Now it only takes 5 to unionize…
Posted on March 25, 2008 at 6:20 am by Eric Odom
Organizing unions just got easier…
Longtime South Beloit police clerk Cindy King was initially on the fence when she and fellow clerk Wanda Weston-Johnson began talking about unionizing late last year.
King initially liked the idea of joining a union — most city employees were doing so — then later changed her mind. But the retirement of Police Chief Larry Schultz, combined with changes the City Council made to the employee benefits package, persuaded her to file paperwork with the Teamsters union in December.
“I need the job security, and things are kind of uncertain right now,” King said. “I’ve been with the city for 20 years. I’ve got a lot to lose.”
The women make up a two-person department and were able to file for unionization thanks to a 2005 change in state law that lowered the minimum number of employees needed to unionize from 35 to five, or 50 percent of a department, whichever is smaller.
Although the changes have made it easier for people like King and Weston-Johnson to join forces, the growth in unions has some officials — even those who support organized labor — worried that the resulting costs will be too high.
Nearly three years after South Beloit police officers, citing inconsistent wages and benefits, filed their intent to unionize, they and the city — despite hours of negotiation and tens of thousands of dollars spent on attorneys — have made zero headway on a contract. Meanwhile, union contracts for the city’s two police sergeants, two police clerks and six Street Department workers, all of whom have followed the police officers and filed union papers, also are in limbo.
