Overcoming a fierce, anti-union campaign, workers at the Sacramento-based Sunoptics Company recently voted to be represented by the MTD-affiliated International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Angered by frequent schedule changes, inadequate training opportunities and safety procedures and an all-around “general lack of respect,” the workers mounted a determined, well-planned campaign. Coordinating their efforts with IBEW Local 1245, a core group of activists assembled a Volunteer Organizing Committee (VOC).
VOC members expressed a great deal of satisfaction after the nearly two-to-one victory was announced. As one person put it, “The feeling is indescribable. I feel like justice has been served.”
Pam Pendleton, a swing-shift welder for the company who spent hours campaigning for the IBEW each day, had a similar reaction. “I felt something I hadn’t felt before.
“I got really emotional, we’ve actual done this, this is actually happening. I’m excited about what’s going to come after this victory.”