Look familiar? We pulled this from the Politics Report, a Voice of San Diego member exclusive newsletter. Become a member and subscribe to the newsletter here.
The ongoing war between public power proponents and San Diego Gas & Electric looked more like a battle between the municipalization advocates and union labor Thursday.
Each team’s respective poster-bearing players – with signs that read either “fire SG&E” or “municipalization is union busting” — took turns encumbering the live feed webcast of the City Council Rules Committee’s public comment period. But almost no one from a labor union spoke in favor of the proposed government takeover of the energy grid. Proponents had hoped the City Council would consider putting up a ballot measure and spare them the burden of collecting signatures.
Nate Fairman, who represents electrical workers of IBEW Local Union 465, which holds a contract with SDG&E, told the City Council to reject the ballot measure, calling it a “direct threat” on union jobs.
Dorrie Bruggemann, campaign manager for Power San Diego, argued their proposal is pro-union and that state law requires new public utilities honor the union contracts of their previous private employer. But it wasn’t enough.
It was clear the lack of union support was the death knell for public power this round.
“This is not one of those things you just throw on the ballot and let voters decide,” said Council President Sean Elo-Rivera. “You can’t just tell workers they’re going to be OK. That’s not how it works.”
Elo-Rivera said he had told public power advocates they needed to work with labor and make sure they felt comfortable with the proposal.
“Not only are they not comfortable today, it sounds like those conversations haven’t happened,” he said.
The committee’s councilmembers – who decide what potential laws get put before voters with city support in November – basically balled up public power proponent’s proposal and tossed it in the trash. Now Power San Diego must make a mad dash for the thousands of signatures they need to independently get the measure on the ballot. Without major funding, it will be a monumental volunteer undertaking.
The actual issue: Is the public power movement union busting or not? SDG&E reps were quick to notify me I posted the wrong state law on X pertaining to this alleged required honoring of union contracts. But I found the right code eventually. In 2020, unions got the legislature to guarantee their contracts would be honored for at least three years when a utility transitions to new ownership.
Labor secured that change as Pacific Gas and Electric slipped into bankruptcy following the wildfire sparked by their equipment which destroyed Paradise, California, in 2019. A movement to municipalize PG&E gained momentum, and unions worried about their contracts.
“We were terrified those contracts were going to get ripped and shredded,” Fairman told me. “So we advocated for language that, in case there’s a change in ownership… contracts would be honored.”
But the legislation didn’t go far enough, Fairman said, and it’s so new it’s never been tested. The legislation doesn’t dictate how the new owners of a labor contract would honor pensions workers saved up under their previous employer, Fairman said.
“They can’t just copy-paste the working conditions … of a very old, complex 100-year-old collective bargaining agreement (with SDG&E),” he said.
Barry Moline of the Municipal Utilities Association says he worked on that new law amid advocating for a potential public takeover of PG&E. He said there was never a doubt union contracts wouldn’t be honored.
“That argument is B.S. Every public power utility in California is unionized and there’s no effort to circumvent any union,” Moline said.
PowerSD is a power grab. Giving mayor Toad power with his bad land deals is the largest obstacle. Some short term savings by temporary profit elimination but no lower rates.
SG&E owns the Puc. TIME TO CHANGE
CHARLIECHAN@DUCK.COM
Earn 600 USD per day “Good day! Need to take money home? Work online with us! No cares, no bosses, just you and your computer. rt It’s easy! Click on the link to find out more and start receiving money with You are at home..
views Here…… https://Click5start.blogspot.com
I feel a need to point out that the unions are worried about whether or not they’d get a better deal from the City Council than from SDG&E! Irony abounds. Why do we still have investor-owned utilities?
Like all good for-profit businesses, a key goal is to charge the highest rate the market will allow, and deliver the highest profits to their investors. And SDG&E is a fine example, reaping $1 million-per-day in profits from San Diego residents and businesses. Is it any surprise that the electrical rates in San Diego are the highest in the country?
SDG&E is not evil; they support some good causes, and are generally popular. But this just masks the reality that they are picking our pockets.
How about adopting an initiative that would put electric power generation in the hands of someone on our side? A public power initiative could provide long-term rate relief for hundreds of thousands of households and businesses.
Do we have the will to do this? Time will tell.
Elo-Rivera is a piece of work lecturing PowerSD about being good listeners and meeting with labor to discuss their issues. He is the same guy who blows off his constituents and calls people who don’t agree with him NIMBYs or racists.
Didn’t I read somewhere that the employees of SDG&E under union contract signed an employment clause which forbids them from saying anything negative in public or private about SDG&E? Therefore, any statement from the union must be against PowerSD and must be pro-SDG&E.
Too bad the City Council doesn’t understand this and stop basing any judgements on what the Union says.
This morning on my way to work spent ~20 minutes on the I15 Mira Mar Rd. off-ramp (due to a busted traffic light flashing red) same as a month or two ago. Miramar has had 5 or 6 busted traffic lights in the last year, which is a big problem (for drivers) during rush hour. Do not know how long it takes the city to get around to fixing the lights but even 20 minutes at my home without electricity several times a year is too long.
Think about street and drainage channel repair in San Diego…. and then whether you want to entrust your electricity supply to government. Also 85 people died in the Paradise fire in 2021 due to electric line maintenance etc.