The 2014-15 FR Clothing allowance Letter agreement has been signed with the new allowances set to start for electric on August 15, 2014 and the rest of the company on September 15, 2014. Everyone is encouraged to use all unused allowances by August 1, 2014. Details on the agreement are:
In accordance with the provisions of Letter Agreement 08-23, Fire Retardant clothing, the Company proposes the following provisions at the recommendation of the Working Committee for 2014 and 2015-
- Allowance for 2014 and 2015 will be $500 for full-time users and $250 for part-time users.
- Employees will not be able to roll over any allotment from previous years.
- The intent of this agreement is to ensure employees are provided with funds to purchase all required FR Clothing. To that end, the IBEW and Company agree to set up a two-person committee (currently, Ralph Armstrong and Jim McAdams) to address FR Clothing concerns. If an employee’s allotment is such that they do not have enough funds to purchase the FR Clothing that they need to work safely or an employee otherwise has an issue with obtaining adequate FR Clothing, the employee would need to speak to his/her supervisor. If the supervisor is unable to resolve the issue, the employee should e-mail Ralph Armstrong RMA1@IBEW1245.com and Jim McAdams J4M2@pge.com.
- The parties also reaffirm the employees’ ability to replace damaged clothing in accordance with LA 08-23 “Clothing damaged on the job will be replaced or repaired and will not be charged to the employee’s allowance”; as well as the supervisor’s ability to provide additional clothing, “Supervisors will have the discretion to provide additional clothing, based on working conditions, to employees that do not count toward the employee’s allowance.”
- To relieve some of the stress on the manufacturer, the parties agree to provide the clothing allotments in two separate allotment cycles for 2014.
- Electric Operations employees will receive the 2014 allotments on August 15.
- All other lines of business employees will receive the 2014 allotments on September 15.
- The Working Committee will review other allotment options for 2015 to address the issue around the timing of orders.
- The parties agree that during the next general negotiations and Physical Agreement update, the Fire Retardant clothing provisions will be added to the Physical Agreement under Title 105.