From the trenches...

           Reports from your Business Reps

Unit 1 – Electric Distribution
By Barry Poole

• An IBEW Local 18 committee has recently come to an agreement with management concerning guidelines for Senior Electrical Distribution Mechanics. The agreement clarifies issues such as Lead Man pay, crew compliments and job duties. Committee members were: John Blondeel-Timmerman; Terry Meeks; Marvin Friesel; Carlos Lopez; Russ Butow, and Barry Poole.

• A committee is being formed in order to discuss putting Cable Splicer and Line programs back together. Please be sure to attend your Unit meetings in order to get further updates on this issue.

• A Senior Electric Distribution Mechanic agreement for clarification of job duties is now complete. We are putting together a final copy for signature. After the agreement is signed, it will be distributed to the districts.

• Discussions are now being held about reinstating the Cable Splicer series. Please be sure to attend your Unit meetings in order to hear continuing developments about this program.

Unit 2 – Electrical Station Operators
By Bill Lewis

• Labor and management have reached agreement on guidelines for staffing the training positions at the Operator Training Center. It is intended that these positions will be of limited length—for a maximum of five years, during which time your bid will be protected. There are some special skills that will be required; therefore, the position will be filled by a selective interview process. With this final agreement in place, the two currently vacant positions should be advertised by the time you read this.

• Congratulations to the graduating class of trainees! Class 021 graduated on January 15, 2004. Welcome to the 11 new operators. This is a minor shot-in-the-arm for the staffing shortage in substations.

Unit 3 – Testers
By Bill Lewis

Currently, we are forming a committee to discuss a formal training program for the Testers. Meetings should start this month. Please be sure to attend your Unit meeting, which is held on the third Wednesday of the month, at the Main Street Lab, for updates on this important issue.

Unit 8 – Clerical
By Shawn McCloud & Geralyn Washington-Tatum

• The lunch time site meeting held on January 3, at the JFB, was well-attended. There was a good give-and-take with relevant questions and answers. Thanks to all Unit members who participated.

• Half-time Civil Service for CSRs: Yes, it is true that the package was sent back to the Department of Water & Power for some clarifications. This simply another bump in the road that we will all have to endure. Hang in there—half-time Civil Service is still high on our radar, and as the struggle continues, it will become a reality.

• Training Committee for Clerical: The Clerical Training Committee will begin meeting again soon. We would like to hear from you on what type of classes you feel you need in order to be better equipped to perform your duties. Please include your name, phone number and the name of the class, along with a course description, if possible. Fax the information to either of us at 213/7396937.

• We wish to thank every member who attended our Clerical Unit meeting on January 10. We enjoyed the very lively discussion and exchange of valuable and pertinent information. Our next Unit meeting is set for Tuesday, April 13, at 6:00 p.m., at the Union Hall.

• Remember site meetings: these lunch-time meetings, which are on your own time, run from 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. They are designed to be a brief discussion of “hot topics.” We also want to hear your concerns about work-related issues.

Unit 8/18 – Supervisory Clerical
By Geralyn Washington-Tatum & Shawn McCloud

• If you want a Worker Safety Tour, site meeting, or ergonomic assessment, at your work location, please contact either of us at 213/387-8274 (Geralyn, ext. 111, Shawn, ext. 105).

• If you want to participate in conducting Worker Safety Tours or the Joint Labor-Management Committee process, or if you want to become a contact person for dissemination of information, please call either of us.

• The Clerical Bid Plan continues to work diligently in hashing out a new and improved bid plan. Updates on this will be forthcoming. However, if you see something in the MOU that makes you think “this should change,” we would like to hear from you! Please contact either one of us.

• What is a Worker Safety Group Tour? Worker Safety Tours are designed to feature a supervisor and rank-and-file union member assigned to tour a specific work location, using a structured method to identify any safety concerns. The Worker Safety Group members will discuss pertinent matters and make appropriate recommendations.

• If you would like to have a Worker Safety Tour of your work area, or if you want to become a trained Safety Tour member, please contact either one of us at 213/387-8472 (ext. 111 for Shawn and ext. 105 for Geralyn).

• Would you like to become more involved in your Union’s activities? As a member of IBEW Local 18, you have the opportunity to participate on Joint Labor-Management Committees, Worker Safety Group Tours, and negotiation committee like the Clerical and Supervisory Clerical Bid Plan. You can also become a Shop Steward in Unit 8. If you are interested, please contact either Geralyn or Shawn.

Unit 13 – Automotive
By Ken Delgado

• It has come to my attention that your Worker Safety Tours are not being held regularly, or they are being conducted by a selected Worker Safety Tour guide. If this is true, please let me know so that I can make sure that these important tours run properly! The Worker Safety Tours are a valuable tool that needs to be enforced for your own benefit. These tours are conducted in order to help improve working conditions and so that your concerns and ideas for improvement can be heard.

• The Joint Labor-Management meetings are back on track. Please be sure to tell your JLM reps about your issues and ideas, so that they can take them to the next meeting. This is your forum for being heard; take advantage of it!

• If you have not attended a Joint Safety Institute class, tell your supervisor you want to do so. There is a JSI survey coming around. Please fill it out so that we can see where we need to make safety-related worksite changes. Without your input, we cannot make those changes! Please fill out the survey and get it back to us as soon as you can.

Unit 14 – Transportation
By Bill Lewis

The annual bids are out this month. Transmission has agreed to staff an operator and truck driver positions. This is a first step towards recovering your work. If this move works out satisfactorily, management has indicated a possible need for two more positions. In the current budget cycle, a number of positions that had been included may be held up because of the City’s financial situation. Stay tuned—there will be more to come about this.

Unit 15/20 Pasadena
By Barry Poole

• Negotiations continue over the contract. The next bargaining meeting was held on March 17. Members of the negotiating committee are: Mohamed Youines; Brad Secreto; Larry Hustad; Mike Coil; Victor Jaime and Sonny Brassie. If you have questions on the progress of negotiations, please discuss them with one of the committee members, or attend your Unit’s meetings for further updates.

Unit 17 – Meter Reading/Field Service
By Nancy Romero

• A special thank you goes out to all the Commercial Field Representatives (CFRs) for the patience they have shown during the kick-off of the MDDS project throughout the Field Service Units. There was a collective sigh of relief once the system was up and running in the Metro Unit in early February.

The system is not without its complications. Several CFRs have expressed their frustration about connectivity. Some must leave their territory or climb down the hill in order to reconnect to the system, and in order to receive or transmit their orders. We ask every Unit member to log any problems that they are experiencing with the new laptops. We especially encourage you to note any downtime that is caused by these connection failures.

These logs should be forwarded to your Shop Stewards in order to ensure that these issues are resolved in their respective Joint Labor-Management Committees. The logs will also be useful to the MDDS team in its effort to improve the system.

As of this writing, the Field Collection Units are expected to go live throughout the system by mid-March. We hope that the transition will be smooth for all concerned.

• In a related topic, we are currently in discussions with CSBU management about the effects on our members of the centralizing of the Field Service/Field Collection dispatchers. There are several unanswered questions about existing bid positions, duties and responsibilities, back-up assignments, training opportunities, possible upgrading of positions, and special assignments.

Over the past couple of months, CSBU management has indicated to our members that the manner in which collections are done in the field will be changing. We want to assure all of our Unit members that to this date, there are a few proposals that have been proposed for discussion. The impact of these proposals on our members’ working conditions is yet to be discussed. CSBU management is primarily proposing the filtering of orders by the date of the order, amount of the order, and the customer’s credit code.

• As a follow-up to the December, 2003 article on the issue of the flooding of the territories, we have continued to raise the matter with CSBU management. It is clear that the flooding of the territories has become a real issue to our Unit members. While some members enjoy not having to work their territories every day, this is not true for all members. There is a reason why territories are selected, and now the lines of demarcation among them are becoming “fuzzy” around the edges because of technological advances that the new MDDS system has given CSBU management.

Another issue that has been raised about management’s flooding of Field Collection territories concerns the fact that it favors working the territories in a manner that is more cyclical, similar to the meter-reading schedule. Management says that members are more productive working in this manner. While it can make this argument, we still have the right to negotiate on how a cyclical collections program will impact the working conditions of our Unit members. It is clear that there still remain many issues that we must work out. We will continue to update you on this matter in the Surge and at your Unit meetings.

• The issue of the removal of jumpers has now been raised by two joint labor-management committees, the Commercial Field Representative JLMC and the Senior Commercial Field Representative JLMC. We have not been successful in reaching consensus on this issue at both committees. We have now forwarded this matter to the Customer Service Business Unit JLMC. A subcommittee was formed, and it will meet in order to discuss possible recommendations. If any Unit members want to express their concerns with this very important issue, please speak to your Shop Steward or call me at 213/387-8274, ext. 113. Or speak up at your Unit meeting.

• The Executive Equity Committee has reviewed the inequity that was filed by the Senior Commercial Field Representatives. It recommended an upgrade of the Assistant Supervisors from the “B” level DDR to the “A” level DDR. The committee forwarded its recommendation to the Joint Resolutions Board. We are now awaiting a response from the Board.

• Attention all meter readers: any member who is interested in joining us on the Meter Reading Joint Labor-Management Committee, or assisting in conducting Worker Safety Tours, please call me at the Union Hall.

• Attention all members who serve on the CSBU Safety Committee: please be aware that several issues have been raised about the continuance of this body outside of the joint labor-management process. We have set up a meeting with CSBU management in order to discuss this matter.

All existing and future members of this or any new safety committee will be appointed in accordance with IBEW Local 18’s Constitution and Bylaws. They will be appointed by Frank Miramontes, President of our Union, and will function within the parameters set by the OM&S MOU for joint labor-management committees.

Unit 19 – ESM
By Gus Corona

• We have begun discussions to implement the Electric Mechanic Department-Wide Bid Plan. For purposes of this bid plan, the Department currently is working on establishing a seniority list. Once the accuracy of this list is verified, each person on it will be assigned a “key number” that will be used to identify the ranking order on it.

• Under the bid plan agreement, a Joint Labor-Management Committee has been established to resolve any issues that may arise. The committee’s labor representatives are Jim Clabaugh, Senior Electrical Mechanic, and Steve Leyva, Electrical Mechanic. Please contact either of these representatives, or your Business Rep, if you have any questions regarding implementation of the bid plan.

Unit 19B – Shops
By Gus Corona

• The Shops Bid Plan is currently being revised. The labor representatives on this committee are: Greg Fuller; Pierce Watson; John Hocum, and Brian Zilotto. If there are any issues regarding the bid plan that your would like the committee to address, please contact any of these brothers, or your Business Rep.

• We will be establishing a Joint Labor-Management Committee in order to deal with the issues that currently exist in shops. We will list the committee’s labor representatives in a future article.

• We had great attendance at our January Unit meeting at Main Street. We hope that this carries over to our Unit meetings at the Local 18 Union Hall. Please remember that these meetings are very important in the process of making everyone aware of what is going on within your Unit. Your attendance benefits every Unit member.
Unit 24 – Water Supply
By Ken Delgado

• Brothers and sisters, thanks for your support and patience as I continue to learn something new about you and your work every day.

• There is a new DDR for Senior Water Utility Worker A’s awaiting footnote approval from the City of Los Angeles. As soon as that comes in, we will be moving towards reverting back to the original Senior Regulator DDR.

• Tujunga Pump Station trailers are now being sized up and will soon be offered. We are working hard to make this happen.

• The Pipe Gallery Painting and Maintenance is now being reviewed. We are looking at some alternatives that will allow us to get Painters in to do the job. We also want to hire another Painter at the filtration plant. I will keep you updated on this matter.

• Please remember: if you have any issues or questions, let your Joint Labor-Management representatives know, so that they can bring them up at the next meeting.

• Coming from the water side myself, I have noticed that the open lines between labor and management has made a big difference in how issues and concerns are handled. Through the Joint Labor-Management Committee’s (JLMC) Mutual Gains Process, labor can express itself openly and freely without feeling as if there could be adverse consequences. With this in mind, I urge you to get in touch with your JLMC rep and Shop Stewards, and tell them your concerns, so that they can be addressed in a timely and satisfactorily manner. The JLMCs need your input in order to make both labor and management accountable for resolving your issues and concerns. I look forward to seeing you at our next Unit meeting!


Unit 26 – Custodial

By Nancy Romero

• Attention all Custodial Service Attendants: the FMBG management has hired a private consultant to evaluate the current status of the entire John Ferraro Building. The consultant has published his findings, along with recommendations, and they are available for your review.

We have held an initial meeting with FMBG management and the consultant in an effort to fully understand his recommendations. As of this writing, we have asked FMBG management to put together some concrete recommendations that it would like us to consider. We would like all Unit members to review this report and provide suggestions before we sit down to discuss the implementation of any recommendations that management would like to propose. Please call me at 213/387-8274, ext. 113.

We will also add this item to the agenda for our next Unit meeting in order to allow for clarification and input from all members. I encourage every Unit member to attend and participate in these important discussions. Unit 26 meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month, at 3:30 p.m., at the Union Hall.

• It has come to our attention that several Custodial Service Attendants have been given “No Shift, No Pay” (docked hours of pay) because their supervisors have been unable to locate them. We want everyone to know that the FMBG management must follow the Department’s Administrative Guidelines for Disciplining Employees. Members must be given the chance to respond to any charges that the Department feels are appropriate—once an investigation is conducted and before any discipline is imposed.

Failure to provide an employee an opportunity to respond to any charges is a clear violation of the administrative process (Skelly Procedures). With respect to “chain of command,” a first-line Custodian Supervisor has no authority to impose this kind of disciplinary action at his/her level; these decisions are customarily made by Business Unit Directors and above. If you have had your time docked by your immediate supervisor or senior, please call me at once, at 213/387-8272, ext. 113.

Unit 31 – Professionals
Unit 35 – Supervisory Technical & Business Administration

By Leslie Abbott

• The site meetings for members in the Professional, Technical, Administrative, Supervisory Professionals and Supervisory Technical/Business Administration Units have been a smashing success! Almost 20 site meetings were held at different locations around the Department: ECC; Main Street; Artesian Street; Valley Service Center; Pasadena Water Lab; Temple Street; Second Street; Harbor Generating Station; the Filtration Plant, and nearly all the floors at the JFB. All of the meetings had great attendance and participation. We are off to a great start!

• The first official Shop Stewards of Local 18’s Professional Unit have been appointed! They are: Carlos Cadena; Cliff Damron; John Gutenberger; Mostafa Haji; Guillermo Honles, and Geoff Rolik. Thanks so much to these individuals for taking an early leadership role in the Union.

• Please remember that your involvement and participation is crucial in making progress on your issues. You are the experts in your professions. You know the staffing and political issues in your workplace. And you have great insights into possible solutions to the problems. So please contact me if you are interested in becoming a Shop Steward or getting involved in the join labor-management process.

• Elections for Unit officers—Chair, Vice Chair and Recording Secretary—will take place after the new MOUs are in place. The reminder postcard for the Unit meeting that month will state that elections will occur.

• Unit meetings for the Professional Unit are scheduled for the first Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall. Please join us!

• Unit meetings for the Supervisory Technical & Business Administration Unit are scheduled for the fourth Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall. Please join us!

• Negotiations on the first MOUs for our new bargaining units are complete and, by the time you read this, the ratification vote by the members in the affected bargaining units should either be happening or coming up very soon. The proposed MOUs must also be approved by the Department’s Board of Commissioners and the Los Angeles City Council.

• Kerry McCorkle, the Business Rep for Administrative, Technical and Supervisory Professional, and I have participated in a number of well-attended site meetings with Local 18’s new members throughout the Department. It has been a very enlightening experience to meet you face-to-face, learn more about where you work, the roles you play at DWP, and your work-related issues. Special thanks to the members at each site who arranged the logistics and spread the word to their colleagues!

• I am continuing the process of identifying potential member leadership in the Professional Unit. Please contact me if you are interested in becoming a Shop Steward or a Joint Labor-Management Committee participant. I am reachable at 213/387-8472, ext. 110, or at labbott@ibewlocal18.com

• The meeting schedule for our units is posted on our website: www.ibewlocal18.com

Unit 32 – Technical
Unit 33 – Administrative
Unit 34 – Supervisory Professiona
l
By Kerry McCorkle

• Negotiations on the three new unit MOUs are complete. The ratification vote by the members of these units will take place as soon as we have DWP management approval. If you do not have your membership application submitted, please do so as soon as possible so that you can vote on the new MOU.

• I am continuing to co-host introduction and informational meetings throughout the Department. I want to thank the leaders who have stepped up and helped organize these very important meetings.

• I continue to identify potential member leadership in the Technical and Administrative Units. Please contact me if you are interested in becoming a Shop Steward or Joint Labor-Management Committee member. There will be opportunities in the future for you to take an active role in your union’s activities.

• There is a Training Survey that is being distributed by the Joint Training Institute. Please take the time to complete this very important questionnaire. They will help shape the training programs and classes that are offered in the future.

• Technical Unit meetings are scheduled on the second Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• Administrative Unit meetings are scheduled on the third Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• Supervisory Professional Unit meetings are scheduled on the first Tuesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• I have been co-hosting introduction and informational meetings throughout the Department. These meetings have been a great forum for meeting and greeting you, and discussing your issues. I want to thank the leaders who have stepped up and helped to organize these very important meetings.

• Technical Unit meetings are scheduled on the second Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• Administrative Unit meetings are scheduled on the third Wednesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• Supervisory Professional Unit meetings are scheduled on the first Tuesday of every month, at 5:30 p.m., at the Local 18 Union Hall.

• You can always reach me at 213/387-8274, ext. 138, or at kmccorkle@ibewlocal18.com

Unit 50 – Burbank
By Barry Poole

• Contract negotiations opened on February 18. The next Negotiations Committee meeting is set for April 2, when management is scheduled to bring us a counter proposal. If you have any questions, please contact one of your Negotiating Committee members, or attend your Unit meetings. Members of the Negotiating committee are: John Washington; Tom Wilke; Jeff Hancock; Barry Heller; James Anderson; Bill Hamilton; Russ Riegler; Stephen Forrest, and Chuck Malys.

• The City of Burbank held a budget summit meeting with all City employee unions and associations on March 4.

• A coalition committee is being formed to discuss enhanced retirement and possible PERS health plan options.

• Rubber gloving of 12kV is being discussed. Our representatives for this issue are Tom Wilke and Jeff Hancock.

• Staffing of the Electrician section is being discussed. Our representatives for this issue are Barry Heller and Chris Besvold.

Unit 53 – Water
By Ken Delgado

• With respect to DHS certification, we are now setting up a meeting with State Board personnel to get better clarification on what level and grade we must carry in order to be certified. Some of the language is unclear, for example with respect to D-2 or D-3. As soon as I get more information, I will pass it on to you.

• If you have not been to a training class sponsored by the Joint Safety Institute, then tell your supervisor and let him/her know that you want to attend a session. How are the Worker Safety Tours going? Are you seeing them in your areas? If you have not seen any, ask why they have not come by! Please let me know so that I can look into this matter for you. Call me at the Union Hall (213/387-8274, ext. 139).

• I would like to see more members at our next Unit meeting. Last month’s attendance was pretty good. Let’s keep up the good work! Please remember: talk first to your Shop Steward about any issue or questions you may have.

• Again, I want to remind you to find out who your Joint Labor-Management representative is in your area. Let him/her know if you want to attend the next JLM meeting; this is your forum for being heard.

• Brothers and sisters, it has been two months now, and it now looks like the 9/80 Alternate Shift Schedule is rolling along. Enjoy your long weekends!

• The M.C.H. upgrade is in effect. The M.C.s who do not meet the requirements will be sent for training in order that they can eventually meet the conditions for their upgrades. All the other M.C.s who are qualified will be upgraded ASAP.

Unit 55 – Communications
By Nancy Romero

• We are once again asking for volunteers to join us on the Joint Labor-Management Committee and on the Worker Safety Tour Groups. Any member who is interested should attend the Unit meetings at the Boylston Yard, on the third Wednesday of the month, at 4:30 p.m., in the Inside Cable Shop. We welcome everyone’s attendance and participation! Please note that all committee members are appointed by Union President Frank Miramontes, in accordance with Local 18’s Constitution and Bylaws.

• We want to encourage all of our Unit members to continue to work with Brother Gary Schmerbeck, who was selected through a Joint Labor-Management Letter of Agreement to fill the Safety Coordinator position for the entire Information Technology Services. Brother Schmerbeck is enthusiastically visiting different job sites and meeting with a variety of ITS members in his effort to gain first-hand knowledge about all the different areas within the ITS Business Unit. We are hopeful that with Brother Schmerbeck as Safety Coordinator, ITS will have a strong safety program in all of its divisions. We wish Brother Schmerbeck good luck in his important position as he continues with his good work in representing our members.

Unit 60 – Waterworks Mechanic
By Ken Delgado

There is still on-going discussion concerning jurisdictional training for the Waterworks Operators. There appears to be big questions about just how much work, and by which class (Operators or Mechanics) should be crossing over into each other’s tasks in the stations. Labor and management are working very hard on this issue in order to return to the proper lines of division. I will continue to keep you informed on this matter.

Unit 64 – Azusa
By Bill Lewis

• We have reached agreement for the realignment of Water Department employees and the required Department of Health Services certifications. The new job requirements are currently being written.

• We had a great turnout at our last Unit meeting! As we discussed at the time, upcoming negotiations are very important. While I will update you, every Unit member also needs to keep informed of our progress during this process.

• A letter has been sent, requesting the beginning of negotiations for a successor Memorandum of Understanding. Currently, we are putting together our negotiating committee. We will keep all of you informed concerning the progress of these negotiations. Please try to attend all the special meetings we call during this important process.

 

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