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From the trenches...
Reports from your Business Reps Unit 2 (Electric Station Operators)—In substations we are having an ongoing dialogue about creating a system-wide operator. There are many concerns regarding safety and break time. The members that this issue affects directly feel that we can work the issues out to our mutual benefit. Most of the issues have been worked out, yet we are having problems with protecting bids for those who do not want to participate. The committee is confident that issues will soon be resolved. Unit 3 (Electrical Testers)—The grievance settlements that were reached in the Electrical Testers L/M committee last year are still being processed and should be finalized with management in the near future...Local 18 will be notifying management that the L/M committee is ready to reconvene to address issues still outstanding. Unit 6 (Warehouse/Stores)—We will be reconvening the Stores Joint L/M Committee in order to deal with issues that are still outstanding. If you have any issues that need to be addressed, contact your shop steward. Unit 8 (Clerical)—Retirement Board Candidate Lilly Calvache is an active Unit 8 member. Don’t forget to give her and the other Local 18 candidates your support...Customer Service L/M committees are back in full force. Contact Shawn with any work-related issues that we should be considering...The Clerical Realignment Committee reported to the Joint Resolution Board in December with a recommendation and a request for guidance regarding the Senior Clerical positions. Since then, we have been working on information to take to the board on Jan. 27, at which time we hope to have a resolution...If you are interested in having a site meeting at your work location, contact your Rep. Unit 9 (Steam Generation)—We have had continuing training for the worker safety groups. Enough people have been trained so we can now start new committees at the plants and proceed with real worker safety. As you all know, we are still short-handed everywhere. However, bulletins will soon be out to hire steam plant and tank farm operators off the street. Hopefully, this will help ease the pain, but it is doubtful that the move will help by next summer’s run. Units 8 and 18 (Clerical/Supervisory & Administrative)—Clerical Safety Peak Performance Workshops will be scheduled in the near future. If you want to participate, call your Rep...Model Work Stations are almost ready at the GOB and will be available for personnel who have taken the ergonomics training. We will be working with Power Distribution for the next phase, and have also received requests from the Owens Valley and Generation. Look for ergonomics training in these areas soon...The Executive Secretary classes that were so successful last year are being rescheduled for the remainder of the department clerical staff. Unit 12 (Supervisors)—Dan Mirisola is a Unit 12 member. Don’t forget to vote for Dan, Lilly and Javier for the Retirement Board. Unit 13 (Automotive)—We are establishing a Joint L/M Committee in fleet maintenance. Our first meeting is coming up soon. Please let one of the committee members know of any issues that you would like to see addressed. Members are Garrett Lund, Rocky Guererro, Larry Gonzales, Ruben Lopez and Craig Hauck. Unit 14 (Transportation)—The unit is getting ready for its February bid plan and will be holding meetings to discuss where the bids are and how many will go out...Drivers and operators are still very much needed and management has put in cert requests. Units 15/20 (Pasadena)—The Executive Committee has been meeting to work on negotiations. A members’ survey will be going out shortly. Please attend your next unit meeting for more details. Unit 17 (Customer Service Field Units)—The Department has recently purchased 59 vehicles. A L/M subcommittee is being formed to deal with vehicle safety and maintenance. Unit 18 (Supervisory Clerical/Administrative)—The General Manager’s Secretary position will be going out for bid in January or February. This is the direct result of a grievance filed by Local 18...Your next unit meeting will be Feb. 8 at 5 pm at the Union Hall. Unit 19 (ESM/ERS)—The Union has started discussions with management to explore a 9/80 shift for ESM personnel. Unit chair Manny Minjares has selected a committee to work on this issue...The thievery at RSC should be a thing of the past soon. Management has finally started putting security screens on all the vans stationed at RSC. This should make it much more difficult for them to be vandalized in the future. Unit 19B (Mechanical Shops/Gen. Sta. Crafts/FMBG)—Department management has to follow the appropriate MOUs in the General Construction Section where the annual rated civil service employees are assigned. They seem to be having a problem understanding that. Please carefully read your MOUs and make sure management is going by them. If there are any discrepancies, please call your Rep. Unit 22 (ESRs)—The Joint Labor/Management Investigatory report for the grievance filed by Bob Petty et al. (on behalf of all ESRs) is being processed to the second level... It was reported at the last Unit Meeting that management may request the ESRs to use their personal vehicles (on mileage) to do their work. Nothing official has been presented to Local 18 as of this writing. If this issue is brought up in your area, please contact your business representative immediately. Unit 24 (Water Supply)—Everyone came through the Y2K emergency drill with flying colors. Those who were called to stand by did so patiently and readily on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Great job! Unit 25 (Gardeners)—We will be reconvening the Joint L/M Subcommittee dealing with landscaping issues. Some of the items we will be discussing include the hiring of more gardeners and getting rid of contractors that are currently doing our work. Unit 26 (Custodians)—Beginning March 2, we will be changing our Unit meetings to monthly, alternating sites between the GOB and the AOB. The meetings held at GOB will be in training room A5A on the A level from 3:30-5 pm. The site for the AOB meetings has not been determined but notification will be put out as soon as a room is confirmed. Unit 28 (Reprographics/Print Shop)—We are forming L/M committees to deal with safety and workplace issues. The first meeting will be scheduled for February. Unit 50 (Burbank)—Negotiations are continuing on the Electricians’ survey...The VEBA plan has been put in place. It will be activated 30 days after we give notification for it to be implemented...Four electrician positions have been approved. They will be filled laterally from within the department if possible. Unit 52 (Owens Valley)—The Unit 52 holiday dinner meeting was held at Rossi’s in Big Pine. The turnout was great. Many thanks to Unit Chairman Kevin McDonough for putting this event together and thanks to all who participated...The L/M committees are meeting and doing well. Unit 52A (Mojave)—Now that the “shutdown” has ended, Unit meetings will resume beginning Feb. 8 at 5:30 pm. Please plan to attend. Unit 53 (Water Quality and Distribution)—A recent incident in Water Distribution could have resulted in a serious accident. A member got a jolt of electricity as he was changing out a water meter. This incident resulted from the failure to properly use jumper cables. Management is alerting all the Water Districts of this potential danger and will be retraining all affected personnel in the proper use of jumper cables and volt meters when changing out water meters. Serious injuries can be averted by following these procedures...Don’t forget to vote for Unit 53 member Javier Romero as well as Dan Mirisola and Lilly Calvache to represent us on the Retirement Board. Unit 55 (Communications)—We have been trying to schedule a Unit dinner meeting and thought we could pull it off in January, but we couldn’t. We’ll try to schedule it for February. Unit 60 (Waterworks Mechanics)—We are still processing grievances on working out of class, zone pay and safety shoes. Hopefully these will be resolved in the near future...The Joint L/M Committees are meeting and progressing. Unit 64 (Azusa)—A formal request has been sent to meet and confer for the purpose of establishing a successor memorandum of understanding between Local 18 and the City of Azuza. Unit 65 (County Sanitation District)—We have had two meetings with management to discuss one-man shifts at Palos Verdes and SPADRA plants. Many safety questions, along with security issues, have been raised by your Local 18 committee: Jeff Lambert, Tracy Cooper and Vince Stevens. Another meeting is scheduled for March 10, 10 am, at the JAO. |