From the trenches...
Reports
from your Business Reps
Unit 1 (Electrical Distribution/Transmission/Trouble/Street Lights)The
new Unit One Officers are: Unit Chair, John Blondeel-Timmerman; Vice-Chair,
Jack Bell; and Recording Secretary, Dave Schneider. Congratulations to
the new Officers. Bids closed Oct. 21 and people should be moved
to their new bid positions Nov. 2. Two more Senior Electric Distribution
Mechanics will be hired. New Electric Distribution Mechanic Supervisors
will be hired to fill positions in Pole Spotting and two lead crews. The
Union is working with management to see how many Patrolmen will be hired.
Unit 2 (Electric Station Operators)Congratulations to Clarke
Bertram as the new Unit Chairperson and to Martha Barnidge as Vice Chair.
With the shortage of staffing and the hemorrhage of operators leaving
West LA, management has withdrawn all substation bid vacancies from the
bid sheet. It is expected that the positions will return when staffing
improves. As of this writing the exam is still being scored in personnel.
With any luck a list should be established soon and a new class hired
by the end of the year.
Unit 6 (Warehouse/Stores)Nomination and election of Unit
officers took place at the October meeting. Newly elected officers are
Mark Miller, Chair; Ben Jimenez, Vice Chair; and Angelica Roberts, Recording
Secretary. On behalf of the members of Unit 6, we would like to extend
our heartfelt gratitude to the outgoing officers, Jan Deichen, Chair,
and Tom Kwan, Recording Secretary, for unselfishly giving of their time
for the benefit of their Union sisters and brothers.
Unit 8 (Clerical)We have been working on the issues surrounding
emergency response in the Clerical Worker Safety Committee. Sadly, we
had a trial run on Sept. 11, when the World Trade Center and Pentagon
were attacked. We found there are areas that need to be tightened up,
and we are working with the Department to do so. As part of this effort,
mail handling guidelines have been developed and distributed. See Page
7 for highlights. The Clerical Training Review Committee has summarized
the results of the Clerical Survey, and we have begun prioritizing the
training. Available training opportunities and Survey results are being
sent to Clerical employees. The Mail Room at the JFB has a new
floor as a result of a Safety Tour conducted by our Joint Worker Safety
Group members earlier this year. On Oct. 4, a Safety Tour was conducted
in General Construction at Main Street, and on Nov. 7, a Safety Tour was
conducted in Fleet Operations at Truesdale. The Tours have been successful
in getting the focus back on safety for clerical workers. A subcommittee
of Delivery Drivers is meeting to try to develop new routes based on current
DWP needs. This is being done to see if it is feasible to move the Drivers
out of separate Business Units and combine them all under ISS.
See
Unit 8 &18 report for more info. The Committee continues to
work on drafting the language that defines the fringe benefits for part-time
civil service employees. The goal is to have the draft completed by the
end of February. The next phase will be to brief Local 18 Business Manager
and the Employee Relations Manager on the benefits and intent of the language.
Updates and announcements of the additional phases will be in the next
newsletter. Thanks to Annemarie for all her hard work for Unit
8 and 18. Her knowledge, skills, abilities and smile will be missed. Good
luck Annemarie!
Units 8 and 18 (Clerical/Supervisory & Admin-istrative)We
are starting MOU negotiations with the Department. The Clerical negotiating
committee members are Lilly Calvache, Debbie Ferrer, Lynette Lee, Judy
Litowitz, Elena Sotelo-McCrary, Billie Washington and Ann Woodmore. Our
Supervisory Clerical and Administrative members are Vickie Rose, Nance
Walker-Bonnelli and Geralyn Washington-Tatum. Good luck to all the committee
members, and thank you for all your hard work! The Department has
hired a full time Ergonomist on staff in Corporate Safety, Marc Hendon.
Marc is currently working alongside Omega Solutions, the contractor providing
ergonomic analysis and training to the Water System. He will be developing
a comprehensive ergonomic plan for the Department as his first assignment.
This has been a long time coming and we applaud the combined efforts of
the Clerical Worker Safety Committee, the Worker Safety Committee, Corporate
Safety and the Joint Resolution Board for making this happen. A
realignment of the Principal Clerk Stenographer classification has just
been finalized. The Department is in the process of filling vacancies
and terminating temporary appointments. The PCS Classification is in the
process of being retitled as Utility Executive Secretary. The steno skills
requirement is being eliminated, which will allow for more promotional
opportunities. Look for the bulletin to be coming out at the end of December.
Unit 9 (Steam Generation)Our annual dinner meeting was a
great success. It was nice to see so many show up. The dinner was great,
the questions challenging and every one had a good time. Current Unit
officers were unopposed and reelected. Congratulations to Jon Pokorski,
Chairperson, Mike Powers, Vice Chair and Jim Acosta, Recording Secretary.
Unit 12 (Supervisors)The proposal for double time for Supervisors
has been resubmitted to the Executive Employee Relations Committee (EERC)
of the City Council. One year ago, Local 18 and management agreed to this
proposal. It was submitted at that time to the EERC and was not approved.
No reason was given for not approving it. We are now awaiting the EERCs
decision on our current submission. Questions on cell phone and
pager use have again been raised. DWP management seems to believe if they
give you a phone or pager you are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
This is not true. Pagers and phones are just another tool. IBEW members
are not, and have never been, on call employees. We do not
have stand-by workers on nights or weekends. So do not let management
try to have you carry these items with you at all times.
Unit 14 (Transportation)Remember, you are the responsible
person when operating a commercial vehicle. If you are cited for speeding
or other DMV violations, you will have to pay for such violation unless
it is a mechanical problem for which the DWP is responsible. ISS
Fleet Operations is trying to staff up with Equipment Operators and Heavy
Duty Truck Operators, which are definitely needed.
Units 15/20 (Pasadena)Unit elections were held in October.
New officers are Mohamed Youines, Chair; Russell Kruczynski, Vice Chair;
and Executive Committee members Tom Brown, Mike Coil, Metric Edwards,
Greg Heltsley, Victor Jaime and Brad Seceto. We also have two new Stewards:
Tom Martinez in Overhead and Geoff Barsi in Underground. Business
Rep Barry Poole has met with some of the membership to get a handle on
outstanding issues. He is prioritizing and following up on all issues
identified so far. Congratulations to Ovan Preston (pictured), recipient
of a 45-year service award from Pasadena Water and Power
Unit 17 (Customer Service Field Units)Nomination and election
of Unit officers took place at the October meeting. Elected officers are
Tony Marufo, Chairperson; Laura Kellgreen, Vice Chair; and Theatrice (Skip)
Westbrook, Recording Secretary. Congratulations on your reelection, and
thank you for your past and future commitment to the membership of Local
18.
Unit 19 (Electrical Station Maintenance/Elect. Mechs.)Congratulations
to Dave Huff and Gene Canzano on being elected to Local 18 Executive Board
and Recording Secretary, respectively. Unit officers elected at
the October meeting are Dave Huff, Chair; Steven Leyva, Vice Chair; and
Gene Canzano, Recording Secretary. On behalf of the members of Unit 19,
thanks for your commitment to the sisters and brothers of Local 18.
Units 19B and 60 (Mechanical Shops/Generating Station Crafts/FMBG/Waterworks
Mechanics)At the Unit Dinner Meeting on Oct. 23, the following
Unit officers were elected: Ralph Ronda, Chairman; Ed Sanfilippo, Vice
Chair; and Pat Moore, Recording Secretary. They will be serving three-year
terms.
Unit 24 (Water Supply)There are still deficient service areas
with the Nextel phones. Vee Miller is addressing this issue. According
to Nextel, they have submitted their conditional use permits to the City
of Los Angeles, so it should be another few months before the repeater
sites are installed at our facilities. A complete list of safety
tours from June 2000 to June 2001 was passed out to all Worker Safety
Group members. The list was prepared to identify the areas and personnel
that have been toured by the WSG. In the reporting year, 33 safety tours
were performed.
Unit 50 (Burbank)New Officers for Unit 50 are: Chair, Mike
Lemos; Vice Chair, Tom Wilke; Recording Secretary, John Washington. Congratulations
to the new officers. The contract vote was counted Nov. 5 at the
Burbank Union Office by the Negotiations Committee. The new contract was
approved by the membership.
Unit 52 (Owens Valley)Unit Officers elected for three year
terms are Don Kunze, Chairman; Bruce Zigtema, Vice Chairman; and Nancy
Fullingim, Recording Secretary. Congratulations to outgoing Vice Chair
Tim Dunn, who is retiring in November. He has always been there for the
Union when needed. All who have been acquainted with Tim know he is a
hell of a good man and will be missed. We wish him a great
retirement.
Unit 52A (Mojave)The following Unit Officers were elected
at the October meeting: John Miller, Chairman; Judy Fuentes, Vice Chair;
Pat Whitherspoon, Recording Secretary. Thanks to these three for accepting
the positions.
Unit 53 (Water Quality and Distribution)Training is being
enforced in the Water Distribution Business Unit. Training for the Water
Distribution Certificate, which is now a requirement from the State Health
Department, has been moving along with many of the rank and file being
trained continuously. Employees who are planning to retire by Jan.1,
2007 should know there is a policy being written to take care of this
action. As soon as it is finalized, you will be given a copy. Safety
Peak Performance training is on-going with the new Joint Safety Institute
and is to continue until all employees are trained. Unit officers
for the next three years are Jim Schrein, Chairman; Steve Otero, Vice
Chair; and Albert Perez, Recording Secretary.
Unit 55 (Communications)The Joint Labor/Management process was
explained to a large group of ITS employees at a joint meeting held Aug.
23. The Worker Safety and Employee Safety Processes were also explained.
The meeting was co-chaired by Cecilia Weldon (ITS Chief Communications
Officer) and Hank ONeil (Local 18 Business Representative). Presentations
were made by committee members and Unit Chair Carlos Saldana. Also making
presentations were Joint Safety Institute Administrators Frank Miramontes
and Chuck Kokoska, and Hal Lindsey, Director of Corporate Safety. JL/M
Administrator Jim Barham gave an excellent presentation. This meeting
gave Communications employees the opportunity to better understand
the JL/M process.
Unit 63 (Underground Construction)New Officers for Unit 63
are: Chair, Chuck Adams; Vice Chair, Barry Jones; Recording Secretary,
Jesus Aguirre. Congratulations to the new Officers.
Unit 64 (Azusa)Local 18 has been trying to work with management
to resolve issues rather than going to grievances, but Human Resources
has not been cooperative. Local 18 is trying to schedule a meeting with
Rick Cole, the City Administrator, to try and get a better working relationship
as soon as possible.
Unit 65 (County Sanitation District)The Sanitation Districts
classification study of the Power Plant Operator series is still proceeding.
Local 18 and your Unit Chairperson, Jeff Lambert, are trying to
set up a meeting to revisit the one-man shifts.
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