Lifeguards Vote to Leave MEA

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The city of San Diego lifeguards voted today to leave the Municipal Employees Association and join The International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The vote completes a more than five-month long push to remove the lone public safety agency from the mostly white-collar MEA.

Lifeguards wanted more say in their affairs, said Ed Harris, a lifeguard sergeant who pushed for the change.

"We want to sit down at the table," Harris said. "Under the Teamsters model, they don't go to the city without the lifeguards being there."

Harris is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against former MEA head Judie Italiano, who the MEA refered for investigation to the district attorney for personal use of union credit cards. In his suit, Harris contends Italiano misused union funds.

"Both the lawsuit and the move to leave MEA were for a desire to get better representation," Harris said.

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The vote splits lifeguards into separate supervisor and rank-and-file bargaining units.

Scott Chadwick, the city's labor relations manager, acknowledged today's results and said he planned to brief Mayor Jerry Sanders within the next couple days.

The contract MEA negotiated on behalf of the lifeguards could continue for up to two years, Chadwick said, but the city now is obliged to negotiate with lifeguards again. Chadwick said it was "too early to tell" if there would be changes.

"We look forward to working with the Teamsters and representatives of the lifeguards," Chadwick said.

The lifeguards' supervisory unit voted 14-5 in favor of joining the Teamsters, and the rank and file voted 37-28.

-- LIAM DILLON

1 Comments so far on this story...

The current state of the San Diego Lifeguard Service is dismal. The recent vote to enter the teamsters union confirms that there is a complete lack of leadership at the organization. A few employees have high jacked the organization for their own monetary advantage and set back public safety for years; shame on you. The city must be proactive in addressing these concerns before public safety becomes in jeopardy; including increased drownings on the beach and dangers to program participants. The Fire Department needs to become more active in the management of the organization. The current lifeguard management group should be dismantled and new leaders put in place. A complete overhaul of the organization is in order. There is no need for 100 permanent employees. This should be reduced to about fifteen with the remainder being more physically fit part time employees. This single move will save the city more than 2,000,000 (two million) dollars a year. In addition, the lifeguards should be divested of their cliff rescue and river rescue activities; that Fire Department personnel can provide these important services in a more cost effective and professional manner, saving the city another $500,000 dollars a year in training and overtime expenses. These changes are long overdue and required. Put public safety first!

Posted by justinn | reply to this comment
August 21, 2009 8:50 pm

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