COBB, Calif. – A few hours after it announced that it would contest the results of an election of Calpine workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1245 said Friday it will let the results stand.

The months-long process to unionize 219 Calpine employees at The Geysers geothermal power plant culminated in a two-day election on Wednesday and Thursday at Calpine.

The final tally of votes, which were counted Thursday night, showed that 124 employees had voted no to joining the union, while 70 had voted yes.

An additional 21 challenged ballots were not counted in the final tally, the union reported.

IBEW has alleged that Calpine management attempted to prevent a free and fair election, and used anti-union consultants to persuade employees to vote against unionizing.

Calpine said in a statement released to Lake County News this week that it had worked directly with its employees to provide industry-leading compensation, benefits, equity, career progression and safety programs.

However, the company also said that it respected employees’ right to consider unionization as provided under the National Labor Relations Act “in a process which assures employees make an informed decision.”

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