Harold Giberson, Wins Job Back

In major victory, Giberson proves “company loyalty” doesn’t mean denying the right to speak out against employer.

Seven months after being wrongfully terminated from his job, Local 127 President Harold Giberson, a 29- year employee at PacifiCorp Energy/ Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming, had his job reinstated on Dec. 20, 2010.

In a May discharge letter, Giberson, a heavy equipment operator, had been accused of, among other things, hiring a law firm on the union’s behalf to publicly fight the company’s pending request for a rate increase before the Wyoming Public Service Commission (WPSC). In his 29 years, Giberson saw PacifiCorp Energy/Rocky Mountain Power through several transitions and contract negotiations, always acting in good faith for the union and seeking peaceful solutions with the company. “I don’t have a single blemish on my record,” says Giberson.

Some History
PacifiCorp Energy operates three generating facilities with about 620 bargaining unit employees; and Rocky Mountain Power distributes the resulting power throughout Wyoming with about 150 bargaining unit members. In March 2006, Berkshire Hathaway purchased PacifiCorp. Its chairman and CEO is multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, who dethroned Bill Gates as richest man in the world in 2008, worth an estimated $62 billion.

No Shrinking Violet
Giberson is no shrinking violet and not intimidated by Buffett’s deep pockets. As both employee and a union officer, last year he orchestrated public opposition to PacifiCorp’s proposed multi-million dollar, 8.4% rate increase. With support from the National Union, he took out ads in the Casper-Star Tribune and started phonebanking some 14,000 residents of Natrona and Converse counties.

In another brave move, Giberson took to blogging, taking a strong stance against Buffett’s brazen business moves. “I ask that every citizen of Wyoming and every customer of power look at this company through critical perspective. This is not the same company it was before Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett took over. It is greedy, manipulative and calculating down to the last dollar,” said one entry.

Citizens’ Rights, Union Rights.
“I always bargained in good faith with this company,” says an animated Giberson. “What I have learned from my National Union is that we have an obligation to do anything we can to better our members. The company said I was being disloyal. My loyalty to ‘company time’ means that I do what I’m supposed to do, give them eight hours work each work day. They tried to prove that we could not speak out against the company. They cannot stop you from being a citizen and going out and speaking your mind to the public service commission.”

“When I got fired from my position,” Giberson continues, “my membership said, ‘You did all this for us. We’ll take care of you.’ They continued to pay my wages and even paid my Cobra insurance (which covers both he and his wife), from the time I was fired till the time I was reinstated, nearly seven months. They don’t realize how grateful I am for taking care of me.”

According to the arbitrator, Howell Lankford, the technical reason for Giberson’s dismissal focused on UWUA’s “plan to try to fight the health cost allocation anew through the rate case; and that... because the heart of the Company’s actual charge against Mr. Giberson was not a proper basis for his discipline, there was not just cause for his termination on that stated basis.” Not one to sit quietly, Giberson has already spoken out once again against Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed rate increase.

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