unionize if they choose. Now that police have the opportunity to organize, some are uncomfortable with what they see as a rush toward unionization.

“Ultimately, we wanted to take the first step of talking with the city first [ourselves] before taking the next step,” said Jentry Crain, secretary for the Wasilla Police Department Association. “We wanted to have the right, but not jump straight into it.”

Crain said PSEA Local 803 rushed to submit its petition to the state despite police asking it to back off.

“We’ve asked them to cease and desist and they have refused. We’ve requested on several occasions for them not to. Their response was they would only recognize a vote at the state level,” he said. Teamsters then filed its petition at the request of the police association to counter PSEA’s petition. “If it comes down to it, we did intentionally go with the Teamsters from the beginning because they were willing to help us [with Prop. 1].”

Public Safety Employees Association Local 803 is not trying to force its representation on the Wasilla Police Department, PSEA President Robert Cox said. The union filed its petition with the state because local employees asked it to.

“There’s a group there that really wants to be represented by the Teamsters,” he said. “There’s a whole history there. That all depends on who you talk to. We couldn’t have filed a petition if there weren’t enough people who wanted us to be there.”

Under state labor laws, at least 30 percent of an employee group must show an interest in being represented by a union for its petition to move forward, said Jean Ward, a hearing officer with the Alaska Labor Relations Agency. That petitions for both the PSEA and Teamsters are moving forward is evidence both organizations met that 30 percent threshold.

“We had almost 50 percent of the employees [in favor of PSEA],” said John Cyr, executive director for Local 803 in Anchorage. “That’s just the process. … We’ve had folks who’ve worked there come to us.”

Two or more unions positioning to represent the same employees isn’t unusual, Ward said. Under state rules, a hearing may be held with a panel of three officers appointed by the state Labor Relations Board to determine if one of the competing unions is more appropriate to represent that group of employees. If more than one is, the state organizes a secret vote that asks employees if they want to organize; if so, which union do they want to represent them.

Wasilla’s police aren’t the only employees who could organize. Unions are also courting the city’s public works and sports complex workers, said Sandra Garley, deputy administrator for the city.

Laborers Local Union 341 has filed a petition on behalf of employees at the sports complex. Alaska State Employees Association Local 52 has also filed for sports complex employees as well as public works employees at the city’s wastewater plant. Finally, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 has filed on behalf of all public works employees.

Although a small contingent of six permanent employees, those working for the Multi-Use Sports Complex are glad to have more of a choice in representation, said Chuck Westphale, who works facilities maintenance at the complex. He was also unaware there are two unions vying for his support.

“The overall, citywide impression I get is they don’t feel they have had adequate representation for themselves,” Westphale said about the general feeling among city employees before Prop. 1 passed.

Wages and stability between administrations are among the top concern of employees, he said. Although employees can unionize if they choose, that doesn’t mean they will. Some want to know if belonging to a union really means an improvement for them.

“People are asking are [unions] going to bring improvements or is this going to be a deterrent,” he said.

For now, most employees are simply taking in information and considering their options, Westphale said.

When voters passed Prop. 1 they also abolished the city’s former meet-and-confer system of employee relations. In the seven weeks since, without a clear way to bring concerns to city council, the city is considering its options. Garley said.

“It’s only been a month, so we really haven’t had it come up,” she said, adding that at any time anyone can be heard at a city council meeting by signing up for the public participation portion of the meeting.

In the meantime, should employees have concerns or problems, Garley said she hopes they would take those concerns to their supervisors or other appropriate manager.

Although there isn’t much for the city to do while unions line up and employees eventually vote on representation, staff isn’t altogether idle. The city has already filed objections to two of the union petitions.

Wasilla has objected to the petitions from Laborers Local Union 341 and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, Ward said. Both objections are because supervisory or confidential employees are not exempt from the petitions.

As employees and the state labor agency work out possible unionization issues, the city is in wait-and-see mode, Garley said. Eventually, the city may have to negotiate with representatives of multiple unions and, depending on any demands or requests made, it’s impossible to know how the city might react.

“I’m not sure how you prepare for those, other than we are definitely tracking those if we will be negotiating with anyone,” Garley said. “We’re just waiting for the Labor Relations Agency. The ball is in their court.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.