Business managers from seven IBEW locals met via teleconference on June 9 to share information and strategy on dealing with Berkshire Hathaway, the company headed by Warren Buffett.
One of the utilities owned by Buffett’s company is NV Energy, where employees are represented by IBEW 1245 in the northern part of Nevada and by IBEW 396 in the south. Five other IBEW locals at various Berkshire Hathaway utilities joined with the two Nevada locals last year to form the Utility Coordinating Council (UCC). The goal: create a united front in dealing with Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
IBEW 1245 Business Manager Tom Dalzell, who serves as secretary-treasurer of the UCC, hosted the call. Almost 200 stewards from the seven unions were also on the line.
“We’re trying to show Berkshire Hathaway there is a better way to do things than just trying to run over us,” Dalzell said, referring to Buffett’s past reputation as being hard on unions. Dalzell recapped how the IBEW business managers, along with CEOs from their respective utilities, recently visited Alabama Power to look at its successful approach to labor-management relations.
Brent Donohue, business manager of IBEW 57 in Salt Lake City and president of the UCC, reported that he hopes to extend his local’s current agreements with Berkshire Hathaway utilities to 2020, noting that “Extension gives us some stability.”
Business Representative Pat Waite reported on recent developments at NV Energy. He noted that the utility’s CEO, Paul Caudill, had attended the May 30 Lineman’s Rodeo in Reno and made an effort to “mingle with the troops.” Waite said relations with mid-level managers had improved since Berkshire Hathaway took over NV Energy and that grievances over work rules were getting settled more quickly than under the old regime.
Waite noted that IBEW 1245 had maintained a hiring hall for temporary work at NV Energy and that the new management had made all hiring hall workers permanent employees, a move welcomed by the union. In another positive development, the company now allows the union to attend employee orientation sessions and talk to new employees about the benefits of having a union.
Jesse Newman, business manager of IBEW 396 in southern Nevada, said his local had another year-and-a-half on its contract with NV Energy and hoped to extend it by an additional three years. He noted that Caudill was one of the executives participating in the trip to Alabama Power, and had recently agreed to have Alabama Power representatives—both management and stewards—visit NV Energy.
But the reports were not all sweetness and light. Several business managers reported on staffing issues, including workforce reductions and “unsustainable” levels of overtime at their utilities.
One of the utilities with staffing shortages is Pacific Power, reported Travis Eri, the business manager of IBEW 125 in Portland, OR. On the plus side, he said, the utility has been supportive of the local’s new safety steward program. Eri, who is vice president of the UCC, thanked the nearly 200 shop stewards who sat in on the call, saying “We appreciate your support and we appreciate your involvement.”
Dalzell said he believed the joint effort by the IBEW locals was achieving results. “We have moved the needle in convincing Berkshire Hathaway there’s a better way to do things,” he said.
The unions in the Council are Locals 57, 109, 125 , 396, 499, 659, and 1245.