(Note that this is a compilation of several posts from both Calitics and Working Californians)
One of the best reasons to have a strong labor movement is that unions tend to advocate for issues that benefit many more people than their actual members. Take what two IBEW Locals are up to in LA, warning the public about the dangers of the Department of Water and Power's (DWP) failure to ensure the department is prepared to respond in an emergency.
For over a decade, DWP management has been reducing critical staff positions and neglecting routine maintenance. This has left DWP workers frustrated and angry. They are forced to work overtime to make up for staff shortages and then blamed because there is so much overtime. They are forced to use "band-aid" fixes on a system that badly needs real updating and repair. They know that the failure of management at the DWP to address longstanding problems means that the DWP is not ready for another heat wave, like the one that happened in 2006, let alone a major natural disaster or terrorist attack.
The IBEW workers have been highlighting this dangerous lack of preparedness in a series of press releases, direct activism and the production of a DVD exposing the problems at the DWP. Watch here:
The time to fix our neglected power and water systems is now, before the next natural disaster strikes. And Dr. Bill Patzert warns in the video, global warming is increasing the number and intensity of extreme heat days, putting an increased strain on our system. The DWP is stretched so thin that it cannot handle a heat wave, let alone an earthquake. As one worker so bluntly puts it: "The infrastructure is on it's last legs. It is ready to take a dump."
As the narrator says:
For those familiar with today's Department of Water and Power, the system's inability to cope with the strain comes as no surprise. Management has slashed the number of line crews responsible for critical testing, maintenance and replacement of aging equipment, decades past life expectancy. As a result, the DWP has no idea where the weak points in the system are and a strapped workforce struggles to maintain, much less upgrade the system. And any further strain threatens the supply of power and safe drinking water to millions.
The workers' attempts to bring this to the publics attention has been rewarded with a nasty editorial in the LA Daily News, attacking their activism. The paper does not disagree about the the problems at the DWP, but uses it to blame the workers for the problems.
THe LADN took it as an opportunity to advocate for privatization and propose that what is really needed is for the workers to give up pay raises so the customers don't have to pay for a rate hike. That's not what voters want. They want the DWP they had in 1994. In 1994, the Northridge earthquake severely damaged the electrical and water infrastructure in Los Angeles. Despite the damage, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power workers swiftly restored safe drinking water and reliable power to the millions of Los Angeles residents who depend on them. The DWP won kudos from everyone for its swift and effective response of DWP workers to the disaster.
That would not be the case today. The DWP is just not prepared to respond to that type of crisis and the LADN admits it. It is the worst sort of cynicism to run a great public utility into the ground and then use that as an excuse to privatize it. What happened with the Enron scandal and the power crisis of the early 2000s proves that when private industry takes over, then ratepayers suffer.
As noted above, the salaries of DWP workers are higher largely because they are forced to work overtime due to the chronic understaffing. If the DWP was fully staffed, there would much much less need for overtime. And really, is the LADN literally asking that workers shoulder the cost of strengthening the system, rather than the consumers? Talk about ballsy. That will really work towards fixing the hiring crisis.
The DVD has been getting a lot of attention. There has been a number of local TV stories on the direct action by the electrical workers and they have played clips from the DVD. Check out this KNBC story.
See also this point by point response to the editorial, from which I grabbed some material for this post.
Note: The chairs of Working Californians are the presidents of the two local IBEW chapters who have been working on this issue.