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Archives for April 2010

Longo Proved Women Can Be Linemen

WOMAN LINEMAN: YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A MAN TO BE LINEMAN. SUE LONGO PROVED IT. When Sue Longo hired on at Pacific Gas & Electric as a groundman in 1980, she admits she had “no clue” what a groundman even was. “But I knew it was outdoors and I wanted to do something physical—didn’t… [Read More]

Bankers Adopt “I’ll Be Gone” Strategy

This story by Christopher Hayes was published on-line April 29, 2010 by The Nation. Until last week, I’d never heard of “IBGYBG.” But during the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations‘ eye-opening hearings into ratings agency malfeasance, former Moody’s senior credit officer Richard Michalek introduced me to it while testifying about the perverse incentives that dominated… [Read More]

Writing Contracts, Resolving Disputes

By Ron Cochran   There have been ongoing organizing, jurisdictional disputes, termination cases, class action grievances, oral grievances, written grievances, and two duty of fair representation charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board.  All in all, it’s been another great month in the HH and construction area. As for organizing, it’s been a real… [Read More]

Death on the Job: 5,214 Die in 2008

5,214 KILLED AT WORK IN 2008   Twenty-nine coal miners killed at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. Seven workers killed at the Tesoro refinery in Washington State. Eleven oil platform workers presumed dead following an explosion of the Transocean Ltd. rig in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s dangerous to go… [Read More]

Dalzell: Times That Try Workers’s Souls

TIMES THAT TRY WORKERS’ SOULS     By Tom Dalzell, Business Manager Thomas Paine, the Revolutionary War patriot, wrote a broadside in 1776 called The Crisis that began with these famous words: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” It is no exaggeration to say that today we live in times that try workers’ souls…. [Read More]

Jose Luis Sanchez 25-Year Award

Jose Luis Sanchez, who works for Asplundh Tree Expert in Woodside, CA, received his 25-year gold watch in March in Redwood City, CA. Presenting the award was Business Representative Junior Ornelas. Brother Sanchez is a member of Unit 4711.

Electricians Speak Up About Switching

PG&E ELECTRICIANS SOUND OFF They’re doing more switching—and they’d like to be paid for it. That’s one of the issues that brought PG&E electricians on April 6 to Weakley Hall, where they sounded off on several issues that have been simmering for years. Business Manager Tom Dalzell opened the meeting by acknowledging some of the… [Read More]