Local 535 Organizing Drive for 900 Workers in Fresno County

April 2000

Ever wonder why Local 535 is committed to organizing?

The Dragon spoke with workers in Fresno County, who lack basic things many Local 535 members take for granted:

What would you think if you were in an employee organization that never had meetings and never had elections? Where contracts are ratified without the members being aware that negotiations were even going on? Where the organization is run by one person, who refers to himself as the employees' "consultant." That is the situation for members of the Independent County Employees of Fresno County, or I.C.E.

Hoping to make a difference, assistant librarian Era DeUnger decided to get involved. The steward at the library where she worked resigned, so she volunteered to take his place. She soon found herself at loggerheads with Earl Brown, the association's "consultant."

The final straw for DeUnger was when she found out that the county was about to raid the employees' pension fund. Management had informed I.C.E. that there was a surplus in the pension fund, and therefore, they were going to transfer $126 million to the county general fund. When DeUnger asked the consultant what they should do, he responded that she should just not tell anyone. "His position was not to make trouble or get people roused up," she recalls. "I was so angry that I called up employee relations and asked what other groups could represent us. They said I.C.E., and I said we want someone else. So they mentioned the other organizations that represent Fresno workers. When they mentioned SEIU, I remembered reading about the janitors' march in New York. So I picked up a phone book and gave them a call. Then I got on the phone and started calling other workers to let them know what was happening with our retirement fund. They were pretty supportive, talking about how I.C.E. never does anything, and referring to the consultant as 'the phantom of the library.'"

I.C.E. represents almost 800 workers in three units: a technical unit, comprised of library employees, county appraisers, auditors, accountants, building inspectors, defense investigators, and miscellaneous health workers; a supervisors unit; and a court employees unit.

Library workers are the largest group in the technical unit. On the advice of Local 535 organizer Pam Whalen, the librarians started putting out a newsletter and forced a unit election. Officers were elected, including DeUnger as unit president.

Another activist, senior librarian assistant Jennifer Crow, didn't even know she was in a union. There had never been an election in the six years she worked there, and she never saw a contract or the union bylaws. During those years, Crow witnessed the Fresno library system decaying from lack of funding. Salaries are so low that newly hired librarians are not staying. Finally, a bond measure, Measure B, was passed to increase library funding by $8 million. DeUnger and Crow suggested meeting with Brown to discuss how the increased funding would be used. Brown wasn't even aware of the measure.

Local 535 represents most of the other workers in Fresno County and recently negotiated sizeable equity adjustment raises at the same time I.C.E. got nothing for its members. The I.C.E. consultant contacted one of the librarians and implied that the county had offered an equity adjustment of 5% to librarians and 2% to library assistants, and that DeUnger and the other activists had rejected it. He then asked the worker if he should accept the offer. When the worker phoned DeUnger and asked her what was going on, DeUnger was furious. She had never been told that the county had made an offer, and she was the elected president of the unit. The worker Brown called to get permission to accept the offer wasn't even a steward.

DeUnger called Brown and left a message, but he never called her back. Crow also tried reaching him by phone, and when that failed sent him a fax. He never responded. Next, DeUnger sent him a registered letter, but still no response. Unable to get any information from the head of the association, she was forced to call management. DeUnger phoned the county department of labor relations and asked if an offer had been made, and was told the department didn't know anything about it.

According to DeUnger and Crow, this is typical of Brown's unilateral behavior and lack of straight-forward communication. The lack of information is particularly grating to librarians. "Library workers are all about providing quality information to the public. That the workers can't get reliable information from the organization that is supposed to represent them is a real insult," Whalen stated.

"We want input into our union, and we want it run in a democratic fashion," Crow states. "We want an organization that will stand up for us and work for improving our wages and working conditions. We have been in the dark for so long we have no idea about our retirement benefits, or even where to begin asking questions."

I.C.E. members, assisted by Local 535 member organizers, have begun gathering signatures on a petition to decertify I.C.E. The petitions are expected to be filed in May. If the petition drive is successful, elections will be held, giving the county employees represented by I.C.E. the chance to vote for Local 535 representation. Crow is looking forward to Local 535 representing them and providing stewards' training and information so that the members can get involved in both the union and the political process. She would like what most 535 members take for granted, the opportunity to attend regular membership meetings, to vote on contracts, to elect officers, and to participate in the running of the union.