Part-Time Lifeguards Get a Sinking Feeling : Labor: City puts off recognition of seasonal crew’s newly formed union. ‘We make 99% of rescues on the beach,’ they say.

Lifeguard Lee Jacobs rescued two beach-goers on Thursday. A few hours later, he was the one feeling stranded.

Jacobs, a 24-year-old graduate of UC Riverside, belongs to a new labor union of seasonal lifeguards in Huntington Beach seeking recognition from City Hall.

The 75-member group, calling itself the Surf City Lifeguards Employee Assn., formally submitted a petition Tuesday asking the city for formal recognition by Thursday.

Facing a perfect sunset Thursday evening, about 15 members of the group gathered on the Huntington Beach Pier to press their demands for the right to negotiate with the city.

“It’s like we’re lost. . . . We’re left unrepresented,” said Jacobs, who hopes to attend law school at Ohio State University this fall. “We make 99% of the rescues on the beach.”

The city has sent the petition to its attorney for review and has not decided whether to grant the seasonal-lifeguard union the same bargaining power as other municipal unions.

“We don’t want to just shoot from the hip and make a comment when we haven’t had the opportunity to study it,” said Richard Barnard, the city’s deputy administrator. “We want to be cautious and make sure we’re following the laws and our personnel rules.”

Barnard said officials need to determine whether part-time employees are entitled to the same bargaining rights as year-round workers.

The lawyer representing the seasonal lifeguards said the group has the right to organize under state law and should have won instant recognition.

“The moment we filed, they were obligated to recognize us. All they had to do was check the names,” said attorney Richard J. Silber, who also represents city firefighters.

The 100 part-time lifeguards, who include college students, teachers, doctors and lawyers, work without benefits and for lower pay than the dozen year-round lifeguards. They are not paid extra for overtime.