Update 8-21-06
Posted: August 21, 2006
Brothers and Sisters: We would like to take the time to update you on some key issues that have taken place over the last month with Local 1238. For those of you who do not know, we purchased a building in Newport and the hall is no longer located in Peddler’s Village. Our new address is 6 Larch Ave # 410 Wilmington, DE. 19804 and our new phone number is 302 683 0660. We apologize for not posting to the web site sooner but due to area complications, we were unable to obtain internet service until late last week. We would like to thank everyone who volunteered their own time and equipment to assist in the move. Once we get things put away and settled, we will be scheduling an open house for our members to come and see the new hall. We will have more details in future postings. In our recent travels, many of you have had questions regarding the Absenteeism Control Policy Grievance that was filed January, 1 2006. For those of you whom have not been informed, we have an arbitration date scheduled for November 13, 2006. Arbitrations are becoming more difficult to schedule given the number of arbitrations that are being filed in our district and on average, once a grievance reaches the arbitration step, it is taking approximately six months to schedule the arbitration. Thank you for your patience and once the arbitration takes place; we will inform the membership of the outcome. The next topic of discussion is Delaware City Power Plant (DCPP). Conectiv no longer has the O&M agreement at DCPP and employees opting to stay will be working under a separate contract that we are negotiating with Valero Energy (the new owner of the refinery.) In this process, we also had to conduct effects bargaining with Conectiv to counteract the negative effects to the benefits of existing employees caused by this transition. Meeting will be held August 31 & September 1, 2006 from 2:00pm- 8:00pm to explain benefits and the transition process to employees. Valero, Conectiv, and Local 1238 leadership will be at these meetings to answer any questions that our members may have in reference to the transition. Furthermore, Paul Simon and John Boulden will be available at DCPP on Friday, August 25, 2006 from 12:00pm-5:00pm for employees to come and ask questions of the Union. We would like to thank the employees at DCPP for their patience in this matter and we look forward to completing this process. We also have another high level issue in that is pending arbitration. It has to do with picking shifts by seniority vs. productivity in the call center. That particular grievance was filed on 3/25/06 and is at the arbitration step. We do not have a date for arbitration as of yet but we are in the process and as soon as we get a date, we will forward that information to the membership. Thank you for your patience Each month at the Union Meeting, we report on the Company/Union Safety Committee and all of the topics that are being addressed in that venue. We would like to bring you up to speed on some rather large projects that are going to be taking place to improve the safety here at Delmarva Power. We have had several near misses as of late that are not being reported for fear of reprisal. In Power Delivery, you are going to see mail boxes with signs asking you to share any near misses of which you are aware or have experienced and to ask any safety questions that are unclear to you or members of your department. The forms do not require a name or date. The information taken will be completely anonymous and the forms will come directly to the Safety Committee. The Committee, which is chaired by the Union, will then analyze and prioritize the questions/near misses and address your issues at SAC meetings or if the issue is of a high priority, it will be addressed immediately. The second project that we are going to be participating in is the peer to peer analysis program. The Company /Union Safety Committee has been pushing to have a program like this for the last several months. The company has hired a contractor to assist in the implementation of this program but the assistance of the members is what is needed to have this project be successful. This program is a pilot and is only being initially implemented in power delivery for now but if we are successful, the program will be implemented in other areas. We will be asking our members for participation in the program and rest assured that any information gathered through the process is purely for improving safety and no discipline will come from this process. As we move forward with this program, the Union will convey information to the members. Once again, thank you for your support.
