Earlier this year, PG&E had asked the PUC to approve $130 million to pay its annual STIP (short-term incentive plan) compensation to salaried employees (other than officers). On Friday, Feb. 22, PG&E announced that it has cancelled the 2018 STIP payments due to bankruptcy.
The annual STIP payment is not a bonus, despite how it has been characterized in the media and in bankruptcy court. Rather, it is an at-risk compensation program that has been in place for many years.
Local 1245 has several dozen members who are part of the STIP program, and our sister union, IFPTE-ESC Local 20, has many more members who are eligible for STIP payments and who will not be paid. The company decision to cancel the STIP for 2018 represents a hardship for these members, as they are not receiving pay that they expected. We will work with the company to explore ways to avoid this outcome in the future.
Fundamentally, we believe that employees should be paid what they have been assured they will be paid, despite the bankruptcy. We sympathize with the IBEW and ESC members who will not receive their at-risk STIP pay, as well as the thousands of company employees without union representation who are losing more than a hundred million dollars in at-risk pay.
–Tom Dalzell, IBEW 1245 Business Manager