JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Days after it was announced that the federal government would be conducting an investigation into JEA's privatization efforts, one local union representative is calling for the Jacksonville City Council to continue its own scrutiny and to shut down a bill filed as emergency legislation.
Ronnie Burris is the business manager for Local 630, one of the four unions that represents JEA employees. Burris said he and other union leaders are in opposition to a bill filed by Councilman Danny Becton on Tuesday.
Becton's emergency legislation would take out a section of JEA employees’ contracts that was added on July 23, 2019, when the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) bidding process was made public.
"All they can do is ask the JEA board, and the JEA board can only ask us," Burris said. "None of us is willing to open up the contracts. It's a done deal."
The bill was sent to committee when it was proposed at Tuesday's meeting. Burris said he hopes it is killed in committee.
"The only thing I’m asking to be removed is the year's worth of salary that everyone would get in a recapitalization, and that doesn't just mean privatization, that could mean the co-op option or the IPO option," Becton said.
Burris said that when talks were halted in late December, it was a small sigh of relief for the employees he represents. But he added there is still concern.
"It's been really upsetting for them, because they just don't know what's gonna happen," Burris said. "There's still out there the potential of co-op or IPO, so there's still that kind of holding over their heads."
Local 630 represents around 300 JEA employees, Burris said. He told On Your Side that his union was told about a potential layoff of around 500 employees if the utility was not sold.
"I was gonna lose probably 90 of my members," he said. "A lot of these people are veterans, have served the country. They're hard-working people, and they believe whole-heartedly in JEA."
Burris also spoke to On Your Side about the ongoing federal investigation, and how the bidding process affected employee morale at JEA.
"For the last two-and-a-half years there's been so much turmoil for the JEA employees," Burris said. "They didn't know what was gonna happen."