Payroll grievances, new contractors and other news

Outside Construction Report

By Ron Cochran

We signed Olsen Excavation and Grading to the California Outside Line agreement in the month of September: We are in talks with a few more contractors.

Last month saw another large number of grievances all in various stages at the current time but most were resolved quickly and a good portion of them dealt with payroll issues.  Of the ones that were resolved quickly we had two that involved contractors not reporting the employee’s fringe benefits in the correct way.  Both of these contractors have been reporting on payroll cycles and not to the months end.  Why this is such an issue: in both cases we had members who did not receive the correct amount of hours for the month and were denied insurance coverage based on the hours reported by the contractor.

Other grievances to note:

• Two wrongful termination grievances by two separate contractors which resulted in both employees receiving some restitution. These both have been closed and were resolved in the second steps.
• The first week in October we will be traveling to Reno to deal with multiple issues and discuss 3 grievances for wrongful termination. All 3 of these grievances center on employees verbal altercations and allegation of threats to harm another.
• Labor Management is scheduled for Oct. 23 with OSMOSE, one of our pole test and treat contractors. This is a wrongful termination grievance which is based on an employee (Foreman) being terminated for not meeting a company imposed quota. This employee along with 5 other foremen were issued written warnings about these production goals with the threat to terminate if they were not met.
• A communication tower contractor failed to pay 4 workers the proper negotiated wage rates for work performed on a project in our jurisdiction. Some of the wages were a third of the proper wage rate. The contractor rectified the pay issue and paid the difference to all the affected employees to remedy the grievance.

Helicopter Long Lining Training

As part of the original agreement to develop a long lining program and training document both IBEW and NECA have agreed to meet in order to put together some joint mandatory training criteria for all contractors who choose to perform this work. This was also agreed upon during the last contract negotiations. Most contractors have been contracting out the current training they do for their employees and usually with different vendors which have different hour requirements. The goal of this committee will be to identify and standardize the minimum type of training everyone should have to perform this work.

“A” Member On-Line Service

On Sept. 24 the union went live with new software that allows “A” members to see where they are on the out of work books, make dues payments on-line, check hour history, as well as view their personal information.  A link to this new service can be found on the Local 1245 home page at www.ibew1245.com. Just click the link and follow the directions for getting yourself set up in the system.

Also all “Travelers” signed in on the “Out of Work Books” will be able to check their position or registration number on the books.

Both links will be usable via a Laptops, Smartphones and other devices. We are getting mobile!

Bargaining

Republic ITS has contacted us and Local 47 about opening the negotiations early.  The contract is set to expire on June 30, 2013.

Opening letters have gone out to all the Pole Test & Treat contractors. We are in the process of setting up meeting dates.   All contracts are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012.

Opening letters went out to all GoodCent Inc. companies; we are in the process of setting up meeting dates. There contracts are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012.

2011/2012 Training Schedule

OHSA ETD Classes: Members can sign up in our dispatch office for any up-coming classes offered through the Cal-Nev JATC. Members will be contacted directly by the JATC regarding dates and location of future trainings. Future classes will be held at the Hedge Road facility.

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

Special Events

• International Lineman’s Rodeo – October 10-14, 2012, Overland Park, KS
• Golf Tournament – October 20, 2012, Vacaville, CA.

Dispatch

	As of Sept. 28, 2012	Year to Date
Lineman	243	1224
Apprentice Lineman	33	223
Equipment Man	29	178
Groundman	113	595
Fabricator Tech	19	212
Cable Splicer	5	43
Total	442	2475

 

Apprentices

We currently have 291 outside line apprentices registered in our JATC program and  4 traveling apprentice working in our jurisdiction.

• 101 are working out of local 1245
• 164 are working out of 47
• 8  working out of 396
• 22 are off of work (2 are on disability – 11 are on leave of absence – 3 are suspended)
• 35 apprentices have graduated this year to journeyman lineman.
• 26 outside line apprentices have been indentured this year

We have 3 traffic signal maintenance apprentices registered.

• 1 is working for Republic Electric in 1245’s jurisdiction.
• 2 are working for Republic Electric in 47’s jurisdiction.
• 17 traffic signal apprentices have graduated this year.

Injured Workers Fund

We had no claims submitted in the month of September.

Ron Cochran is Senior Assistant Business Manager, IBEW Local 1245