In the week since the city’s public workers have gone on strike, the Wrangell Borough has had to work around the problem as best as it can.
Twenty-four workers from eight different public departments are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547, which represents employees around the state. Beginning June 22, they walked off the job to protest the City and Borough Assembly’s unilateral adoption of a new contract two days prior, once drawn-out negotiations reached an impasse. (See main article) The two parties have been in talks over a new, three-year collective bargaining agreement since 2014, when the prior agreement expired.
Excepting department heads and casual help, the striking workers provide the bulk of public services, from garbage collection and water treatment to boat haulouts, electrical maintenance and road repairs. On top of that, if it can be said that there is ever an ideal time for a strike, now would not seem to be the time.
The city has in recent years experienced a number of infrastructural issues and risks, such as with water line ruptures due to corroded iron piping, or a number of overloaded and aging utility poles around the island highlighted in a 2015 system study.
The weightiest issue on its plate at present has been keeping up with water production at the treatment plant. Last summer conditions were such that a state of emergency had to be declared, after problems with the plant’s filtration system coupled with high demand had depleted treated reserves to very low levels. The city has sought to prevent a recurrence and improve production at the plant ahead of this year’s season, in part by hiring on more seasonal staff.
For several reasons the slow sand filtration units are prone to clogging, and the effort to clear them of sediment can be labor-intensive and time consuming to do. Four seasonal staff were hired earlier this spring to help the two full-time staff already assigned there, one of whom is split between the water and sewage treatment plants. While their additional efforts had a reportedly positive effect on production, at its last meeting the Borough Assembly learned the number of temporary workers has dropped back to two as the summer season begins.
Both permanent staffers are members of the union, and so have gone on strike. As an emergency measure, interim city manager Carol Rushmore explained a state-certified water treatment operator and Level II distribution operator have been flown in from Anchorage after the stoppage was announced. It is hoped they will be able to keep things operating with the temporary staff until the dispute is resolved.
On the electrical front, a planned two-week outage by Southeast Alaska Power Agency to conduct line maintenance has been put on hold due to the dispute. Scheduled to begin on June 19 and wrap up this week, instead contractors brought down for the project held off on starting, and work has since been delayed for the summer. The concern is that Wrangell would not be able to safely run its diesel generators during the shutdown, as six of Municipal Light and Power’s eight budgeted staff are part of the union.
In the event of an emergency, strikers have shown themselves willing to put down pickets and respond. Shortly after the strike began, last Thursday morning a bird strike downed a line. Workers briefly paused their action to address the problem, prompting words of thanks from the city on its website.
“Linemen from the electrical department offered their assistance to return electricity to the area. The City would like to thank them for their response and assistance,” it read.
Updates on a number of affected services have been posted at the http://www.wrangell.com website, under its community tab. In addition to electrical and water services continuing, those at Wrangell’s harbors and boatyard are likewise expected to continue uninterrupted. Garbage collection has proven to be a trickier problem to manage, with roadside collection discontinued until further notice.
Citizens are asked instead to arrange their own trash disposal, schedule deliveries on or around their normal days as best possible to reduce congestion at the transfer station. Hours during the week will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30.
Those able to do so can haul their garbage containers to the transfer station for disposal. For those without the means, garbage can be removed from the container, bagged if necessary and hauled. Burning at the dump will not be permitted during this time.
The city has also been advertising for temporary workers to fill in during the strike. Under National Labor Relations Board guidelines, strikes fall into two categories, economic and for unfair labor practices (ULP). Wrangell’s IBEW workers are striking under ULP, alleging the city has been negotiating in bad faith during contract talks. Under this kind of strike, ULP strikers can be neither discharged nor permanently replaced. When the strike ends, provided they have not engaged in “serious misconduct” during the course of it, they are entitled to have their jobs back even if employees hired to do their work have to be discharged.
A “frequently asked questions guide” has been posted at http://www.wrangell.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community/page/6381/final_faqs_6-25-17_7pm.pdf which hopes to answer most questions related to the strike. Updates are also being posted both at the city’s website and on the Wrangell Borough’s Facebook page.
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