IBEW Local 1245 News

Posted: January 29, 2008

OUTSIDE LINE CONSTRUCTION REPORT

By Ron Cochran

In 2007, we conceived thoughts of having an Injured Worker Fund (IWF) that members could design, fund, and ultimately control. We voted to go forward with the IWF and through a lot of hard work, the trust fund is now in place and is being funded by Outside Line members. Each member contributes 5 cents for each hour they work. We started funding the plan in October. There is a 30-45 day lag in reporting. As of Dec. 31, 2007, we had a balance of $3,475.89. The IWF will be fully funded by June 30, 2008. We all hope we will not need it, but we now have the fund to help the members or the member’s family if needed. One of the best things about the IWF is that the trustees can dispense payment as soon as the next day when needed to help the family with out-of-pocket-expenses. In most cases, it takes a long period of time to receive benefits from our Lineco Insurance and the International Office. This fund is not meant to replace those benefits. It is in fact meant to help with the immediate expenses. We are all very pleased with the outcome of everyone’s efforts in this cause.

Safety

Outside Line uses one safety manual agreed to by the IBEW and the contractors. This manual is commonly referred to as the Red Book. The Red Book is consistently being evaluated for improvements. We made some modifications to the Red Book in some areas during 2007. These include grounding updates and care of rubber goods and testing.

The safety committee is now addressing Fire Retardant (FR) clothing. The committee meets four times a year. This is open to all hands and contractors. We also meet more often in smaller groups referred to as Subcommittees. This is where the nuts and bolts of the work is done. We also hold weekly crew meetings. We were very luck in 2007 for a couple of reasons:

1. Our safety record continues to improve.

2. We were able to hire an expert in this area. Mr. Ralph Armstrong was hired to replace a retiring Outside Line Business Representative. Ralph started his career in Outside Construction in the early 1980’s and has worked coast to coast. Not only is Ralph an experienced Journeyman Lineman, he has spent the last several years working in the WAPA Safety Office in Northern California. Ralph breathes new life into our committee through his years of training and tireless effort he gives to our members.

Although we have our share of cuts and scrapes in Outside Line, as do all other branches, we have only one major accident to report. William Perry, a Cal-Nev JATC Lineman Apprentice, broke his ankle and required surgery. William was working on storm restoration in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the recent storms and slipped and fell in a rocky area.

The Outside Line Unit made a motion in 2007 to purchase an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for the Vacaville Union Office. Seventeen staff and Outside Line members voluntarily took a Saturday class in First Aid and CPR so that they would be prepared to use it. Our Executive Board approved the purchase. The Cal-Nev JATC provided the training free to the local union. Using the AED device improves the chances of saving a life from around 15% up to about 75%. We will have our new AED device in a central location for the office staff to get to in an emergency.

We hope our industry will realize the value of having the AED units on every line crew in the future. WAPA is very progressive and already has purchased and trained on the AED for their line crews. Utilities in Hawaii and other parts of the country have also seen the value of the equipment in saving lives. While working for WAPA, Mr. Armstrong and some other crewmembers were able to save an electrocution victim’s life in Northern California a few years back. Some of us feel this is the most important piece of equipment needed on every line crew working around energized circuits. Ironically, just about every shopping mall in North America already has AED units and personnel trained to use them. We are amazed that we are still so far from this equipment being standard issue for every crew.

Apprenticeship News

We currently have 327 Apprentice Linemen and 31 Traffic Signal Maintenance Apprentices. We held the first interview of 2008 on Jan. 17 and 18. There were seventy applicants interviewed for the Apprentice Lineman Program. All applicants are rated and placed on an eligibility list for positions. We will probably interview the third Wednesday and Thursday each month this year. The Cal-Nev JATC supplies apprentices to the Local 396, 47, and 1245 jurisdictions. There will be a large demand for apprentices by mid-year.

We will be interviewing Traffic Signal Maintenance Apprentice applicants in the next few months. We are expecting to grow by sixteen Traffic Apprentices this year.

We held a graduation dinner on Jan. 19 for the 2007 Lineman Apprentices that graduated. There were 47 graduates to Journeyman Lineman status in 2007. Not all graduates made it to the dinner. Ed Hill, the International President, was in attendance. Cal-Nev JATC, NECA, and the three participating locals organized this dinner jointly. It was a very nice event. We hope to make this an annual event if possible. After the dinner was over and the real party began, I was able to listen to many of the new Journeyman’s opinions. It brought back a lot of fond memories of my own youth. I wondered while I was talking to everyone, who would be our next union leaders. One young Journeyman was already a shop steward at a job site with eighty members. He was really wound up with the new responsibilities entrusted to him. I envy them all and wish them all good luck in their lives.

Organizing

We are always trying to organize new members and contractors. We have had some success in 2007. We have organized Pole Test and Treat contractors, Substation Testing contractors, a few Outside Line contractors and a service company that works on PG&E properties as heavy haulers and crane services.

Contract Negotiations

2007 was a huge year for contract negotiations in Outside Line Construction. We renegotiated five Pole Test & Treat contracts, one Demolition contract, one contract for the A-C Recycling Program, a new AMI contract, Northern California Underground Agreement, a new Relay contract and a new Hydro contract.

In 2008 we are already negotiating. We are currently renegotiating the Republic ITS contract. Republic is a traffic signal maintenance contractor. We have reached a tentative agreement for a five-year contract with a 21% general wage increase over the term of the contract. We were able to maintain health and welfare benefits and organize two new positions in the contract (callbox technician and warehouse worker).

We are currently negotiating contracts with Contra Costa and Zeco Electric for A-C Recycling Program work. Goodcents is another A-C Recycling Program contractor and has requested talks to add a position in their contract by a letter of understanding. It is our intentions to complete all Outside Construction contract negotiations before the PG&E contract negotiations begin.

Work Outlook

In 2008 construction is already very strong up and down the west coast. We still have no good idea if PG&E will release pole replacement work in 2008. We are all looking forward to hearing if they will. Our pole test and treat members tell us they are testing poles on a ten year cycle. They are rejecting poles that were rejected ten years ago. The term “rejected” relates to a wood pole that is deficient in some way. One example would be a rotten butt below ground. The recent storms with high winds also identified several deficient poles. There is also a lot of substation and transmission work going and more to come.

The Bay Area refineries have budgeted another record year of work. The M.I.D. transmission line project is starting now. Nevada is a smaller part of our work but there are a couple of transmission projects on the board. Par has one job started. There is 25 miles of wood transmission line out to bid near Elko, NV, now. The San Francisco Martin Substation to Hunter’s Point Substation 115 KV underground transmission line project is finally starting April 15. There will be 75 to 85 underground technicians on this project installing duct bank and should be completed in December 2008.

There will also be another underground gas-filled 115 KV transmission project in the fourth quarter of 2008. FERC requirements are causing SMUD and other utilities to contract relay maintenance. The pole test and treat contracts have been awarded and are going strong. The AMI and A-C Recycling Programs to triple their work force in 2008.

Hiring Hall Updates

There are certain positions open almost continuously. The City of Lodi and PG&E are wanting Linemen. We are also updating the application lists. This is a needed procedure to help make the staff more efficient. It has been a team effort from the start. Our I.T. guru is rebuilding the database. The dispatch staff and print shop staff have been giving 110% to help this effort.

Recent Storm

As the storm progressed on Friday, Jan. 4, the utilities redeployed our contract construction crews. By noon they were asking for more crews. We manned all available line equipment through Friday night and again on Saturday morning. We asked Locals 47 and 659 for about 35 Journeyman Linemen for calls we could not fill from our Out of Work Books. By noon on Saturday, we had manned all available equipment. PG&E still wanted more men. Crews came from several different states over the next three days to man the work. For the most part, it was efficiently done. We had Reps in the field during the entire duration of the storm. It was a real team effort to keep everything moving forward. We also had people from our general office helping in dispatch. We are planning a meeting with NECA to brainstorm on what we can do better in the future.

Other News

We had Comet Training scheduled on Jan. 5 for the second time in the last few months. No volunteers, probably due to the storm that was raging.

We are still looking for better ways to communicate with our membership. We are using text messaging to certain groups of our membership. It’s a good way to get short messages to a lot of members at once. We have learned how to set up large groups in our email accounts and send the messages directly to the member cell phone. This way everyone gets the same information at once.

We are also planning a trial website with an interactive forum later in the spring for Outside Line. Our Outside Line jurisdiction covers 250,000 square miles in Nevada and California and there is a real need to look for a better ways to readily communicate with the membership all the time.

In 2007 we dispatched the following:

Lineman = 460 plus 82 short calls

Apprentice Lineman = 222 plus 8 short calls

Line Equipment Man = 108 plus 8 short calls

Cable splicer = 18

Groundman = 146 plus 34 short call

Presently we have on our out of work list:

Lmn-1 = 22

Lmn-2 = 60

Lem-1 = 3

Lem-2 = 1

Grd-1 = 16

Grd-2 = 6

Grd-3&4 > 100

Ron Cochran is Assistant Business Manager for IBEW Local 1245.