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Posted at 10:47 p.m. PST Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001

PG&E foot soldiers take brunt of abuse

BY GIL JOSÉ DURÁN Mercury News In 32 years as a PG&E employee, Bob Mayer has twice stared down the barrel of a gun while on the job: once as he inspected power lines at a house where a drug raid was pending, and another time when he tried to cut service to a non-paying Hells Angel in Campbell.

But the grizzly-bearded 57-year-old, who flew Air Force B-52s in Vietnam before getting into power line work, says none of his experiences prepared him for the public backlash that's currently socking PG&E's blue-collar workers.

Eggs, trash, paint and blocks of wood have been tossed at utility trucks. Employees responding to calls about gas leaks or power outages find themselves confronted by upset customers clutching bills and demanding explanations.

``Several times a day people go by and flip me off,'' said Mayer, who works out of PG&E's Cupertino yard.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1245 in San Jose, which represents 14,000 utility workers, says reports of harassment and vandalism have streamed in over the past month as people frustrated by possible rate hikes and blackouts lash out at company field workers.

Mayer, who said he felt like a hero after being featured in a Mercury News photo that showed him at work restoring electricity in the Santa Cruz mountains after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, agrees that the tide has turned against PG&E employees.

``I feel like I've gone from being a hero to being a goat,'' Mayer said.

The situation recently became so tense in Moss Landing that employees who drive their company vehicles home at night received permission to strip the permanent PG&E decals off of their trucks and use magnetic decals instead, said union spokesman Bill Brill.

Last week, a man who identified himself as an Alameda County PG&E worker called KMEL radio and made an on-air plea for listeners to give the crews a break.

``Everywhere I go, people are hating on me,'' he said.

Utility workers must routinely watch out for high-voltage hazards, gas leaks and snarling pets, but many say they're now wary of outraged consumers.

PG&E spokesman Scott Blakey said the utility hasn't identified any threats to worker safety, and the company refuses to say how many acts of vandalism have occurred. But the union says it's taking the incidents seriously.

``They're basically being told to watch their backsides,'' Brill said. ``We're getting reports daily of workers saying that customers are abusing them. There are too many people who find the PG&E workers an accessible scapegoat.''

No one's keeping an exact tally of verbal abuse against the company's employees, but Brill said it's routine. The trend is not specific to Northern California; rate hikes in San Diego in October resulted in insults and spit assaults on San Diego Gas and Electric's workers, said union spokesman Dave Moore.

Don Barnett, a gas service representative in Gilroy and a 29-year PG&E veteran, said he has been confronted by upset customers who demand to know why their bills are higher while their service is less reliable.

``It's kind of an uneasy situation,'' he said. `I don't take it personal, but I do think it's unfortunate that the working people are being held accountable for this. I find myself being asked a lot of questions I don't have answers for.''

As 16-year PG&E employee Xavier De La Rocha inspected gas meters in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, he said the dirty looks and snide comments get under his skin because he, like many other PG&E blue-collar workers, worries about his job security. De La Rocha and his wife had planned to get braces for one of their five children, but the orthodontic work is on hold until they know whether they'll have health insurance in the coming year.

``I'm just a guy out here trying to do my job,'' he said.

As De La Rocha finished an inspection on Sandy Wood Court, Laverne Randall strolled by and called out: ``PG&E! I didn't know they still had people who come out to check on the lights.''

But as she climbed into her car, Randall said she doesn't hold the current crisis against the beleaguered company's foot soldiers.

``I know it's a complex situation that has to do more with planning and it's not their fault,'' she said. ``I was just being facetious.''

http://www0.mercurycenter.com/cgi-bin/edtools/printpage/printpage_ba.cgi

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 26, 2001

Answers

Martin,

The blame for the ignorance of the masses which leads to the kind of behaviour described here falls squarely on the shoulders of a lapdog press which contiually spouts the "deregulation" mantra. The implication is that PG&E and SoCal Edison are the lone culprits. While they were remiss in going along with the half baked scheme,they were far from alone in the blame department.

WRK

-- Warren Ketler (wrkttl@earthlink.net), January 27, 2001.