By Ron Cochran
The work picture continues to be great. We are forecasting a near-record year in man-hours in 2014; the man-hours increased in 2013 by 11% over 2012. The work has cycled and there will be more work in the Central Valley and Central Coast than years past. We are scheduling Outside Line meetings in Fresno this year to meet the needs of the members.
There are still challenges: the customers (utilities) continue to want more production with no outages or accidents for less money. We continue to try new things to raise awareness on safety.
Grievances
Paychecks continue to be an issue when someone is let go or quits. We had two grievances over a contractor’s failure to pay on time for lay-offs. At first the contractor was willing to fight the grievances due to circumstances they felt were justified. However, during the process they realized their error and have agreed to pay the required penalties, which equated to a total of 13 days: seven days for one member and six for the other.
These seem like weekly issues that continue to consume a lot of our time to resolve. It would be very helpful if all members and contractors educated themselves on the language in the agreement regarding paydays and penalties as well as the proper procedure for letting an employee go, so we could eliminate most of these issues.
The wrongful termination case with Osmose may be heading towards arbitration.
Transmission Work
The amount of transmission work not only in our jurisdiction but across the country is picking up and along with that comes increased questions pertaining to portability or the ability of a contractor to bring in workers who were dispatched to them from another Local Union. Local 1245 is following the International Office’s National Transmission Portability agreement. There are many scenarios outlined in that agreement pertaining to the size of the project, number of workers on the job etc. We review every project prior to the start and outline the requirements per job. Workers brought in under the transmission portability agreement must stay on transmission projects and not use it to circumvent the pattern portability language in the CBA for other types of work. We will post this agreement on our website under Outside Line Construction so members can look it over.
Injured Workers Fund Reporting
When a worker takes a referral from Local 1245 they are agreeing to have $.05 an hour deducted from their pay to be put in an injured workers fund account to help workers who have been injured on the job or workers’ families who have died on the job.
This is a trust account with some strict and clear guidelines of what must be done to qualify for these funds. All too often we are finding out that when a person is injured on the job that their employer did not deduct those funds from their checks, therefore making them ineligible for the fund when they need it most. These deductions should show up as a line item deduction on your check that you should be verifying they are being deducted.
The guidelines are clear and audited every year as a trust account so there is no wiggle room if they are not met. Please verify the deductions on your check to ensure these funds are available to you and your family if needed.
Organizing
We recently signed a new contractor that performs directional boring named Veteran Power. Veteran Power comes from a split with Accu-Bore and will deal mainly with electrical work. On Jan. 22 we signed up 31 new members and an additional nine new members on Jan. 24 for a total of 40 new members for Local 1245. We also held a new member orientation meeting during the time of sign up.
We also signed Loy Clark Pipeline to the Outside Line Construction agreement.
Jobsite Thefts
We have seen an increase in break-ins at some of our contractors’ show-ups. Per the agreement the contractor needs to provide a place for safeguarding of tools; however, it is the member’s responsibility to utilize those safeguards.
Also, there is a tool list in the agreement which outlines which tools an individual based on classification is required to bring to work. The employer should provide all other tools. The point of this is, if a break-in occurs only the required listed tools are covered by the agreement and you may stand a chance of only being reimbursed for those listed in the agreement. Everyone should take steps to make sure all personal belongings are either secured in the provided area or take them with you when you leave.
Richard Ingle
Richard Ingle returned to the Outside Line group the second week in December and resumed the work he was doing as a Field Rep with his primary duties of performing job site visits and being a presence in the field and handling most of the issues that may come up while performing this important work.
Mike Cottrell
Mike Cottrell, Outside Line Executive Board member and a Wellington Energy employee, has been asked by the union to take time off from Wellington to help explain our “No Short Cut” policy on covering and work procedures. This was endorsed by the IBEW 9th District under the “Code of Excellence” clause. All members will be required to talk in person with Mike before receiving a work referral from Local 1245.
Mike is set up in the small office next to Dispatch and greets the members as they enter and exit dispatch. This training and ground rules discussion will become mandatory on Feb. 1 to be dispatched from Local 1245’s Outside Line Dispatch and Hiring Hall.
Safety is first, no more short cuts, is the core message. Local 1245 members willfully breaking work procedures and safety rules will be referred to the exam committee; travelers will be invited to leave the local. Proper cover and grounding techniques are the key points made by Mike. This is no joke, even though the Outside Line safety record is better than the than utility customers’ record, we still need to improve to survive.
2014 Training Schedule and Special Events
- First Aid & CPR is the 2nd Saturday of every month at our Riverside and Sacramento facility.
- California-Nevada JATC is offering a crane recertification test on Feb. 28 at their Riverside office to begin at 7:00 a.m. Deadline to register is Feb. 12.
- IBEW NorCal Clay Shoot is on April 5 in two locations, Dunnigan and Hilmar.
- IBEW Soccer Tournaments: April 12 in Merced and April 26 in Fairfield.
- 2nd annual Howard Stiefer Motorcycle Poker Run: May 17 starting in Vacaville. Flyers and tickets will be available soon.
Ron Cochran is Senior Assistant Business Manager