WORK PICTURE
California
Work is steady and slowly increasing in California. We currently have crews working all over the State.
Abercrombie Pipeline was awarded the Oroville Dam project. They are expecting to have a total of 50 to 60 members work six ten-hour days and more, staring mid-July.
The Trailer Park project is still in the trial phase, but we are expecting our contractors to be awarded the first phase from PG&E this summer.
Balfour Beatty will be starting their rail project sometime this summer. The project will start in San Francisco to San Jose. We are expecting 40 to 50 members to be working at the peak on this job.
Much of the distribution work has moved to the San Jose/South San Francisco area. The Contractors are doing what they must to keep the hands in this area.
PAR’s tower painting is still going strong. They are running around 50 members out of Orinda.
We received a call this week from a member who reported that he has not received his Sub for 2 ½ months and only called the Hall after he quit. Please don’t wait to call the Hall if you believe there is a contract or safety issue. It is always better to handle it when it is first realized.
Nevada
Work continues to look good in Nevada, with more jobs being awarded all the time. Newman Electric has been awarded their first job in our territory. They have a 4/25kv cutover in Sparks, NV that will last between five and six weeks.
PAR has started two doc crews, one in North Lake Tahoe and one in South Lake Tahoe. These crews will most likely work through the entire summer until the snow flies again.
Wasatch still has doc crews and linemen in Reno, Winnemucca, Yerington, Elko and Carson City. Wasatch has also picked up a couple of substations in the Reno area that will start this summer.
Titan Electric is staying busy with small grey wire replacement projects.
We still haven’t been able to appeal to NVE to change the way they put their work out to bid. Currently, the pole holes and pole removals are done in the line work bid and not the civil bid, which is allowing some of our work to be done by non-union contractors.
OUTSIDE LINE AGREEMENT
On April 24, the Outside Line Negotiating Committees for Locals 1245 and 47 reached a tentative agreement with the Western Line Chapter of NECA. Details of the Agreement were sent out to vote, and the agreement was ratified on May 26 by a combined 93% of all members who voted in both locals.
The total package is worth 15.7% or $11.15 over five years, with increases in the NEAP contribution of 51% and respectable wage increases over the term of this agreement. (For a detailed breakdown of the wage package, visit //ibew1245.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/NECA-TA.pdf ). The new wages increases and took effect on June 1.
Health Care (Lineco) costs have been on the rise, and steps were taken in this agreement to address those increases without any impact on the members.
State mandated sick leave is not practical with numerous tracking problems for multi-employer industries like the work covered under this agreement. It does have a value and the committees recognized that. In exchange for the sick leave language that is covered in the Table Settlement, the negotiating committee bargained the additional monies for the HRA accounts which benefit all the members working under this agreement. This will double the amount currently being applied to those cards from $.50 an hour to $1.00 an hour by 2019. Benny cards have been popular and can be used for various medical expenses covered under the IRS guidelines as well as to pay deductibles, Cobra expenses, and retiree medical (all of which are tax-free).
POLE TEST and TREAT NEGOTIATIONS
Opening letters were sent out to our contractors who perform Pole Test and Treat work to start bargaining on that agreement, which covers about 150 members. We will be picking a date in the near future as well as members to participate in the process. The current five-year agreement expires December 31, 2017.
SUPPORT AGREEMENTS
All the support agreements have been extended for five years, with a 3% wage increase each year of the agreement. Support agreements include fencing contractors, substation dismantling and contractors who assist PG&E crews.
GRIEVANCES
Currently we have one grievance involving two employees who were wrongfully terminated. This grievance has progressed to the 3rd step, and we feel confident that we can get this resolved in this step as we continue our discussion with the employer.
JATC
We currently have 319 outside line apprentices registered in our JATC program:
- 82 Apprentices are working out of Local 1245
- 210 are working out of Local 47
- 1 is working out of 396
- 11 are unemployed (26 are technically unemployed, but 15 can’t work)
- 35 apprentices have graduated to journeyman lineman
- 21 have been indentured to outside line apprentices
EVENTS CALENDAR
- First Aid & CPR is the second Saturday of every month in Riverside and Sacramento.
- October 14- International Lineman’s Rodeo in Bonner Springs, KS.
ORGANIZING
The following contractors were organized in May and June:
California Outside Line Agreement
- Anvil Power, Inc.
- Surefire Underground Consulting, Inc.
- Newman Construction II
Underground Construction Company is now doing business under Underground Electric Company, LLC.
INJURED WORKERS FUND
The balance of the fund as of May 31, 2017 was $1,092,389.06. There were no disability or death benefit claims paid in the month of May.
Since the balance of the fund continues to climb each month, the Trustees of the plan have asked outside Counsel to research ideas on how to expand the benefits to OSL members who qualify for the Injured Workers Fund (IWF).
The Injured Workers Fund was set-up for on-the-job injuries. If you were recently injured on the job that has left you unable to work for 10 or more days, you may be eligible. To request a claim form, please ask one of your Outside Line Business Representatives or email Liz McInnis at EJMH@ibew1245.com.
DISPATCH
Please call the Hotline after hours for daily counts related to actual numbers on the Books.
All 1245 OSL members are encouraged to sign up and register your own personal account through the Local 1245 website. Once registered, you will be able to check your books status, make changes to personal information, pay union dues and even check on available jobs without having to call the dispatch office for this information. This is a very useful tool for our OSL members.
| 2017 Year-to Date Call Counts | MONTHLY TOTALS | |||||||
| APPR | CABLE SPLICER | LINE EQ MAN | FAB TECH | GRDMN | JRY LMN | SUB TECH | ||
| JANUARY | 4 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 22 | 51 | 3 | 95 |
| FEBRUARY | 19 | 2 | 17 | 7 | 34 | 55 | 5 | 139 |
| MARCH | 39 | 3 | 36 | 19 | 61 | 104 | 15 | 277 |
| APRIL | 16 | 2 | 27 | 12 | 99 | 92 | 5 | 253 |
| MAY | 17 | 1 | 41 | 9 | 63 | 109 | 7 | 247 |
| *JUNE | 14 | 1 | 23 | 13 | 62 | 83 | 17 | 213 |
| Total by Classifications | 109 | 10 | 157 | 61 | 341 | 494 | 52 | 1224 |
*As of 6/21/2017