Alice wins collective bargaining
Alice firefighters and police officers stand outside a polling place during the collective bargaining election in May.
By Mike Sheffield
CLEAT Field Representative
After a long and hard fight, the citizens of Alice have decided that the Alice Police Officers should have Collective Bargaining rights. In the last 3 weeks before the May election, Alice, Texas had one lone, outspoken Nay-sayer to start spending money for newspaper and Spanish radio ads. Also, people were hired to hand out push cards and to take people to the poles during early voting and on election day. An estimated $10,000.00 of private money was spent to oppose the Police Officers and Fire Fighters of Alice. This Nay-sayer is the same person who opposed the Police and Fire in Civil Service elections in 2003 for fire and 2007 for police. In 2007 CLEAT’s staff representative Mike Sheffield worked with the Alice police association and won Civil Service. The Alice Police Officers’ Association was ready and immediately responded to the Nay-sayer’s ‘No to Collective Bargaining’ campaign. CLEAT and the Alice Police Association’s campaign included newspaper ads, signs, and volunteers to take voters to the poles. The Association also had all their members contact friends, relatives and everybody else they knew and encouraged them to get to the polls and vote. On election day, every polling location in Alice was covered with folks wearing t-shirts and carrying signs supporting Collective Bargaining. (pictures attached) The opposition was swamped on election day and our presence made the folks that might have voted against Collective Bargaining, decide to just stay out of it. Some voters may have been confused by the fight because when asked if they voted for Collective Bargaining, some responded “No, I didn’t vote for it, but I didn’t vote against it either.” Support from the members and friends of the Alice Police Officers’ Association manning the election sites on election day made the difference with their neighbors.
CLEAT Staff Representative Mike Sheffield says all the credit goes to the hard work of the Alice Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and their friends and families in making this campaign a success. To make these kinds of gains it takes the members of the local really wanting it and then translating that desire into work to make it happen. We had that in abundance in Alice.
