Union leader threatened to shut down SLO with ‘massive protest’ during coronavirus
The president of a utility workers’ union sent San Luis Obispo city officials an email in March threatening a “massive protest” if the City Council moved forward with a vote on a draft energy policy pushing all-electric new building construction over installation of natural gas.
San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon called the letter a bullying tactic that would have put people’s lives in danger — and vowed to move forward with scheduling a hearing on the proposed new policy “as soon as possible.”
Eric Hofmann, president of the regional branch of the Utility Workers Union of America, sent the email March 16 in advance of an anticipated April 7 City Council meeting addressing the energy proposal.
Hofmann wrote the union would bus in “hundreds and hundreds of pissed off people” from the Los Angeles area, “potentially adding to this (coronavirus) pandemic.”
“If the city moves forward with another reading on a gas ban I can assure you there will be no distancing in place,” Hofmann wrote.
SLO faces protest threat over energy policy
The city never formally listed the energy policy discussion on the City Council’s agenda, choosing to postpone the matter, according to San Luis Obispo officials who expect the hearing to take place this summer.
Harmon said Wednesday that Hofmann was threatening to put people’s lives in jeopardy as a deadly pandemic was emerging.
“To blatantly threaten the health and safety of San Luis Obispo is totally unacceptable,” Harmon said via phone. “But this is pretty consistent for the fossil fuel industry, which has threatened the lives of people for the past 50 years. ... Bullies can’t dictate policy and we can’t let bullies win.”
Known for her environmental advocacy, Harmon is supportive of the draft policy, which would prioritize all-electric new construction with an option for builders to still use gas hookups by retrofitting gas-powered buildings to electric elsewhere in the city.
Harmon said Hofmann’s letter signaled that a large group of out-of-town workers would come to San Luis Obispo at a time when the city and health officials were urging people to stay home and not travel to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“Citywide, we were dealing with the emerging emergency pandemic at the time,” said Michael Codron, San Luis Obispo community development director. “City Council meetings were sparsely attended. We didn’t think it was a good time for a meeting that could have the same kind of public comment as the discussion generated in September 2019.”
In an email Wednesday, Hofmann wrote that the city “made a provocative attack on the livelihood of our members with its ill-informed energy policies.”
Hofmann noted that he sent his March 16 letter three days before Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide shelter-at-home order.
“That has stirred vehement reactions from our members, including mass attendance at past City Council meetings,” Hofmann wrote in his email Wednesday. “When the City Council announced that it would re-start its anti-gas effort at the April 7th meeting, we thought it best to both organize our members’ attendance in an orderly and peaceful way, and at the same time try to persuade the City Council to postpone its anti-gas effort to a more prudent time.”
Gas workers spar with City Council
The UWUA, which represents many Southern California Gas Co. workers, has an office in Glendora in the San Gabriel Valley.
Gas workers packed the San Luis Obispo council’s chambers in a controversial September 2019 meeting on its energy policy, and dozens of workers publicly lobbied against the city’s proposal in public comment.
The City Council voted 4-1 to adopt the new policy, with Councilmember Erica Stewart dissenting.
The union later accused Councilmember Andy Pease of a conflict of interest because she’s a partner in a local architecture business, In Balance Green Consulting, and the union alleged she stood to benefit financially from the new policy.
Pease rejected the allegation, saying it wouldn’t affect design work in general, but announced that her firm wouldn’t take any projects in the city of San Luis Obispo to avoid any perceived conflict of interest.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission has yet to rule on the UWUA complaint. Pease is planning to recuse herself when the council revisits the issue.
Hofmann said in his email, posted as part of agenda correspondence on the city’s website that “we will pull permits and close streets and have a massive protest on April 7th.”
Gas workers generally have argued requiring all-electric construction for new buildings would take away jobs, and remove choice for builders and homeowners.
Harmon said San Luis Obispo officials sought to work cooperatively with the utility workers to address envisioned transitions. She added clean energy policies have begun to be adopted elsewhere in California.
“I don’t see clean energy and utility jobs as mutually exclusive,” Harmon said. “I supported the city’s very first project labor agreement (prioritizing local worker hires on a $140 million sewer project). I am very pro labor while pro clean energy.”
SLO aims to reduce carbon emissions
The clean energy initiative is part of San Luis Obispo’s 2035 carbon neutrality target that aims to take large steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Harmon said she plans to talk with city staff members this week about scheduling the meeting on its new policy proposal.
Chris Read, San Luis Obispo sustainability manager, said city staff is considering it for sometime this summer.
“It’s too soon to identify a specific time frame,” Read said.
Codron said the city was allowing in-person attendance of City Council meetings as of March 16 when Hofmann sent the letter, and wasn’t well equipped to manage large groups of people.
The council has since met virtually, allowing public comment from a distance by mail, email and phone.
Read said that the city reached out to the union in advance of the April 7 meeting in good faith, but hasn’t communicated with Hofmann since his March 16 email.
Read said the city has made some changes to the initial draft policy, most of them relatively minor. They included an exemption for new commercial kitchens — meaning a high-powered, gas-fueled dishwasher could be installed without an obligation to retrofit, for example.
Codron said that any future City Council meeting on the clean energy policy would follow public health guidelines for group gatherings.
Asked about the possibility of a summer protest, Hofmann said, “That determination will have to be made at that point in time.”
“Right now our focus is making sure our members have everything they need to work as safely as possible while providing affordable and reliable gas service to the customers our members serve,” he said. “They have been an integral part of an essential workforce without getting the proper recognition that they deserve.”
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