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HISTORY FOCUS: •PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC •SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT •SIERRA PACIFIC POWER
5: OUT THE WINDOW

During those first few months at Sierra, Owen was encouraged to become involved in the union by Peter Riviera, a worker in the water department, and by George Kaiser, who served for a time as a member of the Local 1245 Policy Committee (later renamed the Advisory Council).

Owen, who went on to serve as an assistant business manager in the union’s head office in Walnut Creek, Ca., was receptive to the union message. Many in his family had belonged to the railroad brotherhoods and Owen himself had briefly belonged to the Woodworkers of America after returning from World War II.

Owen’s interest in the union was eventually tapped by the Local 1245 business representative for Sierra Pacific, Al Kaznowski. He was appointed first to the grievance committee and then to the negotiating committee, where he met Local 1245 Business Manager Ron Weakley and Weakley’s top assistant, L. L. Mitchell, two of Local 1245’s founders (See "Organizing PG&E").

Mitchell remembers Owen as a determined negotiator, not easy to move off a position.

"He did have a temper," says Mitchell. "If things went too awry, he expressed himself, maybe threatening to throw a fellow out the window."

"It used to scare Mitch half to death when I’d get mad," Owen recalls. "When I was young, I was a little quick tempered. Mitch used to say he could always tell because my neck started getting red and at that point in time he’d usually call a caucus and ask to see if I was all right. Because it wouldn’t have been any problem for me to pick one of ’em up and throw ’em out the window."

"Of course," Owen added, "it was only the second floor."

Also serving the union in bargaining in the mid-1950s were Bob Newberry, on the electrical side, and Loretta Jackson, representing clerical workers.

In those days, the union often negotiated directly with Tracy, the head of the company. The union had one distinct advantage in these negotiations: the comptroller of the company, Al Peterson, was a bargaining unit member and served on the union’s negotiating team.

Mitchell remembers: "Anytime the president of the company said we don’t have enough money to give you this or that, the comptroller would say, ‘Look here, Tracy, we do too.’ "


The Lincoln Alley Electric Line Distribution in Reno was sometimes called the ìDeath Trapî because of the tight quarters that Sierra Pacific employees had to work in
Tom Lewis at union’s 50th anniversary celebration in 1991.


6: MEMBERSHIP GROWS

Tom Lewis, another union activist of that era, got his start at Sierra Pacific the same year as Owen, 1949. Lewis had left the textile mills of the East in hopes of finding a job where there was a union to help protect his interests. He found it at Sierra Pacific, where he began as a laborer digging pole holes.

"When I first started there was about 52% union membership at the power company," Lewis recalled. "I got active right away."

Membership in the union grew, eventually stabilizing in the 80-90% range, a significant achievement in a right-to-work state. Lewis gives credit for this growth to union staff members through the years: "Look at the business reps we had from the IBEW. They were so good: Mitch Michell, Al Kaznowski, John Stralla."
Lewis’s own role in that era was hardly that of a shrinking violet. He served as a shop steward, unit chair, and chair of the PAC committee, as well as a member of the negotiating team for a number of years.

Lewis remembers it as an exciting era.

"The company was growing and the time was ripe for people to get into the union. I loved it."