Join Electrical Workers in Gaining a Voice at Work

City water and wastewater workers in Lakeland, Florida voted to join UWUA Local 604 on Oct. 13, by an overwhelming majority of 92-30. The 130 municipal water workers join 330 members at Lakeland Electric who chose the union as their representative three years ago and formed Local 604.

Time to Unionize
“Management said they had no money, health insurance kept going up 10% a year,” says David Faulkner, a meter repair technician who has been there for 12 years and was on the organizing committee. “They were following the current trend of a lot of private employers, getting people to do a lot more work for a lot less money. We needed to put control of our lives into our own hands.”

“We were tired of the way we were treated. Everyone wants a better life and we’ve seen what Local 604 gotin their contract when they were told there was nothing for anybody,” says John Caston, a wastewater plant operator who has worked for the city of Lakeland for 10 years and was also on the organizing committee team. “These days you have to have a union represent you.”

One Victory Leads to Another
“In 2005, Lakeland Water invited UWUA in an effort to unionize, and over the course of six months, we began organizing both water and electric groups,” explains UWUA organizer Bernie LaBelle. “Then in 2007, Lakeland Electric successfully voted first to join with Utility Workers, forming Local 604. Lakeland Water was impressed with what we negotiated for the electrical workers. Then they started to organize again and now they’re with the UWUA,” says LaBelle.

Union Power!
“We welcome our newest members in Lakeland and look forward to working with them to get the wages, benefits, and working conditions that they deserve,” says UWUA President Mike Langford. “This Lakeland victory confirms what we have felt is true: workers in Florida and in other so-called right to work states know the power that organizing brings and that they are ready to do so now.”

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