WORK SLOWS, BUT SOLAR STILL SHINES

By Ron Cochran

Construction work has slowed considerably. Most contractors who were still on large projects shut down the last couple of weeks in December and are expected start back up in the first couple of weeks in January. There has still been a lot of work going, including dispatch activity associated with the solar projects. Work continues on the Robinson Summit Substation, which is located in eastern Nevada and is part of the SWIP project.  The line portion of that project has moved out of Local 1245’s jurisdiction due to environmental issues this time of the year.  They are also experiencing problems with the towers.

Three new solar projects near Fresno County have started which will employ some wireman as well as operators and groundmen. The companies performing the work on those three sites are Cupertino and Q-Cells, with several sub-contractors such as Preferred Power Solutions, Tri-Technics, MJ Avila, Machado and Sons, and Contra Costa Electric. Several other subcontractors are expected. We have nearly 400 members working on the three solar project sites.

Outside Line stewards at the Dec. 10 stewards training at Weakley Hall in Vacaville.

The work outlook for construction continues to look promising going into the new year, not only in California but throughout the industry.

AMI work performed by UPA in Sacramento for SMUD is completed.  We have picked up another AMI project. This work will be on NV Energy property in Reno and Carson City. The contractor performing this work is DeerPath Corporation.  DeerPath won the sub-contracting bid/award to replace the electric meters and gas metering element (no gas flow interruption) on NV Energy properties.  They will add 40-60 meter technician positions and 5-10 journeymen positions for the duration of this project.  This project covers most all of Northern Nevada. Ron Cochran recently signed them to an agreement for this work.

Our standing request is to ask people coming in to sign the books or to conduct other business through the dispatch office ( including general information calls ) to do so between the hours of 7-9 AM or 1-4 PM since our scheduled dispatch hours are from 9 AM-noon.  This will allow the dispatchers to get through the days calls in the time allotted for that work. We have brought in additional temporary help again to assist in the increased traffic to the dispatch office.

Organizing

We signed the following contractors in the month of October and organized dozens of new members:

• Utility Inspection Unlimited, based in Missouri, signed the Gas Inspector agreement
• Byington Welding, based in Bakersfield, signed the Construction agreement
• Universal Coring, based in Clayton, CA, signed the Construction agreement
• Source Power of California LP, based in Georgia, signed the Construction agreement

JATC

We currently have 309 outside line apprentices registered in our JATC program.

• 15 traveling apprentices working in our jurisdiction
• 73 apprentices are working out of Local 1245
• 174 are working out of Local 47
• 35 are working out of Local 396
• 42 are off of work (one is on disability, four are on leave of absence)

Fifty apprentices have graduated this year to journeyman lineman, and 135 outside line apprentices have been indentured this year.
We have four traffic signal maintenance apprentices registered. One is working for Republic Electric in Local 1245’s jurisdiction, and three are working for Republic Electric in Local 47’s jurisdiction. Seventeen traffic signal apprentices this have graduated in the past year.

Grievances

We have a couple of residual issues dealing with pay issues and penalty payments–UPA payments dealing with prevailing wage issues and the way some employees received their final pay at the time they were laid off

We are in the very early stages of a wrongful termination grievance with a pole test contractor who terminated an employee who was out here from Indiana temporarily.  The employee took the company vehicle back to Indiana for the holidays which he claims he had permission to do and has done so in the past with the company denying this claim.  This grievance is in the investigatory stages.

We are very close to finalizing a settlement agreement for a grievance that involved a contractor using the Northern California Underground Agreement for work that they performed that required the OSL agreement.  Review of payrolls indicated that there is a difference of a little more than $20,000 for wages and benefits.  The contractor has agreed to rectify this issue and correct the difference.  This should be completed and finalized in the first part of January .

Labor-Management dates are being set for a grievance filed with Republic ITS pertaining to an employee’s lack of insurance coverage.  Employee was injured off the job and did not have medical insurance.

2012 Training Schedule

First Aid & CPR is the 2nd Saturday of every month at our Riverside and Sacramento facility.

The JATC is exploring dates for our crane training.

Other News

We have a committee formed for the next soccer tournament.  We should have a date and location soon.

The 16th Annual 9th District Softball Tournament will be hosted by Local 595/Dublin at Big League Dreams Park in Manteca, CA.  It will be held Aug. 11-12, 2012. Please consider participating in this fun event.

The balance in the Injured Workers Fund as of Nov. 30, 2011 was $362,363.97.  We paid out no claims in the month of December.

Dispatch

Out of Work Books as of December 31, 2011

Ron Cochran is Senior Assistant Business Manager, IBEW Local 1245