Outside work remains steady

By Ron Cochran

Outside Line construction work remains steady with all aspect of our work being performed at some level. Indications are that total contract crews for wood pole replacement are close to the maximum numbers projected for the year with work steady for these crews. Transmission pole replacement and substation work which includes the civil work in the subs have also been somewhat steady given the recent wet weather. There will be some more work in the wind farms in Solano County towards the summer.

The current solar projects are nearly complete. We know that Cupertino Electric was awarded another 20 MW solar project and they plan to start mid-July.

Wellington recently laid off 30 exchangers / techs and 13 journeymen.

On March 26, we held an orientation for the new members at Deerpath Corp. They are installing Smart Meters for NV Energy. We had 46 members in attendance as well as few kids and spouses. The meeting was productive and very interactive.

Organizing

We signed the following contractors in the month of March:
California Outside Line Construction Agreement

• America Site Builders, LLC — Texas
• Shimmick Construction — Oakland, CA
• Atlas Civil dba MGE Energy — Paso Robles, CA
• Roadway Engineering — Ceres, CA

San Francisco Chapter of NECA Trolley Agreement:

• Shimmick Construction

Substation, Communication, Relay Test Technician (Specialist) Agreement:

• KVA Electric

Bargaining

Negotiations with Asplundh Tree, Trees Inc., Utility Tree, and Wright Tree Service are in mediation.

Contractors in current negotiations are Windy Tree, Eppler & Eppler, Henkels & McCoy, Western Line NECA, and McDaniel Technical Service

Opening letters for negotiations have been sent to:

Grievances

We have two grievances scheduled for Labor Management on April 5, 2012. One is over missed meal period and the other is over violation of our referral system.

We just initiated another 3 grievances at a power plant. 2 of these grievances pertain to work jurisdiction issues and one pertaining to a contractor for failure to report hours.

We resolved a wrongful termination grievance by having the employee reinstated and made whole on his pay. This grievance was resolved in the second step.

2011/2012 Training Schedule

Crane Training will not be scheduled this year.

OHSA ETD Classes will be offered by the JATC on a Friday-Saturday class schedule.  The first was March 9-10. More dates will be added at a later time.

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

Special Events

 

• Soccer Tournament -May 12, 2012, Mistlin Sports Park, Ripon, CA
• Clay Shoot — June 12, 2012, Dunnigan, CA
• International Lineman’s Rodeo — October 10-14, 2012, Overland Park, KS
• The 16th Annual IBEW 9th District Softball Tournament will be hosted by Local 595/Dublin at Big League Dreams Park in Manteca, CA. It will be held August 11-12. We should be scouting for teams now.

Injured Workers Fund

The balance as of March 29, 2012 was $393, 454.92. We paid out no claims in the month of March 2012.

Dispatch

 

	March 2012	Year to Date
Lineman	76	299
Apprentice Lineman	9	71
Equipment Man	5	39
Groundman	23	175
Fabricator Tech	8	48
Cable Splicer	3	8
Total	124	640

Ron Cochran is Senior Assistant Business Manager, IBEW Local 1245