Unions looking to organize before Napolitano leaves
December 26, 2008, 7:25 p.m.
The Associated Press

Unions are wasting no time organizing various state workers after Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order last week.

The order allows more than 25,000 state employees to select union representatives to meet and confer with agency management on issues ranging from employee morale to disciplinary matters and workplace conditions.

The first union to call for a representative election was the Service Employees International Union.

It submitted documentation showing that at least 30 percent of employees of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality wish to be represented by the union.

An election allowing ADEQ employees to select their union representative could come as early as next week.

It's also expected that representative elections will be called for two of the state's largest agencies: the Department of Economic Security and Department of Health Services.

Union officials said they want to get their operations on the ground so they can better affect upcoming budget negotiations.

The state faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall for this fiscal year and next, and large-scale layoffs or unpaid furloughs may result.

Unions may also want to be in place before Secretary of State Jan Brewer becomes governor.

Brewer, a Republican, becomes governor if, as expected, Napolitano resigns her office after being confirmed as secretary of Homeland Security for the incoming Obama administration.

What isn't known is whether Brewer will attempt to rescind Napolitano's order.

Kevin Tyne, who will serve as Brewer's chief of staff, issued a statement last week noting that "we would have hoped that if Governor Napolitano wanted the next administration to follow this policy, she would have extended us the courtesy of briefing us on it prior to her issuing the order."

Once state agencies have union representation, it's unclear whether Brewer would have authority to undo the process.

After a union election, according to Napolitano's order, the chosen union representative is to remain in place for at least one year and up to three years.

The employees' union selection would be binding on Brewer, said Chuck Foy, political director for the Arizona State Employees Association/CWA.

Foy says the state is going into some uncharted territory here.

If Napolitano, as expected, resigns her office on or around Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, union officials expect that by then a representative election will have been held in virtually every eligible state agency.

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