From the end of February through the end of March our jurisdiction has been hammered by winter storms which have resulted in multiple crews traveling in under the National Storm Agreement. This latest round of storms has brought in crews from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Southern California and Montana. A copy of the International Emergency Response Agreement can be found on our web site under Outside Construction.
Work Outlook
The work picture is expected to be robust in our area, with several projects slated for 2011. Most of the projects consist of transmission, substation and solar work; however, they have not been awarded yet, or are on hold until the weather improves.
Cupertino Electric has been awarded two solar projects in the Helms and Five Points area which will be starting in the next week or two. There are some local hire requirements mandated by the customer and CPUC for these projects and we will be working diligently to fulfill this mandate.
Labor-Management
Ron Cochran, Ralph Armstrong and Mark Rolow all participated in the Labor-Management process in Riverside, California at the end of February. There were five grievances to be heard. One was put on hold pending more information. The four grievances that were heard were all from Local 47 and all were resolved during this process.
Lineco Training Conference
Gina Britt, Elizabeth McInnis, Junior Ornelas and Ralph Armstrong attended a one-day training session put on by Lineco. The training session not only covered general information about this Taft Hartley insurance plan used by most Outside Line Construction local unions, but also covered some of the enhanced changes that have already been made and the ones that will be coming down the road in the near future.
Here is some interesting information pertaining to this plan as well as some of the changes mentioned above:
- No contribution rate increase after
1/1/2006 until 1/1/2011, and then only 25 - Plan’s costs rising less than national trend
- Employment levels expected to increase in 2011 and 2012
- Despite increasing claims costs and decreasing hours, Lineco remains healthy
- Trustees are closely monitoring income and expense
Health care reform is helping Lineco offer enriched benefits. As of Jan. 1, 2011:
- Adult children covered until age 26, regardless of student or marital status, or residency and financial dependency
- $2,000,000 lifetime max eliminated, including max for treatment of substance abuse
- Covered preventive care expanded (subject to age/frequency guidelines implemented by federal agencies)–covered at 100% PPO, 70% non-PPO
- New claim appeal procedures added
- Emergencies paid as if PPO
More enhancements to Lineco benefits coming:
- Retroactive Plan changes not permitted (3/2013)
- Calendar year limit will phased out, increasing each year until eliminated (1/2014)
- Coverage expanded to clinical trials (1/2014)Coverage not limited by type of provider license (1/2014)
Training
OSHA 10 ET&D will be held at the union hall from 6 pm — 10 pm on Fridays and 8 am -4:30 pm on Saturdays: July 8/9 and October 7/8.
OSL Shop Steward Training: This training was scheduled for March 12 but needed to be changed at the request of the instructors we had contracted due to an unexpected event. The new date for this training will be December 10, 2011 –Vacaville, This training will be limited to 40 members.
First Aid & CPR is the 2nd Saturday of every month at our Riverside and Sacramento facilities.
JATC
The California Nevada JATC program is expected to open up the application process again for outside line construction apprentices. The application process can be found on the JATC website at: www.calnevjatc.org . Interested parties should visit this website to obtain information about the program.
Organizing
We signed the following contractors in the month of March:
- T& D Power, line contractor based in Arizona assented to the OSL agreement.
- Machado & Sons based in Turlock will be subbing to Cupertino Electric on the PG&E Solar Project in the Fresno area.
- Highway Technologies will be subbing to Cupertino on the Solar project as well.
- BGN Construction, based in Chico, assented to the OSL agreement
Injured Worker Fund
The balance of the fund as of 2/28/11 was $183,728.93. We paid out two disability payments in the month of March.
Apprentice Report
We currently have 240 outside line apprentices registered in our JATC program:
- 39 apprentices are working out of Local 1245
- 176 are working out of Local 47
- 0 are working out of Local 396
- 25 are off of work (2 are on disability – 2 are on leave of absence)
- We have graduated 13 apprentices this year to journeyman lineman.
- We have indentured 13 outside line apprentices this year.
We have 21 traffic signal maintenance apprentices registered.
- 6 are working for Republic Electric in Local 1245’s jurisdiction.
- 14 are working for Republic Electric in Local 47’s jurisdiction.
- 1 is unemployed.
BOOK STATUS as of 3/25/11:
| Linemen I | 34 |
| Linemen—II | 121 |
| Linemen—III | 1 |
| Linemen -IV | 232 |
| Equipment Man—I | 4 |
| Equipment Man—II | 9 |
| Equipment Man-III | 17 |
| Cable Splicer-I | 5 |
| Cable Splicer-II | 4 |
| Cable Splicer-III | 2 |
| Groundman—I | 19 |
| Groundman—II | 153 |
| Groundman-III | 241 |
| Groundman—IV | 238 |
| Fabricator tech-I | 0 |
| Fabricator Tech-II | 39 |
YEAR TO DATE REFERRALS:
| Lineman | 140 |
| Apprentice Lineman | 50 |
| Equipment Man | 22 |
| Groundman | 36 |
| Fabricator Tech | 14 |
| Cable Splicer | 1 |
Information for this report was supplied by Ralph Armstrong, Liz McInnis, and Ron Cochran.