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Sisters and Brothers,
I want to be clear about where your union leadership stands on the proposed city takeover of Duke Energy in St. Petersburg. After reviewing the facts, consulting labor counsel, and looking closely at what similar takeovers have meant for utility workers elsewhere, we oppose it.
System Council U8 represents the men and women who keep the lights on at Duke. You are skilled tradespeople doing dangerous, technical work under a private-sector labor framework that protects your bargaining rights, your wages, and your ability to hold management accountable. A government takeover puts all of that at risk.
Under a city-run power company, Duke workers would almost certainly be reclassified as public or quasi-public employees. That shift is not semantic. It changes which labor laws apply and is governed by the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) instead of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA.) Public employees typically lose the right to strike. Collective bargaining is narrower. If negotiations stall, the fallback is often political pressure or limited arbitration, not real leverage. A contract must be approved by City Councils even if membership votes to ratify it. The grievance process is a sham and arbitration isn't an option. That is a step backward for working people.
There is also no guarantee that current contracts, staffing levels, or job classifications will survive intact. A new city utility would face massive acquisition costs, legal battles over eminent domain, and years of uncertainty. When budgets get tight, labor is always one of the first targets. Promises about “keeping jobs” are easy to make before a takeover and easy to break after.
We also have to look at operational reality. Duke is a large, experienced utility with storm crews, mutual aid agreements, and capital already in place. City governments do not build that overnight. During hurricanes or major outages, reliability depends on scale, coordination, and investment. Experimenting with the electric grid puts both workers and the public in a bad position.
This isn’t about defending corporate executives. It’s about defending union jobs, hard-won rights, and safe, reliable electric service. We can push for accountability, stronger oversight, and better outcomes without turning skilled union utility workers into political employees of City Hall.
Our opposition is stronger when we stand with others. To further support this position and protect our members' future, I will recommend that our local union members as well as System Council U8 join the St. Pete Energy Alliance and the Clearwater Energy Alliance—two growing coalitions of concerned businesses and individuals who share our belief that a government takeover is the wrong path for our communities. Working together, we can ensure our voice is heard and our hard-won protections are not undermined by political maneuvering.
Our members deserve stability, respect, and real bargaining power. A government takeover doesn’t offer that. That’s why System Council U8 stands opposed.
Attached are 2 documents. The first contains relevant talking points regarding the Clearwater and St Petersburg Dump Duke campaign. The second is from a Maine lawyer regarding a proposed government takeover there. This is not directly related because they included language that would allow the union employees to remain private sector employees, which we most assuredly would not have in Florida.
Fraternally yours,
Phillip
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