IBEW Local 387 (Phoenix AZ) Starts Negotiations with Navajo Tribe

IBEW Begins Navajo Bargaining
for Utility Workers

August 9, 2005

The Navajo tribe has recognized Phoenix Local 387 as the bargaining agent for the 100 Navajo Tribal Utility Authority electrical workers on the sprawling Indian reservation that spans three states. Now the real work begins.

Organizer Bruce Osborne said it has taken two years to get to this point, but "the hard part is getting that first contract." Local 387 is submitting a proposed contract to the utility this week, and hopes to set dates for bargaining soon. Osborne, who has heard the utility has hired union-busting consultants, said no other union has ever represented the workers, to his knowledge.

"We have had casual contact there over the years but we have never been able to get to this point," he said.

If the local is successful in bargaining the contract, it could go after 300 more workers at the utility, which delivers electricity, gas and sewer services to residents of the Navajo nation on 25,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Safety is a huge issue for the linemen, dispatchers, substation maintenance technicians, heavy equipment operators, instrument repair personnel and warehouse staff. Two years ago, an apprentice lineman climbing a pole made contact with a 14,400 volt line. He died immediately.

While the utility’s apprenticeship program turns out skilled linemen, the utility lacks many safety rules, Osborne said. "They send apprentices out on trouble calls without supervision," he said. "Workplace safety is a major issue."

Wages are also well below the industry average. Apprentices start at $19 per hour; foremen make $24 hourly. In a region plagued by a 45-percent unemployment rate and grinding poverty, the wage is not considered bad.

But the low wages contribute to high turnover. At least 29 Navajo utility-trained workers have left for more money off the reservation following the four-year apprentice program.

"They’re good linemen," Osborne said. "If we get them a union contract and improve safety, there’s no reason for them to leave home."

Language and sheer distance on the Indian reservation presented several challenges for organizers. Osborne, who spent months on the road collecting 79 signature cards, said he was often accompanied by Navajo workers employed at the IBEW-represented Four Corners Power Plant in northern New Mexico. They came in handy, particularly when the NTUA workers spoke only Navajo. The language is so difficult that in World War II, American military radio dispatches cloaked their messages in a code based on the language. Japanese forces intercepting those messages were never able to break the code of the so-called "code talkers."