By Ron Cochran
Work for the Outside Line group is finally breaking loose. The utility customers have released over a 140 substation projects that will span over the next eighteen months. The utilities are also releasing transmission and wood pole work at this time. We will have more accurate information later this month. Most of this is EPC (Engineering – Procurement – Construction) work. Some of this work will take a short while to start the construction phase as it will have to be engineered and the materials purchased. We have line crews working on several different properties. We have two cable projects in the Bay Area also being worked at this time.
We have many line workers traveling for work out of our jurisdiction right now in several states and a few went overseas to stay busy. As Book I clears off, we expect our members to come home. We are getting more phone calls daily now from members abroad.
Our inspector and relay technician groups are now seeing a surge. We are actively recruiting qualified Overhead Line, Underground Line and Substation Inspectors for a couple of different contractors at this time.
As for the AMI work, Wellington Energy is setting all kinds of production records. Wellington employs more of our members than any other contractor. We have a few other contractors doing AMI on much smaller scales.
The AC load control work is also holding steady.
The pole test and treat construction groups are still ramping up.
We continue to organize contractors in between all of the other activities. In May, we organized and signed contracts with five new contractors. Intermountain Rigging and Heavy Haul does substation work and specialize in substation demo type work. Fort Bragg Electric, WIPI Construction, Ellett Construction, Manual Bros. Construction are all performing electric distribution, transmission below grade type work. We are currently organizing a few smaller contractors. We have plans to start a major organizing campaign in California and may ask you for a little help to get it done.
We are still working on the Project Labor Agreement for the SWIP project. The SWIP project has a new partner “NV Energy”. Our contractors are on the third set of bids. We believe the project will happen, although it’s hard to say when with all the changes that are being made.
We have made very few crew visits in recent months due to all the other activities; we hope to see every crew in the months of June and July.
BOOK STATUS
Linemen Book 1: 38
Linemen Book 2: 68
Linemen Book 3: 2
Linemen Book 4: 50
Groundman Book I: 13
Groundman Book II: 18
Groundman Book III: 81