Outside Line Report: July, 2013

By Ron Cochran

There is work from every corner of Local 1245’s jurisdiction at this time. We are performing deteriorated pole and cross arm replacement projects, Rule 20, and underground cable replacement in nearly every county in Northern California. Re-conductor projects as far north as Arcata, CA and transmission line construction projects as far east as Ely, NV. There’s plenty of work in Fresno, Bakersfield and all over the central coast. It’s good to be an Outside Line member this summer.

GRIEVANCES

• We have a large missed meal grievance in the second step in northern Nevada. We met with the contractor on July 25, and the contractor agreed to settle the grievance and make the members whole.
• The wrongful termination case with Osmose may be heading towards arbitration.

ORGANIZING

The following contractors were recently organized:

• 4 Rivers Surveying Inc — Gas Inspector agreement
• MGH Enterprises — California Outside Line Construction agreement

BARGAINING

The tentative agreement reached between Siemens ITS and Locals 47 and 1245 on June 19, was ratified overwhelmingly by both memberships as follows:

Local 1245: 23-Yes; 1-No
Local 47: 17 Yes; 3-No

The major changes are:

• 5-year agreement effective July 1, 2013 — June 30, 2018
• Wage increases effective:
  July 1, 2013 2.5%
  July 1, 2014 2.5%
  July 1, 2015 3.0%
  July 1, 2016 2.0% – 3.0% (Based on CPI)
  July 1, 2017 2.0% – 3.0% (Based on CPI)
• Medical change-over to Lineco effective Jan. 1, 2014

2013 TRAINING SCHEDULE & SPECIAL EVENTS

• First Aid & CPR is the 2nd Saturday of every month at our Riverside and Sacramento facility.
• OSHA 10 ET&D class scheduled at the Riverside Training Facility for Thursday, July 25 and Friday, July 26. There are still spots open in the class. Call the JATC office to sign up.
• IBEW Golf Tournament , October 12, Vacaville
• International Lineman Rodeo, October 17-19.

APPRENTICE REPORT

We currently have 335 Outside Line apprentices registered in our JATC program.

• 92 apprentices are working out of Local 1245
• 154 are working out of Local 47
• 33 – working out of Local 396
• 56 are off of work (20 are not eligible to work)
• We have graduated 19 apprentices to journeyman lineman.
• We have indentured 44 outside line apprentices this year.

We have 1 traffic signal maintenance apprentice registered and he is working for Siemens in 1245’s jurisdiction. We have graduated a total of 18 traffic signal apprentices.

INJURED WORKERS FUND

The balance of the fund as of June 30, 2013 was $560,389.58. There no claims paid out in the month of June or July.

Dispatch

	July 2013	Year to Date
Lineman	125	1052
Apprentice Lineman	25	171
Equipment Man	14	184
Groundman	71	640
Substation Tech	1	26
Fabricator Tech	7	111
Cable Splicer	4	70
Total	247	2254

Ron Cochran is Senior Assistant Business Manager, IBEW 1245.