The work outlook is stronger than ever before. We have a large volume of work continuing from the California and Nevada utilities. We also have increasing amounts of trolley work, and private power line construction from Nevada mining companies.
The solar work is approaching full staffing and should be wrapped up in October for this year. We are now advertising for the best Journeymen Linemen to travel in and help man this work. The biggest concern now is to complete the work safely with no injuries.
We have hired temporary help in dispatch to help with the rush, but it is still an overwhelming work load; please be patient. We have asked the dispatchers to keep the phone conversations as short as possible to keep the work moving.
We have had several oral grievances and a few written grievances in the last month. The written grievances are scheduled to be heard at a Labor/Management hearing on June 23, 2011. We are optimistic the will all be resolved before the hearing.
Training Schedule
OSHA 10 ET&D will be held from 6 pm-10 pm on Fridays and 8am-4:30pm on Saturdays: July 8/9 and October 7/8.
Shop Steward Grievance Training: December 10, 2011 in Vacaville. This training will be limited to 40 members.
First Aid & CPR is the 2nd Saturday of every month at our Riverside and Sacramento facility.
Upcoming Events
24th Annual Perry Zimmerman Golf Tournament is June 18, Vacaville.
9th District Softball Tournament is August 6 & 7, 2011, Santee, CA
International Rodeo is October 15, 2011. Apprentice Linemen will be selected through a blind draw from all IBEW employer work groups. More details will be posted on the website in the coming weeks.
1st Annual Clay Shoot is November 12, Dunnigan, CA.
JATC Information
In April the California Nevada JATC program opened 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
Organizing is over the top again this month. This is mostly due to the top-down organizing method used. Business Manager Tom Dalzell has blazed a trail with Project Labor Agreements with several utilities. Ralph Armstrong and Liz McInnis have organized many new companies with their tireless efforts, along with the efforts of the office staff that supports them in the background. Kudos to the whole team; they are all performing at an exceptional level. We signed the following contractors in the month of May 2011 and organized dozens of new members:
- A.J. Excavation, Inc based in Fresno signed the OSL PG&E Construction Agreement
- Milender White Construction, based in Arvada, Colorado singed the PG&E Construction agreement
- Premier Power Professionals based in Racine, WI signed an assent to the OSL Construction Agreement.
- Corrpro signed a one-time PLA for the PG&E Solar Project in Five Points.
We also have made contact with the following contractors:
- Tri-City Fencing Company
- Tice Electric
- ALB, Inc
- Alco Iron & Metal Company
- MK Pipelines
- McKuin Pipelines
- Petra Solar
- Transformer Life Cycle Services
- 3 Phase Line Construction
Injured Worker Fund
The balance as of April 30, 2011 was $277,184.72.
Apprentice Report
We currently have 235 Outside Line apprentices registered in our JATC program:
- 25 traveling apprentices working in our jurisdiction.
- 60 apprentices are working out of Local 1245
- 190 are working out of Local 47
- 1 is working out of Local 396
- 9 are off of work (2 are on disability, 1 is on leave of absence and the others are off due to disciplinary reasons or for personal time off)
We have graduated 24 apprentices this year to journeyman lineman. We have indentured 23 Outside Line apprentices this year.
We have 21 traffic signal maintenance apprentices registered.
- 6 are working for Republic Electric in 1245’s jurisdiction.
- 14 are working for Republic Electric in 47’s jurisdiction.
- 1 is unemployed.
Book Status as of May 30, 2011:
| Linemen I | 29 |
| Linemen—II | 33 |
| Linemen—III | 2 |
| Linemen -IV | 190 |
| Equipment Man—I | 6 |
| Equipment Man—II | 9 |
| Equipment Man-III | 12 |
| Cable Splicer-I | 1 |
| Cable Splicer-II | 7 |
| Cable Splicer-III | 2 |
| Groundman—I | 6 |
| Groundman—II | 7 |
| Groundman-III | 171 |
| Groundman—IV | 280 |
| Fabricator tech-I | 0 |
| Fabricator Tech-II | 10 |
YEAR TO DATE REFERRALS:
| Lineman | 381 |
| Apprentice Lineman | 101 |
| Equipment Man | 76 |
| Groundman | 190 |
| Fabricator Tech | 93 |
| Cable Splicer | 10 |
Information for this report was supplied by Ralph Armstrong, Liz McInnis, and Ron Cochran.