December Update
Posted: December 19, 2006
Brothers and Sisters, I would like to take the time to update you on the current issues and events taking place within IBEW Local 1238. Several members have been inquiring about the arbitration results around the Company Absenteeism Control Policy. We received the arbitrator’s ruling stating that the Company’s policy needed to be changed as not to detract from our negotiated sick leave benefit. Furthermore, the policy parameters set by the arbitrator will be retroactive back to 1/1/06. Given the fact that several members were disciplined under the old policy, Business Manager Boulden has met with the Company to review all discipline that was administered within the last year (under the old policy) and anyone undeserving of discipline under the new sick leave policy will have that discipline expunged from their record. If you received discipline under the old policy, you will be notified of your current status under the new policy and whether or not your discipline is expunged given the new policy parameters. For your information, we have also supplied all of the shop stewards with the arbitration award to be posted on the Union Bulletin Boards. The Company will be explaining the new policy to each group in the near future. If you have any questions about the new policy, please see your supervisor and/or shop steward. In my last update, I advised you that we had 62 active grievances. Several of those grievances were around discipline under the old Absenteeism Control Policy. As mentioned above, the arbitrator’s ruling will resolve most of those grievances which leaves 11 active grievances with 1 scheduled for arbitration on 2/6/07 (Carney’s Point shifts by productivity.) We have been able to resolve many issues through the grievance procedure and we will continue to do so with the existing issues. I will keep you posted in future updates on these matters. Delaware City Power Plant has been operating under the new contract with Valero since 11/1/06. We had 16 members at that facility that exercised their rights under the 10 year clause to stay with Conectiv Energy. We are pleased to announce that all of those employees were successfully placed within Conectiv Energy at the Hay Road and Edgemoor Power Plants. Unfortunately, this left the staffing levels at the Delaware City Facility at an all-time low. Although Valero is committed to hiring new employees (they have already hired 11 operators to fill vacancies and have intentions on hiring more), the lack of an experienced work force has generated a large amount of overtime for our members whom opted to remain at Delaware City. I would like to thank those members for working so hard through this transition. The officers and members of Local 1238 have taken a very active role in improving safety for our members in 2006 and we will continue to do so in 2007. We are continuing with our Company/Union Safety Committee Meeting that meets monthly. This Committee addresses any outlying issues that have been overlooked at the SAC level and creates a list of action items (with the Company) to address the issues. We have been very successful in making changes that we feel make a safer work environment for our members. Our Committee is made up of Paul Simon, Steve Newberry and Skip Walker. As issues arise from other departments, we will bring in participants to address the issues and devise a resolution. We would like to thank Steve and Skip for their support and commitment to the process and I look forward to working with them in 2007. We are also working to improve the SAC meetings in 2007. We have bolstered Union support from several areas that did not have Union run SAC meetings and now have participants in each area. The SAC meeting, when run properly, is an excellent venue to discuss safety concerns and get answers to our members who have questions around safety. We believe that this is a necessary part of our safety program and we would like to thank the members that have taken an active part in improving the work environment for your Union Brothers and Sisters. The third part of our drive for safety is our participation in the BAPP process. As mentioned our last update, we have formed the Steering Committee and the new name for the process is “Square One.” The Committee is meeting regularly and will be working hard to implement the Square One process in early 2007. This process has the full support of Local 1238. Safety is, and always has been, our number one priority and we are always looking for new and innovative ways to take a more active role in assuring the safety of each and every member of Local 1238. We would like to thank the members of the steering committee for making such a large commitment to the process and we look forward to seeing your hard work come to fruition in the near future. Lastly, we here at the office would like to wish all of you a happy and safe holiday. We look forward to serving the members and making 2007 a better year than 2006.
