December 2024
As we quickly transition from 90-degree heat in October to a brief moment of fall it seems winter is already upon us with road closures, accidents, and declared emergencies. At the end of October, the PP&L Health and Wellness committee met. Prior to this meeting I sent out a digital survey via text to get feedback on issues our members at PP&L were having. The survey is still active and if you wish to participate, please go to https://s.surveyplanet.com/pypb6hbk. Please be as specific as possible. If you have problems with a specific pharmacy or provider. If you are having issues getting certain medications covered or certain care, again please be specific. One of the main takeaways from this meeting was better education for our members. We followed up this meeting with an interactive Webinar in several yards where there was an influx of new hires. The feedback we received from those that participated was that it was informative and would be useful to do these more often in all yards but especially prior to open enrollment in future years so you all can ask questions and be more informed. It sounded like the Teams format worked great where people were able to join where they could and ask questions. This format would also help putting this on for a large group and more frequently. In discussions, the company agreed to continue this in future years and expand to all areas.
With PP&L we have several on-going grievances for members regarding discipline after an investigation. Also, a grievance regarding a termination/resignation. We also have a separate grievance that we are waiting on a complete information request in regards to the company’s use and practice of contacting a company, Firedog, for services rendered during fire season. Though it has not come to a formal grievance, there was also a discussion about classification signing up for standby flagging being able to bank SBFH (standby floating holiday). Though it was agreed to quickly by Labor Relations and Director, it appears a manager may not like that and appears to be retaliatory by no longer stating a need for standby Flaggers. We will continue to discuss this and I hope the company will correct this manager or we will file a formal grievance once we have our evidence in order.
As many of you have heard by now, I made the decision to part ways with one (1) of our Assistant Business Managers. In doing so, there were some additional responsibilities that myself and my team were responsible for as we scheduled and conducted interviews. I appreciate the assistance from our entire team. We have now backfilled our current vacancies but looking to the future, especially with three (3) new bargaining units that we won elections on recently, I can see the need to augment our staff in the near future to be able to better serve our members.
On November 8, 2024, Assistant Business Manager Johnny Walker and I headed to San Diego, California for continuing education on our responsibilities as Trustees on our many Health & Welfare, Retirement, and Training Trusts. I was able to attend the advanced class and appreciated the deep dive they took situations and updates to legislation and the changing landscape of employee benefits. Though neither of us were able to stay for the conference itself our two (2) & three (3) day pre conference training was very informative.
From San Diego, California I headed straight to Vancouver, Washington to head to Northwest Line JATC Apprentice Interviews, Industry meeting and LMC (Labor Management Committee). We interviewed nearly sixty (60) applicants over two (2) days from 7AM to 5PM. I was excited to see how many great candidates there were in such a large pool. At the industry meeting there were continued discussions regarding impact bargaining forward and rear facing cameras in trucks as well as the URD LOA and how to clarify and improve it. Contractors also asked us to remind the Apprentices, they will as well, the importance of not driving distracted and appreciated the training center discussing seat belts as they all noted they were having less incidents with Apprentices not wearing them.
The LMC was called to discuss several grievances from several Locals that resolve could not be reached. Several of those were from our Local and were currently unresolved from our former Assistant Business Manager. One we were able to discuss and settle, the other we did take to the LMC for adjudication. In the end, we received a unanimous decision that there was at least merit to hear the grievance but ultimately it deemed both parties shared some fault and it was requested that the contractor educate the people they put in GF and Foreman roles on proper documentation of incidents and not layoff someone if there is a serious issue or provide comments or notes. Also, it was requested the we at the Hall also include what book someone was pulled from to better aid in reverse layoff order.
It was also National Apprentice week this month. While we were up at the interviews for Northwest Line JATC, we also took some opportunities to go speak to the Apprentice Lineman and Tree Trimmer classes. We spoke to the importance of taking it seriously, speaking up if you don’t know something or believe something might be unsafe, and the importance of being involved and going to your unit meetings.
Also, this month we attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for another Pre-Apprenticeship, separate from the electrical Pre-Apprenticeship we already have on our own in-house. This one is a general construction trades Pre-Apprenticeship. It was facing termination but between UA290 (Plumbers) offering their classrooms free of charge and our own Crater Lake Electrical Training Center with its experience of starting a similar program and the rest of the building trade partners support we were able to keep it alive and now with a heavy Union presence.
I also attended meetings this month for three (3) different projects in our jurisdiction with Johnny Walker. I will save the updates to those for him to share with the Inside Construction groups.
We also held a full day of interviews at our office as well to fill our vacant Assistant Business Manager position as well as a full-time Dispatcher.
We received feedback from some of you regarding the office number switching to a phone tree with options. We did this originally in an attempt to better serve our members as we received a heavy influx of calls regarding the Outside Construction work on PP&L property. We added it in an attempt to mitigate the repetitive questions. Some of that has slowed and again now that we are back up to our full complement of staff, we have removed the phone tree during business hours but after hours and during lunch it is the same phone tree we had in the past.
In close, I would like to thank all of our Line crews, Tree crews, and other supporting crafts for always tirelessly working to keep the power on. Whether it was the high wind storms knocking things over or the sudden arrival of a bomb cyclone soaking everything in the northwest for a continuous week, you all work tirelessly to provide the community the power they need.
Thank you all and hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays.
Respectfully,
Nick Carpenter
nick@ibew659.org
541-227-9736
