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Governor Davis Signs AB 1087

On Wednesday, May 29, Governor Gray Davis signed AB 1087 into law. We appreciate the efforts of all of our members who wrote to their legislators and to the Governor warning of the effects of this legislation, but the power of the IBEW carried the day. We hope that all of you will remember the way in which Governor Davis disregarded the best interests of our industry and did exactly what the IBEW wanted him to do.

However, we can report that the final version of AB 1087, though confused and incoherent, represents somewhat of an improvement over the original. The explicit requirement that C-10 employees join state-approved apprenticeship programs has been dropped. Instead, the bill creates a committee made up of representatives of the DAS, Department of Education, and Community Colleges, and charged with creating an "approved curriculum" for electrical training. Naturally, the IBEW will be in a strong position to dominate this committee and achieve the goals that it failed to accomplish directly by legislation. It is imperative that we monitor the actions of this committee, while continuing to insist that the merit shop industry be granted representation.

The bill also requires that each apprentice be supervised by a certified electrician. This one-to-one ratio will be almost impossible to implement in the real world, and it appears that the unions have succeeded in imposing their inefficient and expensive work rules on all of us.

We will continue to keep you informed about the implementation of AB 1087, and what sort of response FLAC is planning. While it is disappointing to see such a flawed piece of legislation become law, FLAC members should be proud of the role they played in making AB 1087 less immediately devastating to our industry than it otherwise would have been. 		 
     
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