Anaheim City Employees’ Union Votes to Affiliate With AFL-CIO Group

Anaheim city employees, saying that their small, independent union was making them seem vulnerable during contract negotiations, voted Tuesday to join the Service Employees International Union, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO whose public employee membership in Orange County has grown substantially in less than a year.

Members of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn., which represents about 900 city workers, voted, 256 to 6, to join the SEIU. It was the largest turnout for the municipal employees association, which has 460 members who pay dues, said Fred Lowe, president of the Garden Grove-based SEIU.

Lowe said city employees approved the new representation because they believe that their organization was in a “David and Goliath” struggle with the city. The AMEA comprises clerical, maintenance and park workers as well as inspectors and planners.

“By joining this group, they’re now strengthening their group,” Lowe said. The SEIU has 250,000 members statewide, including private workers, he added.

The municipal employees association was represented by the Orange County Employees Assn. for 18 years until it broke away from the county bargaining unit last July. AMEA President Sharon Ericson said the group was not satisfied with the way the Orange County associaton handled contract disputes and employee grievances.

“We weren’t getting the services we thought we could get, so we broke away. Now the city has gotten three times harder to work with because they see us as vulnerable,” Ericson said.

During the time it was unaffiliated, the AMEA filed a lawsuit against the city after negotiations broke down during a salary readjustment dispute for about 400 workers. Also, at least 12 grievances were filed against the city by employees over allegations of harassment by management, Ericson said.

She added that all the grievances appeared to be heading to arbitration, an expensive process for an employee association with limited resources, such as the AMEA. Each arbitration hearing can cost up to $1,000, Lowe said.

Members of the Anaheim organization were attracted to the SEIU because the association could still keep its bylaws, treasury and officers while being entitled to the resources that a large union offers, such as legal research and advice, she said.

In the last year, since the SEIU started representing municipal workers, 761 city employees in Santa Ana, 283 in Costa Mesa and 565 county government employees have joined, Lowe said.