The Houston Chronicle, January 6, 2006, Friday

Copyright 2006 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
The Houston Chronicle

January 6, 2006 Friday
2 STAR EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: Unions' City Hall battle heats up;
SEIU's claims of taking majority are disputed

BYLINE: L.M. SIXEL, Staff

BODY:
In the fight over which union will represent City Hall workers, the Service Employees International Union is claiming victory.
The union, which recently won the right to represent Houston's janitors, said it has collected more than 5,000 signatures, amounting to a majority of workers who would like it to represent them at the bargaining table.
"It's time to move forward," said SEIU spokesman Chris Coil.
But its chief rival, AFSCME, says not so fast. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said the city has 12,000 eligible employees, while the city says it has as many as 14,000.
Either way, 5,000 signatures wouldn't be a majority, said Greg Powell, administrator for AFSCME Local 1550 in Houston. Powell said his union has collected about 4,000 signatures in the petition drive.
Coil said the union believes the number of eligible workers is closer to 10,000 when department heads and other high ranking officials are excluded.
But the nation's second-largest union won't know exactly until the city verifies the signatures. If it turns out the union is short, it'll just get some more employees to sign, he said.
Long-running battle
For nearly six decades, AFSCME has represented workers at City Hall. But because state law did not allow them to bargain collectively, AFSCME mustered only meager support.
The situation changed last year when the state granted Houston city workers collective bargaining rights. But before AFSCME could even mount a recruitment drive, it found itself in a months-long battle with SEIU, which had split with the AFL-CIO over whether the huge labor federation was devoting enough resources to organizing.
SEIU officials presented 11 boxes of signatures to the city secretary's office Wednesday.
Frank Michel, city communication director, said the city will examine the petitions to determine whether SEIU has obtained a majority.
But before that can be done, he said, the city's legal department will have to address other issues that have come up, such as whether SEIU meets a requirement of state law that it be an employee association.
AFSCME's Powell contends that SEIU doesn't because it doesn't have any members on the city's payroll whose dues are deducted from their paychecks.
SEIU officials argue they clearly qualify because they have dues-paying members in other cities.
The law doesn't specify that a union must have dues-paying members at City Hall in advance to collect signatures, Coil said.
But state Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston, said he told city officials in a meeting last fall that the Legislature intended to require dues deduction of members before a union could collect signatures. Bailey was the author of the legislation that gave city employees collective bargaining rights.
Michel said the city won't take sides on the issue.
Sign of support
Although SEIU is ready to claim victory, Coil said Thursday that its victory won't be complete until it wins an election among City Hall workers.
"We're trying to build a strong union," said Coil when pressed on why the union wants to go the apparently unnecessary extra step. "We want to make sure a majority of employees chose SEIU."
"On the surface it's curious, but I think there are good reasons for it," said Richard Hurd, professor of labor studies at Cornell University.
He said the new Change to Win coalition, which includes SEIU and the other unions that split from the AFL-CIO last year, are trying to avoid major warfare with the labor federation.
Calling for an election "gives them a chance to demonstrate that they really are the choice of workers," Hurd said. It's a chance to show the public how many votes SEIU gets.

NOTES: lm.sixel@chron.com