May 22, 2007 Update
Posted: May 22, 2007
Hello Brothers and Sisters. It’s that time again. We would like to keep you current on the issues at hand within IBEW Local 1238. We are currently in contract negotiations with the City of Dover to obtain a new tentative agreement for our brothers and sisters in the Dover Electric Department. The negotiations committee is comprised of John Boulden, Steve Newberry, Paul M. Simon, Paul J. Simon III, Aren Wright, and Bill Hewlett. The current contract is set to expire on June 30, 2007 and we are cautiously optimistic that we will have a tentative agreement in place by that time. We would like to thank our brothers and sisters in the Dover Electric Department for taking an active roll in providing the Committee with proposals for these negotiations. We will be communicating information from negotiations to our members as we get further along in the process. There have been some changes in the leadership of IBEW Local 1238 that we would like to communicate to you as well. As of May 7, 2007, Robert “Skip” Walker resigned from the Executive Board. We would like to thank Skip for his many years of dedicated service to the Local and wish him well in all of his upcoming endeavors. With the resignation of Brother Walker, the Executive Board has elected Gabriel Alvini as the new chairman to serve the remainder of the current term. We would like to thank Gabe for stepping up to accept this new position and we look forward to working with him in the future. The resignation of Brother Walker has also left a vacancy on the Executive Board. Members interested in applying for the vacant executive board position should submit their application in writing to Brother Alvini at mail stop 79NC34. The application deadline for the position is June 5, 2007. If you have any questions in regards to the process, please feel free to call the Union Hall for further explanation. We have also been working on some potential changes in the lineman classification in Local 1238. We have met with the Company to open discussion in regards to an automatic progression to 1st class in the line departments. The process is in its early stages and we will be communicating information to the departments if and when we are able to progress. The Union Safety Committee is still meeting with the Company monthly to address issues that are not being resolved at the SAC meetings. We have made several accomplishments however we have hit some barriers as of late in regards to making some necessary safety changes around our trucks. We are working vehemently to overcome these barriers as to provide our members with the necessary safety devices to ensure their well being while on the job. We have met with the senior leadership of PHI to express our frustration in accomplishing these and have been assured that these barriers are being removed. We look forward to seeing results in the very near future. As always, if you have a safety item that is not being addressed, please contact your steward or call the Union Hall with the information so that it can be presented at our monthly meeting. I’d like to thank the members that have brought issues to our attention and encourage everyone to participate to help facilitate any necessary changes that need to be made to make our work place safer. In conjunction with our Safety Committee, the Square 1 process is up and running in its very early stages. The first group of 12 observers has been trained and is actively making field observations. A new group of 11 observers is being trained this week to assist in reaching the group’s target of 288 observations per month. The Steering Committee is also receiving training from BST Consultant John Havins on how to effectively use the information obtained in the field to create effective action plans to remove barriers that may be hindering our members from performing their jobs in the safest manner possible. We would like to thank all of you for participating in this process and putting forth an effort to truly make the work place safer for the members of IBEW Local 1238. I would also like to reiterate that this is merely the first phase of Square 1. Once the process is up and running to full capacity, the Committee will be looking to integrate our other departments into the process as well. We are very proud of the hard work and dedication of the Steering Committee and would like to thank all of you for your efforts in assuring the safety of our members. Conectiv Energy President David Velazquez has been monitoring the progress made at Delmarva Power in regards to safety and Square 1 and has decided to make some changes in the energy business as well. The leadership of Local 1238 has met with the leadership of Conectiv Energy and we are currently working on a peer to peer based safety process for the Edgemoor and Hay Road Power Plants. The plants have recently taken the OCDI surveys to identify where their strengths and deficiencies lie and we will be evaluating that information when it is presented in the very near future. We will be working with the plants to implement a very similar process so as to improve on safety in these facilities as well. As on the Delmarva Power side of the business, we will need our members to step forward and take some leadership roles to insure the success of the process. We look forward to working with our members at these facilities to make improvements around safety. We will provide updates as they become available. We are also working on improving some problems we have had at the Delaware City facility. It has been a very difficult transition for our brothers and sisters at Delaware City who are now working under a separate contract with Valero. In an attempt to open communications and rectify some of these outstanding issues, the Union and Company have agreed to establish monthly meetings between Valero Management and our stewards and officers to address and problems and/or concerns. Business Manager John Boulden has been attending these meetings regularly and we have made some improvements for our members at the Delaware City Power Plant (DCPP.) We would like to thank our stewards and officers at the facility for taking the time (in many cases their own time) to rectify these problems and we would like to thank all of our members at DCPP for their patience in resolving these matters. In closing, I would like to remind everyone that our Union Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of every month at our new hall located at: 6 Larch Ave Unit 410 Wilmington, DE. 19804. We look forward to seeing you at the meetings.
