Brother Scott Hudelson has been hired on temporarily to assist Outside Line in the field. He is on the road and is performing crew visits and establishing shop stewards.
Construction activity for our signatory contractors has and continues to increase. There have been increases in the number of distribution crews with a couple of transmission and substation projects just starting up with minimal manpower increases right now but will increase significantly over the next couple of months. We have had a couple of open calls this month and have routinely dispatched midway through Book 2. Our dispatch office has been full of travelers coming in to sign the out of work books since word has gotten out about the work picture.
Work has also started on the SWIP project in eastern Nevada with approximately 50 workers employed by Sturgeon on the line construction side working outside of Ely. All of these workers are being dispatched out of Local 396, Las Vegas NV. A Book 1 member of Local 1245 is considered Book 1 for this project only out of 396. Wilson is also starting the work on the 30-Mile substation which is located approximately 15 miles west of Ely. This substation project will be dispatched out of Local 1245. The biggest concern on both of these projects is and will be finding places to stay. Hotels and places to hook up a travel trailer are limited.
We have added temporary help in the dispatch office to handle the increase in traffic and dispatches and continue to remind everyone that if they need to contact the dispatch office for any reason to please do so outside of the normal dispatch hours of 9 am to noon. The downside to the increase in work is the increase in workers who are new to the area and the system and when we increase the number of crews in the jurisdiction at a rapid pace we tend to see an increase in issues. Some of these are crew continuity to travelers learning the specifications here. This learning curve will take a little time but we will get through it. Safety continues to be a top concern as well and it is up to everyone to look out for each other and make sure no one gets hurt.
AMI projects are still going on both PGE and SMUD properties. Some issues but nothing that doesn’t get worked out early on.
Dispatch
YEAR TO DATE REFERRALS:
| Lineman | 810 |
| Apprentice Lineman | 115 |
| Equipment Man | 176 |
| Groundman | 400 |
| Fabricator Tech | 153 |
| Cable Splicer | 23 |
|
Total |
1677 |
PG&E Solar Project
The solar projects in the Fresno area continue to progress and are on time to be completed sometime in October. There are three different sites; two are run by Cupertino Electric and the third is run by Milender White Construction Co. As of July we have put more than 250 members to work on those projects alone.
PG&E has started accepting bids for the next year.
Work Jurisdiction
This continues to be an issue almost everyday with the other trades constantly challenging our contractors over work and projects. This is something we must deal with and continue to fight for to secure this work for our members.
Organizing
Organizing in Outside Line continues to accelerate at an amazing pace. The Construction department meets or talks with new contractors daily who hope to capture some of this work.
We signed the following contractors in the months of June and July and organized dozens of new members:
- Tri-City Fencing Company, based in Vallejo
- Chain Link Fence & Supply, based in Livermore
- MK Pipelines, based in San Francisco
- McKuin Pipelines, based in Hollister
- 3 Phase Line Construction, based in New Hampshire
- Splicing, Testing & Terminating, based in San Jose
- Porter & Sons, based in Grass Valley
- Curtis and Sons Construction, based in Minden, NV
- Community Builders, based in Martinez
- Dave Christian Const. Co., based in Fresno
- B ZAP B, based in Modesto
- Daniel A. Giddings, Jr, based in Dobbins, CA
JATC
The annual apprentice family picnic was held on July 16, in Ontario, CA. Mark Rolow attended as the Local 1245 representative. A good time was had by all!
Apprentice applications opened on April 1 and closed on May 31. The JATC has begun the process of interviewing all eligible applicants with the first round of interviews performed in June with a second round of interviews scheduled on July 26 and 27.
Since June there have been two new climbing classes that have put 34 new apprentices in the field throughout the three locals that the JATC covers.
We currently have 234 outside line apprentices registered in our JATC program and 32 traveling apprentices working in our jurisdiction.
- 73 apprentices are working out of Local 1245
- 172 are working out of Local 47
- 5 are working out of Local 396
- 16 are off of work (5 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 33 apprentices this year to journeyman lineman.
- We have indentured 32 outside line apprentices this year.
We have 12 traffic signal maintenance apprentices registered.
- 3 are working for Republic Electric in 1245’s jurisdiction.
- 8 are working for Republic Electric in 47’s jurisdiction.
- 1 is unemployed.
- 10 traffic signal apprentices have graduated this year.
We currently have an outside line orientation/climbing class in progress with 24 individuals attending.
Grievances
We have had several oral grievances and a few written grievances in the last month over wrongful terminations. With the increase in work the primary issues involve pay. These become weekly issues; however they all get worked out as soon as we are aware of them.
One major grievance involving missed meals has been resolved resulting in pay out of over $70,000 to several employees.
2011 Training Schedule
- OSHA 10 ET&D will be held 4-times at the union hall from 6pm-10pm on Fridays and 8am-4:30pm on Saturdays. October 7/8 will be the final training class for 2011.
- Shop Steward Grievance Training – 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 facility.
Upcoming Events
- International Rodeo October 15, 2011. Apprentice Linemen will be selected through a blind draw from all IBEW employer work groups.
- 1st Annual Clay Shoot — November 12, Dunnigan, CA.
Injured Worker Fund
The balance as of June 30, 2011 was $305,757.13
This fund is rather expensive to maintain; however, due to several grievance settlements we have been able to keep this fund sound at this time. Grievances that were resolved added approximately $234,892 to the balance.
Ron Cochran, Senior Assistant Business Manager