Monday, January 17, 2005
Juvenile home library grows
Local people show generosity
By Deidre Bello
Iowa City Press-Citizen
TOLEDO -- Students at the Iowa Juvenile Home might be more inclined to visit the school library now that it is larger than a study hall.
The juvenile home was without a librarian and had little technology because of state budget cuts. But on Friday, the training school staff celebrated a grand opening of its newly improved library and the organizations that donated time and money for the effort.
The library is now about 1,400 square feet -- half the size of a tennis court. Renovation started in late September after Carol Thompson, a member of the home's Foundation Board, led a fund-raising effort that accumulated about $100,000 in donations, said Bill Skow, president of the Iowa Juvenile Home Foundation.
"The real surprise to me came from the generosity in the Iowa City-area, and most of that is because of Carol Thompson and her aggressive fund-raising," he said about the former Johnson County supervisor.
In addition, North Liberty librarians Dee Crowner, Jennie Garner and Janet Lubben volunteered time to organize the library, Skow said. The librarians are training two regular staff members along with volunteers to run the library, he said.
Staffers at the North Liberty Public Library collected between 2,000 and 3,000 books, DVDs and videos for the teen readers, said Crowner, North Liberty's library director. The librarians also bought books and plan to continue to collect adult and young adult books for the Toledo library, she said. Students helped choose furnishings, carpeting and wall colors, she said.
"They were all just amazed," Crowner said about school staffers and local officials. "I think they're going to take a lot of pride in that library."
The juvenile home is a state training school primarily for delinquent girls. It houses boys and girls who have been removed from their home by court order. Students range in age from 12 to 18. Some of the students are from Johnson County and about two-thirds are children who are victims of abuse and neglect, Thompson said.
"This gives them a nice, clean, warm environment with updated modern furnishings that will hopefully encourage them to enjoy leisure reading," Skow said. "The most important thing it does is it lets those students know that there are people out there that care and actually donated time to make their lives better."
Thompson said renovations were made possible thanks to $14,000 from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, $15,000 from the McElroy Trust, and $70,000 from individuals, state agencies, Iowa City businesses, local churches and book businesses. In addition, architect Dwight Dobberstein, with Neumann Monson Architects in Iowa City, and Russ Vlasak, from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, offered their services for free.
One of the largest donations came from a former student at the training school, Skow said.
Reach Deidre Bello at 339-7360 or dbello@press-citizen.com.
Let us know what you think of this story...
Saturday, January 22, 2005
IBEW Local 98 (Philadelphia) Leader May Be Drafted to Run For Mayor
Posted on Fri, Jan. 21, 2005
Click here to find out more!
Saidel fund-raiser for a noncandidate
Admirers of Jonathan Saidel will have a chance to fete the four-term city controller Wednesday night, the evening before he's scheduled to announce plans for his future. Conventional wisdom holds that Saidel will shun a fifth try for his job so he can run for mayor in 2007. Under the City Charter, he can't announce he'll run for mayor until he leaves the city controller's post, meaning the proceeds from the $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at the Wyndham Philadelphia at Franklin Plaza officially go to a Friends of Saidel group.
The event won't be the night's only chance to donate to a 2007 mayoral noncandidate. A group raising money to draft electricians' union leader John Dougherty plans a Wednesday night fund-raiser at a Northeast Philadelphia restaurant. And at $50, the event is a bargain by comparison.
Draft John Dougherty chairman Mike Neill said he expected roughly 1,000 people to attend. He said a previous event in South Philadelphia had raised about $40,000 for the group.
Neill said the timing of the event, opposite a higher-profile fund-raiser for a potential rival, was just a coincidence.
"We've had this planned for two or three months," said Neill, who grew up with Dougherty in South Philadelphia and works as director of training for his International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98.
- Michael Currie Schaffer
The mayor's salary: Guess again
Not even Mayor Street's press office, apparently, knows how much the mayor makes.
Last week, his office told Heard in the Hall that Street earned $165,000 a year - a figure, it turns out, that was inflated.
"I'm not exactly sure where the mistake was made," said Dan Fee, a consultant who heads the mayor's press office.
But it could be because in February, Street, with little fanfare, retroactively drew on three years' worth of cost-of-living increases that he previously had not taken. That boosted his salary by $16,975 to the current $144,009.
In an interview with reporters at City Hall yesterday, the mayor defended those raises, saying he was "entitled" to them.
And Fee also defended the mayor, saying Street could have taken an even bigger raise under a bill that Council passed in 2003. Under the bill, Council, the mayor, and seven other elected city officials were eligible to receive pay increases, and Street's salary would have shot up to $165,000.
Street vetoed the increase, saying he felt the pay-raise bill sent "the wrong message to our constituents and employees who will be asked to make sacrifices to help ensure that we maintain fiscal stability over the next four years."
Council overrode the mayor's veto, but Street never took advantage of the raise - just the smaller cost-of-living increases.
"It's still over $20,000 less than what he is due," Fee said.
- Anthony S. Twyman
Wanted: A few more city officials
A year into his second term, Mayor Street is facing a long list of vacancies in top posts: Interim or acting officials are serving as directors of communications, finance, and the Department of Human Services, among other jobs, and Managing Director Philip R. Goldsmith plans to leave this spring.
Now, at least one other post appears likely to come open, too: Health Commissioner John Domzalski enrolled in the city's Deferred Retirement Option Program in July 2001, meaning Domzalski must retire by this July.
Under the program, enrolled employees can have their monthly retirement benefits placed in a special account that the employee receives in a lump sum on retirement within four years. Domzalski, a 35-year veteran of city government, enrolled in the program before Mayor Street appointed him health commissioner in 2002, according to Deborah Bolling, an administration spokeswoman. Bolling said Domzalski, who currently makes $125,000, must leave by July 23 but could be gone sooner because he had accrued an unspecified amount of comp time over the years.
Michael Currie Schaffer
Click here to find out more!
Saidel fund-raiser for a noncandidate
Admirers of Jonathan Saidel will have a chance to fete the four-term city controller Wednesday night, the evening before he's scheduled to announce plans for his future. Conventional wisdom holds that Saidel will shun a fifth try for his job so he can run for mayor in 2007. Under the City Charter, he can't announce he'll run for mayor until he leaves the city controller's post, meaning the proceeds from the $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser at the Wyndham Philadelphia at Franklin Plaza officially go to a Friends of Saidel group.
The event won't be the night's only chance to donate to a 2007 mayoral noncandidate. A group raising money to draft electricians' union leader John Dougherty plans a Wednesday night fund-raiser at a Northeast Philadelphia restaurant. And at $50, the event is a bargain by comparison.
Draft John Dougherty chairman Mike Neill said he expected roughly 1,000 people to attend. He said a previous event in South Philadelphia had raised about $40,000 for the group.
Neill said the timing of the event, opposite a higher-profile fund-raiser for a potential rival, was just a coincidence.
"We've had this planned for two or three months," said Neill, who grew up with Dougherty in South Philadelphia and works as director of training for his International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98.
- Michael Currie Schaffer
The mayor's salary: Guess again
Not even Mayor Street's press office, apparently, knows how much the mayor makes.
Last week, his office told Heard in the Hall that Street earned $165,000 a year - a figure, it turns out, that was inflated.
"I'm not exactly sure where the mistake was made," said Dan Fee, a consultant who heads the mayor's press office.
But it could be because in February, Street, with little fanfare, retroactively drew on three years' worth of cost-of-living increases that he previously had not taken. That boosted his salary by $16,975 to the current $144,009.
In an interview with reporters at City Hall yesterday, the mayor defended those raises, saying he was "entitled" to them.
And Fee also defended the mayor, saying Street could have taken an even bigger raise under a bill that Council passed in 2003. Under the bill, Council, the mayor, and seven other elected city officials were eligible to receive pay increases, and Street's salary would have shot up to $165,000.
Street vetoed the increase, saying he felt the pay-raise bill sent "the wrong message to our constituents and employees who will be asked to make sacrifices to help ensure that we maintain fiscal stability over the next four years."
Council overrode the mayor's veto, but Street never took advantage of the raise - just the smaller cost-of-living increases.
"It's still over $20,000 less than what he is due," Fee said.
- Anthony S. Twyman
Wanted: A few more city officials
A year into his second term, Mayor Street is facing a long list of vacancies in top posts: Interim or acting officials are serving as directors of communications, finance, and the Department of Human Services, among other jobs, and Managing Director Philip R. Goldsmith plans to leave this spring.
Now, at least one other post appears likely to come open, too: Health Commissioner John Domzalski enrolled in the city's Deferred Retirement Option Program in July 2001, meaning Domzalski must retire by this July.
Under the program, enrolled employees can have their monthly retirement benefits placed in a special account that the employee receives in a lump sum on retirement within four years. Domzalski, a 35-year veteran of city government, enrolled in the program before Mayor Street appointed him health commissioner in 2002, according to Deborah Bolling, an administration spokeswoman. Bolling said Domzalski, who currently makes $125,000, must leave by July 23 but could be gone sooner because he had accrued an unspecified amount of comp time over the years.
Michael Currie Schaffer
IBEW Local 5 (Pittsburgh) Hosts Seminar for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises
Gaming officer to speak at seminar
01/16/2005
The Governmental Committee for Minorities, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (MWDBE) will host its fourth annual seminar on Feb. 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Conference Center, 5 Hot Metal and Carson streets, Southside Pittsburgh.
The guest speaker will be Sanford Rivers of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Advertisement
Rivers will speak on the potential business opportunities that will be made available through the licensing and operations of the gaming venues.
This seminar is open to businesses with an interest in learning of business opportunities that will exist with the Gaming Control Board.
To register for this event contact Ray Meyer at 412-734-8737 or email him at rmeyer@acosan.org.
This event is free and made possible by bank sponsors National City, PNC, Citizens and NorthSide.
Parking will be available near the seminar site.
©The Herald Standard 2005
01/16/2005
The Governmental Committee for Minorities, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (MWDBE) will host its fourth annual seminar on Feb. 3 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Conference Center, 5 Hot Metal and Carson streets, Southside Pittsburgh.
The guest speaker will be Sanford Rivers of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Advertisement
Rivers will speak on the potential business opportunities that will be made available through the licensing and operations of the gaming venues.
This seminar is open to businesses with an interest in learning of business opportunities that will exist with the Gaming Control Board.
To register for this event contact Ray Meyer at 412-734-8737 or email him at rmeyer@acosan.org.
This event is free and made possible by bank sponsors National City, PNC, Citizens and NorthSide.
Parking will be available near the seminar site.
©The Herald Standard 2005
IBEW Local 1547 (Anchorage AK) Thanked for Lighting New Year's Event in Fairbanks
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Jan 16
New Year's event begins a great tradition for Anchorage
Bob Butera of Anchorage wrote on behalf of the New Year's event at Town Square that featured ice skating, live music, lights and fireworks: "Add a bunch of spirited Alaskans, and one could not ask for a better way to celebrate New Year's Eve." Butera thanks the Municipality of Anchorage, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and many others for starting this new Anchorage tradition.
New Year's event begins a great tradition for Anchorage
Bob Butera of Anchorage wrote on behalf of the New Year's event at Town Square that featured ice skating, live music, lights and fireworks: "Add a bunch of spirited Alaskans, and one could not ask for a better way to celebrate New Year's Eve." Butera thanks the Municipality of Anchorage, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and many others for starting this new Anchorage tradition.
IBEW Spokesman Jim Spellane Speaks Out Against Sale of Electronic Manufacturing Equipment to Overseas Competitors
Dispute Looms Over U.S. Export of Chip-Making Equipment
BY JEFFREY KOSSEFF
c.2005 Newhouse News Service
WASHINGTON -- The application seems innocuous enough: asking the Export-Import Bank of the United States to help finance the export of $1.2 billion worth of U.S.-made equipment.
The bank is a federal agency charged with assisting in the export of U.S. products to other countries, so the request appears to meet its mission.
But the equipment is used to make semiconductors, and the destination is China.
The bank will consider the economic impact of the $1.2 billion financing application in the coming months. Until votes are placed on the bank board's meeting agendas, the bank cannot reveal the names of the U.S. exporters or the foreign companies buying the goods. It also will not identify whether the type of financing that was requested was a loan guarantee or a direct loan.
Critics say that even though such financing helps makers of manufacturing equipment, it also bolsters the migration of chip-making to other countries. The bank faces a tough choice: Should it help the equipment companies, even at the potential expense of domestic chip-makers?
The dilemma is a long-standing one for the bank.
"The bank has tried, at least while I was there, to walk a narrow line balancing the positive impact of the jobs associated with the exports against the potential negative impact on industries that compete with the foreign output that the exports will enable," said Rita M. Rodriguez, who served on the bank's board from October 1982 to March 1999.
Normally, the bank provides guarantees for repayment of commercial loans, but it also provides other types of financing, such as export credit insurance and direct loans. In the 2003 fiscal year, it financed $14.3 billion in U.S. exports.
In November, the bank's board of directors approved a loan guarantee for the sale of $652 million in U.S. equipment and services to Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. in Singapore for a silicon wafer fabrication facility there.
Chartered Semiconductor said the bank's support helped U.S. exporters of manufacturing equipment stay competitive.
"This financing package enabled Chartered to maximize its potential purchases from the U.S.," George Thomas, vice president and chief financial officer of Chartered Semiconductor, said in a written response to a reporter's question.
Applied Materials Inc., the Santa Clara, Calif., company that was among the equipment suppliers in the deal, said the financing helped create new export opportunities.
"They're real sales that maintain and create U.S. jobs," said David Miller, an Applied Materials spokesman. "Without the assistance, foreign competitors will be able to go in there. If we fail to provide it, somebody else will."
But some trade experts say it isn't that simple. Making it easier to set up chip plants in Asia, they say, indirectly hurts the chip industry in the United States.
"It is a very short-term gain to sell them the tools to make products that will displace American workers," said Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Labor advocates say such policies contribute to the broader problem of migration of manufacturing offshore.
"If the desire is to ship the equipment over, well, that's fine in the short term for the manufacturers of the equipment, but at some point the Asian countries will figure out how to make that themselves," said Jim Spellane, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The semiconductor industry's trade association is neutral on the issue.
Now the bank is considering whether to help finance the $1.2 billion sale of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing equipment to a foundry in China.
The bank's staff is taking comments through next Thursday before its staff conducts an economic-impact analysis. Then the bank's board could vote on the application.
"The reason for the economic impact analysis is to see what kind of impact the sale of the equipment would have on the industry," said Phil Cogan, a bank spokesman.
In September 2001, the bank voted to bolster its economic analysis process when considering whether to finance the export of capital that could help a foreign company make goods that compete against the United States.
"Since 2001, ExIm Bank has made a concerted effort in my view to obtain additional public input for these types of transactions, and this recognizes that the agency doesn't have all the answers and may benefit from data and rationales provided by interested parties," said Dan Renberg, who served on the bank's board of directors from November 1999 to January 2003 and is now a partner at the Washington law firm Arent Fox PLLC.
Jan. 6, 2005
IBEW Local 569 (San Diego) Honored for Renewable Energy Training
Press Release Source: San Diego Regional Energy Office
Winners of 2004 'San Diego Excellence in Energy' (SANDEE) Awards Announced
Tuesday January 18, 4:24 pm ET
San Diego Regional Energy Office and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Recognize Top Energy Saving Projects, Organizations and Individuals
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Diego Regional Energy Office (SDREO) and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce (SDRCC) today announced the winners of the first San Diego "Excellence in Energy" (SANDEE) Awards at the Chamber's annual dinner. Among those recognized were the County of San Diego, University of California San Diego (UCSD), City of Chula Vista, Tom Blair (City of San Diego), Qualcomm and the IBEW/NECA San Diego Electrical Training Trust.
The SANDEE Awards are presented annually to outstanding business, government and institutional projects, persons or activities that save energy and/or contribute to the success of the "San Diego Regional Energy Strategy 2030" in the areas of transportation, infrastructure and buildings. The awards program is a joint project between SDREO and SDRCC and is cosponsored by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and NRG Energy.
2004 San Diego Excellence in Energy - Award Winners
Project of the Year (Government) - County of San Diego
The County of San Diego took top honors in this category for its North County and South Bay Regional Centers by adopting mechanical and solar power technologies to reduce the operating costs of two sites as part of one capital improvement project. The central chiller plants were converted to an all variable speed system controlled by the "Hartman Loop" technology, which lowered plant electricity usage by 45%. With the addition of 200 kW of photovoltaic systems installed between both facilities -- the net result was over 2 million kWh/yr and $250,000/yr in savings. This equates to a 4.3 year payback, 24% ROI and $2.69 million life cycle savings. Due to the success of this project, the County has since implemented variable speed technology at six additional facilities.
Project of the Year (Institution) - University of California San Diego
UCSD retrofitted two laboratory research buildings with variable frequency drives and rebalanced them to newer campus standards with lower air change requirements. These two modifications achieved 1.74 million kWh, 114,000 therms and $314,000 in annual energy savings -- a very fast, 2.6 year payback.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Government) - City of Chula Vista
The City of Chula Vista went above and beyond to support and adopt emerging technologies that protect the environment. Acting on recommendations in their recently adopted CO2 Reduction Plan -- designed to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations -- the City constructed a Municipal Clean Fuel Demonstration Project to showcase clean fuel technologies in real world applications. This included the world's first zinc-powered fuel cell car, followed by the region's first hydrogen fueling station open to the public. In November, Chula Vista became one of three U.S. cities selected to demonstrate a Honda FCX fuel cell car. The City concluded that replacing Chula Vista's entire vehicle fleet would avoid approximately 8,000 tons/yr of CO2 emissions and conserve about 105 million Btu/yr of diesel, gasoline and natural gas.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Business) - Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated was recognized for their consistent and ongoing commitment to energy efficiency, product and project performance, regional advocacy, and long-term infrastructure planning and implementation -- which directly support the goals of the San Diego Regional Energy Strategy 2030. This has included:
* Strategies to save energy through education, special programs,
reminders and a dedicated energy website.
* Employee shuttles and economic support for carpooling and Coaster use.
* Active participation in the new California Climate Action Registry to
document and reduce emissions.
* Instituting a comprehensive array of operational practices and capital
investment projects to upgrade building envelope, lighting and
mechanical systems for improved operations, maintenance and lower
operating costs.
* An internal Energy & Resources Committee that meets biweekly to
evaluate products and projects.
* Supports for a variety of local resource conservation organizations
through an employee matching grant program and sponsoring the annual
Bike-To-Work Day.
Finally, Qualcomm has developed several key initiatives to foster a future community of well-educated scientists and engineers to develop the technologies and innovations that will help our planet be a more energy-efficient place to live.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Institution) - IBEW/NECA San Diego Electrical Training Trust
The nonprofit San Diego Electrical Training Trust's "Apprenticeship and Journeyman Training Center" recognized the growing need for development of renewable energy resources -- specifically in support of the Southern California solar industry. The San Diego IBEW/NECA partnership offers an innovative training center to quickly, efficiently, and safely train skilled electrical and telecommunication workers, while creating energy savings and promoting solar technology. To facilitate this educational program and lead by example, the Center installed a 89.4 kW AC commercial solar array, providing over 90% of the facility's power needs and offsetting 37 tons per year of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be produced by burning fossil fuels.
Special Recognition Award - Tom Blair
Tom Blair has been the Energy Conservation and Management Administrator for the City of San Diego since February 2002. Under his direction, the City has reduced energy consumption and costs to taxpayers by over $3 million, and is on target to install 50 MW of renewable energy systems by the year 2013. This has included:
* Setting up an Electronic Data Interchange of billing data and
subsequent electronic payments to SDG&E for 3,200 monthly gas and
electric accounts thereby replacing labor intensive data-entry efforts
and increasing accuracy
* Leading a tariff verification and analysis of water and wastewater
facilities that results in an energy cost savings of $900k/yr
* Managing the installation of 4 City-owned photovoltaic system sites
with a combined capacity of 176 kW
* Overseeing the first cogeneration/photovoltaic hybrid interconnection
in SDG&E service territory; among numerous other energy efficiency
projects.
Finally, Blair's active participation in regulatory and legislative processes is a positive influence for many in the Southern California region.
Runner-ups
Other organizations and individuals who were recognized included:
* Naval Base Coronado for a cogeneration system
* Flexcar for an innovative transportation solution
* Otay Water District for energy efficient infrastructure
* Keith Thompson of ILA+Zammitt for energy services and advocacy
Award sponsors praise winners
In announcing the winners, Irene M. Stillings, Executive Director of SDREO commented, "San Diego and California are still faced with long-term energy supply issues. The SANDEE Award winners are clearly doing their part to help ensure our region has the energy it needs now and for the future."
"By recognizing those organizations that are leading the way on energy savings and production, we hope to incentivize others to adopt similar programs and projects. The benefits that will accrue to the region are enormous," said SDRCC President and CEO Jessie J. Knight, Jr.
Judging
All submissions were evaluated by a panel of local energy and planning experts:
* Stephen L. Kapp, CEM, CDSM - Program Manager, SDREO
* Steve Hoffmann - Energy Committee Chair, SDRCC & Vice President, NRG
Energy Center, Inc.
* Athena Besa - Energy Programs, Mass Markets, SDG&E
* Rob Rundle - Principal Regional Planner, SANDAG
* Bob Miller, PE, CEM - Energy Engineer (Retired)
For more information, visit the SDREO website at http://www.sdenergy.org and follow the SANDEE links. For questions about the winning projects or the award process, please contact Stephen Kapp at SDREO at 858-244-1177 or by e-mail at stephen.kapp@sdenergy.org.
San Diego Regional Energy Office (SDREO) is an independent, public-benefit, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that provides objective information, research, analysis and long-term planning on energy issues for the San Diego region. SDREO serves as a critical link between consumers and government and is currently managing a variety of publicly-funded rebate, incentive and education programs. SDREO also operates the San Diego Energy Resource Center -- a reference, training and demonstration facility for energy education and technologies. For more information, visit our website at http://www.sdenergy.org or call us toll free at 1-866-SDENERGY.
Source: San Diego Regional Energy Office
Winners of 2004 'San Diego Excellence in Energy' (SANDEE) Awards Announced
Tuesday January 18, 4:24 pm ET
San Diego Regional Energy Office and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Recognize Top Energy Saving Projects, Organizations and Individuals
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Diego Regional Energy Office (SDREO) and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce (SDRCC) today announced the winners of the first San Diego "Excellence in Energy" (SANDEE) Awards at the Chamber's annual dinner. Among those recognized were the County of San Diego, University of California San Diego (UCSD), City of Chula Vista, Tom Blair (City of San Diego), Qualcomm and the IBEW/NECA San Diego Electrical Training Trust.
The SANDEE Awards are presented annually to outstanding business, government and institutional projects, persons or activities that save energy and/or contribute to the success of the "San Diego Regional Energy Strategy 2030" in the areas of transportation, infrastructure and buildings. The awards program is a joint project between SDREO and SDRCC and is cosponsored by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and NRG Energy.
2004 San Diego Excellence in Energy - Award Winners
Project of the Year (Government) - County of San Diego
The County of San Diego took top honors in this category for its North County and South Bay Regional Centers by adopting mechanical and solar power technologies to reduce the operating costs of two sites as part of one capital improvement project. The central chiller plants were converted to an all variable speed system controlled by the "Hartman Loop" technology, which lowered plant electricity usage by 45%. With the addition of 200 kW of photovoltaic systems installed between both facilities -- the net result was over 2 million kWh/yr and $250,000/yr in savings. This equates to a 4.3 year payback, 24% ROI and $2.69 million life cycle savings. Due to the success of this project, the County has since implemented variable speed technology at six additional facilities.
Project of the Year (Institution) - University of California San Diego
UCSD retrofitted two laboratory research buildings with variable frequency drives and rebalanced them to newer campus standards with lower air change requirements. These two modifications achieved 1.74 million kWh, 114,000 therms and $314,000 in annual energy savings -- a very fast, 2.6 year payback.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Government) - City of Chula Vista
The City of Chula Vista went above and beyond to support and adopt emerging technologies that protect the environment. Acting on recommendations in their recently adopted CO2 Reduction Plan -- designed to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions from municipal operations -- the City constructed a Municipal Clean Fuel Demonstration Project to showcase clean fuel technologies in real world applications. This included the world's first zinc-powered fuel cell car, followed by the region's first hydrogen fueling station open to the public. In November, Chula Vista became one of three U.S. cities selected to demonstrate a Honda FCX fuel cell car. The City concluded that replacing Chula Vista's entire vehicle fleet would avoid approximately 8,000 tons/yr of CO2 emissions and conserve about 105 million Btu/yr of diesel, gasoline and natural gas.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Business) - Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm Incorporated was recognized for their consistent and ongoing commitment to energy efficiency, product and project performance, regional advocacy, and long-term infrastructure planning and implementation -- which directly support the goals of the San Diego Regional Energy Strategy 2030. This has included:
* Strategies to save energy through education, special programs,
reminders and a dedicated energy website.
* Employee shuttles and economic support for carpooling and Coaster use.
* Active participation in the new California Climate Action Registry to
document and reduce emissions.
* Instituting a comprehensive array of operational practices and capital
investment projects to upgrade building envelope, lighting and
mechanical systems for improved operations, maintenance and lower
operating costs.
* An internal Energy & Resources Committee that meets biweekly to
evaluate products and projects.
* Supports for a variety of local resource conservation organizations
through an employee matching grant program and sponsoring the annual
Bike-To-Work Day.
Finally, Qualcomm has developed several key initiatives to foster a future community of well-educated scientists and engineers to develop the technologies and innovations that will help our planet be a more energy-efficient place to live.
Outstanding Organization Achievement (Institution) - IBEW/NECA San Diego Electrical Training Trust
The nonprofit San Diego Electrical Training Trust's "Apprenticeship and Journeyman Training Center" recognized the growing need for development of renewable energy resources -- specifically in support of the Southern California solar industry. The San Diego IBEW/NECA partnership offers an innovative training center to quickly, efficiently, and safely train skilled electrical and telecommunication workers, while creating energy savings and promoting solar technology. To facilitate this educational program and lead by example, the Center installed a 89.4 kW AC commercial solar array, providing over 90% of the facility's power needs and offsetting 37 tons per year of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be produced by burning fossil fuels.
Special Recognition Award - Tom Blair
Tom Blair has been the Energy Conservation and Management Administrator for the City of San Diego since February 2002. Under his direction, the City has reduced energy consumption and costs to taxpayers by over $3 million, and is on target to install 50 MW of renewable energy systems by the year 2013. This has included:
* Setting up an Electronic Data Interchange of billing data and
subsequent electronic payments to SDG&E for 3,200 monthly gas and
electric accounts thereby replacing labor intensive data-entry efforts
and increasing accuracy
* Leading a tariff verification and analysis of water and wastewater
facilities that results in an energy cost savings of $900k/yr
* Managing the installation of 4 City-owned photovoltaic system sites
with a combined capacity of 176 kW
* Overseeing the first cogeneration/photovoltaic hybrid interconnection
in SDG&E service territory; among numerous other energy efficiency
projects.
Finally, Blair's active participation in regulatory and legislative processes is a positive influence for many in the Southern California region.
Runner-ups
Other organizations and individuals who were recognized included:
* Naval Base Coronado for a cogeneration system
* Flexcar for an innovative transportation solution
* Otay Water District for energy efficient infrastructure
* Keith Thompson of ILA+Zammitt for energy services and advocacy
Award sponsors praise winners
In announcing the winners, Irene M. Stillings, Executive Director of SDREO commented, "San Diego and California are still faced with long-term energy supply issues. The SANDEE Award winners are clearly doing their part to help ensure our region has the energy it needs now and for the future."
"By recognizing those organizations that are leading the way on energy savings and production, we hope to incentivize others to adopt similar programs and projects. The benefits that will accrue to the region are enormous," said SDRCC President and CEO Jessie J. Knight, Jr.
Judging
All submissions were evaluated by a panel of local energy and planning experts:
* Stephen L. Kapp, CEM, CDSM - Program Manager, SDREO
* Steve Hoffmann - Energy Committee Chair, SDRCC & Vice President, NRG
Energy Center, Inc.
* Athena Besa - Energy Programs, Mass Markets, SDG&E
* Rob Rundle - Principal Regional Planner, SANDAG
* Bob Miller, PE, CEM - Energy Engineer (Retired)
For more information, visit the SDREO website at http://www.sdenergy.org and follow the SANDEE links. For questions about the winning projects or the award process, please contact Stephen Kapp at SDREO at 858-244-1177 or by e-mail at stephen.kapp@sdenergy.org.
San Diego Regional Energy Office (SDREO) is an independent, public-benefit, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that provides objective information, research, analysis and long-term planning on energy issues for the San Diego region. SDREO serves as a critical link between consumers and government and is currently managing a variety of publicly-funded rebate, incentive and education programs. SDREO also operates the San Diego Energy Resource Center -- a reference, training and demonstration facility for energy education and technologies. For more information, visit our website at http://www.sdenergy.org or call us toll free at 1-866-SDENERGY.
Source: San Diego Regional Energy Office
Retired Former IBEW Local 1377 (Cleveland, OH) Officer Passes After 84 Active Years
01/20/2005
Katherine L. Leonardi
Services for Katherine L. (Cunningham) Leonardi, 84, of Chardon, a retired assembler, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Church of St. Mary, 401 North St., Chardon.
Katherine L. Leonardi
Services for Katherine L. (Cunningham) Leonardi, 84, of Chardon, a retired assembler, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Church of St. Mary, 401 North St., Chardon.
Mrs. Leonardi died Jan. 18, 2005, at Geauga Regional Hospital in Claridon Township.
Born Jan. 26, 1920, in Chicago, Ill., she lived in Mayfield Heights and Cape Coral, Fla., for 17 years before moving to the Chardon area in July 2004. She was formerly of Mayfield Village.
When living in Mayfield Village, she was a longtime member of St. Felicitas Catholic Church in Euclid. She was a member and union representative of Union Local 1377 IBEW, known as "a real fighter for the underdog." She was a past member of Euclid Vets Auxiliary, where she served as president numerous times. An avid boater and fisherman on Lake Erie and in Florida, she and her husband were members of a number of area yacht clubs, including the West Channel Yacht Club, Eastlake. Her fellow fishermen felt she was the best perch fisherman on Lake Erie.
In Florida, she was recognized by the City of Cape Coral for her sportsmanship in catching and releasing game fish. She and her husband loved the out of doors, having owned a motor home, which they drove to their camper.
Mrs. Leonardi was employed by the former Picker Xray in Highland Heights for 19 years, retiring in 1985.
Survivors are her husband, Max Leonardi, whom she married in Cleveland on April 28, 1943; sons, James (Joyce) Leonardi of Chardon, Martin (Elaine) Leonardi of Lyndhurst, Dante (Dianne) Leonardi of Wickliffe and Max Leonardi of Mayfield Heights; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; her twin sister, Elizabeth Muehle of Highland Heights; and daughter-in-law, Linda Leonardi McGreevy of Euclid.
She was preceded in death by her son, Michael Leonardi; parents, Martin and Elizabeth (Holzhausen) Cunningham; daughter-in-law, Paulette Leonardi; one sister; and two brothers.
Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Burr Funeral Home, 116 South St. (on St. Rt. 44, 500 feet south of Rt. 6/Chardon Square), Chardon. The Rev. Gregory Schaut of the Church of St. Mary will officiate at services. Burial will be at All Souls Cemetery in Chardon Township.
Information and online condolences at www.burrservice.com
Katherine L. Leonardi
Services for Katherine L. (Cunningham) Leonardi, 84, of Chardon, a retired assembler, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Church of St. Mary, 401 North St., Chardon.
Katherine L. Leonardi
Services for Katherine L. (Cunningham) Leonardi, 84, of Chardon, a retired assembler, will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Church of St. Mary, 401 North St., Chardon.
Mrs. Leonardi died Jan. 18, 2005, at Geauga Regional Hospital in Claridon Township.
Born Jan. 26, 1920, in Chicago, Ill., she lived in Mayfield Heights and Cape Coral, Fla., for 17 years before moving to the Chardon area in July 2004. She was formerly of Mayfield Village.
When living in Mayfield Village, she was a longtime member of St. Felicitas Catholic Church in Euclid. She was a member and union representative of Union Local 1377 IBEW, known as "a real fighter for the underdog." She was a past member of Euclid Vets Auxiliary, where she served as president numerous times. An avid boater and fisherman on Lake Erie and in Florida, she and her husband were members of a number of area yacht clubs, including the West Channel Yacht Club, Eastlake. Her fellow fishermen felt she was the best perch fisherman on Lake Erie.
In Florida, she was recognized by the City of Cape Coral for her sportsmanship in catching and releasing game fish. She and her husband loved the out of doors, having owned a motor home, which they drove to their camper.
Mrs. Leonardi was employed by the former Picker Xray in Highland Heights for 19 years, retiring in 1985.
Survivors are her husband, Max Leonardi, whom she married in Cleveland on April 28, 1943; sons, James (Joyce) Leonardi of Chardon, Martin (Elaine) Leonardi of Lyndhurst, Dante (Dianne) Leonardi of Wickliffe and Max Leonardi of Mayfield Heights; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; her twin sister, Elizabeth Muehle of Highland Heights; and daughter-in-law, Linda Leonardi McGreevy of Euclid.
She was preceded in death by her son, Michael Leonardi; parents, Martin and Elizabeth (Holzhausen) Cunningham; daughter-in-law, Paulette Leonardi; one sister; and two brothers.
Friends may call from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Burr Funeral Home, 116 South St. (on St. Rt. 44, 500 feet south of Rt. 6/Chardon Square), Chardon. The Rev. Gregory Schaut of the Church of St. Mary will officiate at services. Burial will be at All Souls Cemetery in Chardon Township.
Information and online condolences at www.burrservice.com
Fund Created for Family of IBEW Local 103 (Boston) Member Killed on the Way to Work
Fund established to benefit family of accident victim
By Mike Melanson, Enterprise correspondent
WEST BRIDGEWATER — An Easton bank has established a fund to benefit the family of Daniel Bellamy, killed in a Monday snowplow accident in front of his house.
In a related development, West Bridgewater police Tuesday released a plow-equipped vehicle to its owner after the SUV, which was involved in the accident, passed safety inspections.
Bellamy, 34, died early Monday morning after he was struck and killed by a snowplow as he crossed West Street in front of his house to meet a co-worker for a ride to work.
An electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, Bellamy was headed to a job with Norfolk Electric of Quincy shortly after 5 a.m.
He is survived by his wife, Susan Bellamy, 30, and their three children, Cora, 4, Matthew, 2, and Lilah, 16 months.
Bellamy's family has established a fund at the North Easton Savings Bank in Easton, said Tom Deubler, the bank's president and chief executive officer.
Deubler said checks can be made payable to The Dan Bellamy Fund and mailed to North Easton Savings Bank, P.O. Box 299, North Easton, MA 02356.
He said people interested in helping may also drop off checks at any of the Easton bank's branches or call 508-238-2007 for more information.
Susan Bellamy said Wednesday she appreciated the help of others, especially their prayers.
"We're doing OK. I have a lot of people here," Bellamy said. "I miss him. I keep thinking he's coming home, it's like a slap in the face."
Police are calling Monday's fatal crash a weather-related incident.
Lt. Raymund Rogers said police released the snowplow to CWB Construction on Tuesday after investigators determined the motor vehicle's brakes, fluids, lights and plow were in proper working order.
"It totally passed our inspection, and we will not be filing any charges against the operator," Rogers said. "It was truly a tragic accident."
Rogers said it appears Bellamy was struck as he was crossing the street and snow and poor visibility contributed to the crash.
Based on evidence collected at the scene, Bellamy was apparently eating a peanut butter bagel as he was crossing and was hit by the middle of the plow, Rogers said.
Rogers said the snowfall may have muffled the sound of the approaching snowplow and its flashing lights may have disoriented Bellamy, causing him to misjudge its distance and speed.
"That's a possibility. We don't know. We'll never know," Rogers said.
Bellamy was dressed in a brown, heavy-duty electrician's suit, Rogers said.
Rogers said the private snowplow driver, Stephen Leonard of Easton, reported spotting an object right before hearing an impact and stopping the vehicle. He thought he had hit a deer.
"It has got to be a horrible thing to be involved in an accident like that, for everybody," Rogers said.
A memorial service will be held today at 4 p.m. at Calvary Chapel, 175 Market St., Rockland, followed at 6 by a reception at IBEW Local 103 Union Hall, 256 Freeport St., Dorchester.
IBEW Local 2323 (ranston, RI) May add up to 350 Jobs over the Next Three Years
On the Home Front - Verizon to Increase Jobs, Services
PROVIDENCE - Verizon Communications announced yesterday that it will extend its fiber-optic network to the homes of residential customers in Rhode Island, enabling the company to offer a host of new services, including cable television.
The company also announced that it will create a regional "fiber solutions center" in Providence to handle orders and questions related to fiber-optic services for its customers throughout New England.
Verizon will add up to 150 new jobs this year to staff the new center and up to 350 over the next two to three years.
The plan to bring fiber optics to residential customers is significant because the hair-thin light-carrying cables can carry an enormous amount of information. That will allow Verizon to offer a range of services beyond telephone calls.
"It just opens the door for all kinds of possibilities," said George K. Loftus, executive director of OSHEAN, a consortium owned by the universities in Rhode Island that provides advanced networking services.
"Certainly we'll see . . . a lot more video -- anything from shopping to training to online courses."
The network will be able to carry a virtually "limitless" amount of information to the home, Verizon said, including cable television programming that is now available only through Cox Communications, or one of the satellite companies.
Verizon cable services will include video-on-demand, more high- definition channels than what's now available on cable, and access to "hundreds" of channels, said Cheryl Mongell, Verizon's president of operations for New England.
Verizon did not provide a timetable or other key details about its cable offerings.
The company did say that its fiber-to-the-home network is already under construction in Warwick and North Kingstown. Fiber services will be available in those communities by the end of the year or early next year, said Donna Cupelo, president of Verizon's operations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
It could take some five years to bring services to the other cities and towns in the state, Cupelo said.
Cupelo declined to provide exactly how much money Verizon will invest in Rhode Island to extend its fiber-optic network. The company, on average, has spent $55 million to $60 million annually on capital expenses. She said that the additional investment could be "tens of millions" of dollars beyond that average amount.
The network upgrade will involve running a fiber-optic cable from the phone company's local switching office to the home of a customer. The new line will replace the copper wires in place today.
Those wires, which have been used for more than a century to carry telephone calls, do not have nearly the capacity of fiber- optic cables.
Fiber optics is the science of transmitting computer data, voices and images through transparent fibers usually made of glass. The information is converted to pulses of light, which can be beamed inside the fibers and carried over long distances with little loss of signal.
Fiber-optic technology has been around for decades, but first came into widespread use in the 1980s when long-distance phone companies began building national networks with fiber.
Verizon has been replacing main arteries of its phone network with fiber-optic cables for several years. Today, the company has 128,000 fiber miles in Rhode Island, according to Lillian McGee, a company spokeswoman.
The company's 30 central switching offices in the state have been equipped with fiber optics for at least five years, she said.
The network upgrade will essentially extend that fiber to customers' homes.
A key service Verizon plans to offer will be high-speed Internet access, which will be available virtually statewide since there are no distance limitations as there are with the DSL technology the company now uses to sell fast Internet connections.
The lowest-tiered service will offer access speeds of 5 megabits a second, which is comparable to the service now offered by Cox. Verizon's service will be similarly priced at $34.95 a month, if bought with a package of other services.
Verizon will also offer a high-end service that provides access at 30 megabits per second for $199.95 a month. That type of connection would provide about the same amount of bandwidth that now serves entire universities the size of Rhode Island College, according to Loftus.
Verizon expects to sell that service to people who have home- based businesses, or hard-core "gamers" who desire the fastest Internet connections available.
Rhode Island is the 10th state in which Verizon is building a fiber-to-the-home network. Work began last year in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, the company said.
Verizon is currently offering fiber-based high-speed Internet access in parts of Florida, California and Texas. The company said it will launch its first video products "in some locations later this year."
To support its new fiber services, Verizon will establish a regional fiber solutions center in Providence, using space at the company's headquarters on Washington Street. Workers will handle inquiries and orders for fiber services for customers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
The company will hire up to 150 people this year, Cupelo said, and up to 350 people over the next three years.
The jobs will be well paying, with top salaries ranging from $1,000 to $1,200 a week, said William McGowan, business manager for IBEW Local 2323, the union that represents Rhode Island Verizon workers.
In addition, the company will hire technicians who will construct the network and install services in homes. The company will hire about 100 technicians in the state over the next two years, said Mongell.
Cupelo said that Verizon chose Rhode Island over other states for its fiber solutions center because of the positive business climate here, the accessibility of government leaders and the availability of incentives, such as job training credits and enterprise zone credits. Yesterday's announcement was attended by several state leaders, including Governor Carcieri, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. James Langevin, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.
There was no special "deal" that Verizon received from state officials to locate the center here, Cupelo said.
The new jobs will essentially restore some of the employment that Verizon eliminated in Rhode Island.
The company cut 241 jobs between 2001 and 2003, according to figures provided by the company. It employed about 1,200 workers at the end of 2003.
Cox Communications, Verizon's chief competitor in Rhode Island, discounted the announcement yesterday.
Cox, which has grabbed a significant number of telephone customers from Verizon, said it has already done what Verizon is talking about doing.
"While Verizon works to fulfill its most recent promise, Cox customers today are able to enjoy . . . high-definition television service, entertainment on demand and digital video recorders over the powerful broadband network we've already built throughout the state," Cox said in a statement.
As for the added capacity of fiber-optic lines to the home, Cox's current network can deliver just as much information, said John Wolfe, a spokesman for the company.
"We haven't begun to tap the capacity of our broadband network," Wolfe said.
Timothy C. Barmann covers energy issues, utilities and technology. He can be reached at tbarmann@projo.com
* * *
* Verizon call center employees Theresa Cassidy, left, and Brenda Lister attend an announcement yesterday by the company that it will increase employment and extend its fiber-optic network in Rhode Island. Below, a fiber-optic cable.
JOURNAL PHOTO / MARY MURPHY, above; VERIZON PHOTO, below
Story from REDNOVA NEWS:
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=120729
Published: 2005/01/20 18:00:10 CST
© Rednova 2004
PROVIDENCE - Verizon Communications announced yesterday that it will extend its fiber-optic network to the homes of residential customers in Rhode Island, enabling the company to offer a host of new services, including cable television.
The company also announced that it will create a regional "fiber solutions center" in Providence to handle orders and questions related to fiber-optic services for its customers throughout New England.
Verizon will add up to 150 new jobs this year to staff the new center and up to 350 over the next two to three years.
The plan to bring fiber optics to residential customers is significant because the hair-thin light-carrying cables can carry an enormous amount of information. That will allow Verizon to offer a range of services beyond telephone calls.
"It just opens the door for all kinds of possibilities," said George K. Loftus, executive director of OSHEAN, a consortium owned by the universities in Rhode Island that provides advanced networking services.
"Certainly we'll see . . . a lot more video -- anything from shopping to training to online courses."
The network will be able to carry a virtually "limitless" amount of information to the home, Verizon said, including cable television programming that is now available only through Cox Communications, or one of the satellite companies.
Verizon cable services will include video-on-demand, more high- definition channels than what's now available on cable, and access to "hundreds" of channels, said Cheryl Mongell, Verizon's president of operations for New England.
Verizon did not provide a timetable or other key details about its cable offerings.
The company did say that its fiber-to-the-home network is already under construction in Warwick and North Kingstown. Fiber services will be available in those communities by the end of the year or early next year, said Donna Cupelo, president of Verizon's operations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
It could take some five years to bring services to the other cities and towns in the state, Cupelo said.
Cupelo declined to provide exactly how much money Verizon will invest in Rhode Island to extend its fiber-optic network. The company, on average, has spent $55 million to $60 million annually on capital expenses. She said that the additional investment could be "tens of millions" of dollars beyond that average amount.
The network upgrade will involve running a fiber-optic cable from the phone company's local switching office to the home of a customer. The new line will replace the copper wires in place today.
Those wires, which have been used for more than a century to carry telephone calls, do not have nearly the capacity of fiber- optic cables.
Fiber optics is the science of transmitting computer data, voices and images through transparent fibers usually made of glass. The information is converted to pulses of light, which can be beamed inside the fibers and carried over long distances with little loss of signal.
Fiber-optic technology has been around for decades, but first came into widespread use in the 1980s when long-distance phone companies began building national networks with fiber.
Verizon has been replacing main arteries of its phone network with fiber-optic cables for several years. Today, the company has 128,000 fiber miles in Rhode Island, according to Lillian McGee, a company spokeswoman.
The company's 30 central switching offices in the state have been equipped with fiber optics for at least five years, she said.
The network upgrade will essentially extend that fiber to customers' homes.
A key service Verizon plans to offer will be high-speed Internet access, which will be available virtually statewide since there are no distance limitations as there are with the DSL technology the company now uses to sell fast Internet connections.
The lowest-tiered service will offer access speeds of 5 megabits a second, which is comparable to the service now offered by Cox. Verizon's service will be similarly priced at $34.95 a month, if bought with a package of other services.
Verizon will also offer a high-end service that provides access at 30 megabits per second for $199.95 a month. That type of connection would provide about the same amount of bandwidth that now serves entire universities the size of Rhode Island College, according to Loftus.
Verizon expects to sell that service to people who have home- based businesses, or hard-core "gamers" who desire the fastest Internet connections available.
Rhode Island is the 10th state in which Verizon is building a fiber-to-the-home network. Work began last year in parts of California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, the company said.
Verizon is currently offering fiber-based high-speed Internet access in parts of Florida, California and Texas. The company said it will launch its first video products "in some locations later this year."
To support its new fiber services, Verizon will establish a regional fiber solutions center in Providence, using space at the company's headquarters on Washington Street. Workers will handle inquiries and orders for fiber services for customers in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
The company will hire up to 150 people this year, Cupelo said, and up to 350 people over the next three years.
The jobs will be well paying, with top salaries ranging from $1,000 to $1,200 a week, said William McGowan, business manager for IBEW Local 2323, the union that represents Rhode Island Verizon workers.
In addition, the company will hire technicians who will construct the network and install services in homes. The company will hire about 100 technicians in the state over the next two years, said Mongell.
Cupelo said that Verizon chose Rhode Island over other states for its fiber solutions center because of the positive business climate here, the accessibility of government leaders and the availability of incentives, such as job training credits and enterprise zone credits. Yesterday's announcement was attended by several state leaders, including Governor Carcieri, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. James Langevin, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty and Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline.
There was no special "deal" that Verizon received from state officials to locate the center here, Cupelo said.
The new jobs will essentially restore some of the employment that Verizon eliminated in Rhode Island.
The company cut 241 jobs between 2001 and 2003, according to figures provided by the company. It employed about 1,200 workers at the end of 2003.
Cox Communications, Verizon's chief competitor in Rhode Island, discounted the announcement yesterday.
Cox, which has grabbed a significant number of telephone customers from Verizon, said it has already done what Verizon is talking about doing.
"While Verizon works to fulfill its most recent promise, Cox customers today are able to enjoy . . . high-definition television service, entertainment on demand and digital video recorders over the powerful broadband network we've already built throughout the state," Cox said in a statement.
As for the added capacity of fiber-optic lines to the home, Cox's current network can deliver just as much information, said John Wolfe, a spokesman for the company.
"We haven't begun to tap the capacity of our broadband network," Wolfe said.
Timothy C. Barmann covers energy issues, utilities and technology. He can be reached at tbarmann@projo.com
* * *
* Verizon call center employees Theresa Cassidy, left, and Brenda Lister attend an announcement yesterday by the company that it will increase employment and extend its fiber-optic network in Rhode Island. Below, a fiber-optic cable.
JOURNAL PHOTO / MARY MURPHY, above; VERIZON PHOTO, below
Story from REDNOVA NEWS:
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=120729
Published: 2005/01/20 18:00:10 CST
© Rednova 2004
IBEW Local 347 (Des Moines) Cited Yet Again for Strong Tsunami Relief Work!
Tsunami relief funds raised at Dahl's stores
Volunteers from the Des Moines Radio Group and Mercy Medical Center braved the cold Friday to collect donations for tsunami relief at 11 metro-area Dahl's Food Mart locations.
In addition, coupons that customers could use to donate to the fund were available at Dahl's registers throughout the weekend.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 347, which underwrote the cost of the drive, donated $10,000 to tsunami relief. Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino and Polk County matched that donation, along with all donations collected at Dahl's, leading to a $154,000 total.
The Des Moines Radio Group consists of six stations: KAZR-FM, KIOA-FM, KLTI-FM, KSTZ-FM, KRNT-AM and KPSZ-AM.
Volunteers from the Des Moines Radio Group and Mercy Medical Center braved the cold Friday to collect donations for tsunami relief at 11 metro-area Dahl's Food Mart locations.
In addition, coupons that customers could use to donate to the fund were available at Dahl's registers throughout the weekend.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 347, which underwrote the cost of the drive, donated $10,000 to tsunami relief. Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino and Polk County matched that donation, along with all donations collected at Dahl's, leading to a $154,000 total.
The Des Moines Radio Group consists of six stations: KAZR-FM, KIOA-FM, KLTI-FM, KSTZ-FM, KRNT-AM and KPSZ-AM.
IBEW Unit 3 Stsrem Council (New Jersey) Resumes Talks With Jersey Central Power & Light
Talks resume in 6-week-old JCP&L strike
(Fri, Jan/21/2005)
NEWARK, N.J. - Striking electrical workers and Jersey Central Power & Light resumed negotiations Friday, the first talks in a week, as the union walkout was into its seventh week.
Despite the assistance of a mediator, "There was no significant progress or breakthrough," said Scott Surgeoner, spokesman for the state's second-largest power company.
Talks with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are to resume Thursday, he said.
Union spokesman Jack Moriarty said sticking points include company proposals that he said would increase health care costs for retirees and force workers to be on call at all times by carrying either a beeper or cell phone. He likened that to an "electronic dog collar."
Surgeoner said the company is willing to listen to union ideas on how to get in touch with workers in an emergency.
"We need employees to be available when our customers need them most, which is when those customers have a power outage," he said. "As things stand today, we have to call a list of 60 or 70 people to get the four or five we need. And that just wastes time as the customer sits there."
Since some 1,350 workers struck on Dec. 8, the company has been using managers with training as line workers.
The strike is the first since 1987 for JCP&L, which provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state.
The five local unions comprising IBEW System Council U-3 represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.
---
On the Net:
IBEW Unit 3 System Council: http://www.ibew1298.org/JCPL-FENews.htm
JCP&L: http://www.firstenergycorp.com/welcome/index.jsp
Article's URL:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-01212005-436578.html
(Fri, Jan/21/2005)
NEWARK, N.J. - Striking electrical workers and Jersey Central Power & Light resumed negotiations Friday, the first talks in a week, as the union walkout was into its seventh week.
Despite the assistance of a mediator, "There was no significant progress or breakthrough," said Scott Surgeoner, spokesman for the state's second-largest power company.
Talks with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are to resume Thursday, he said.
Union spokesman Jack Moriarty said sticking points include company proposals that he said would increase health care costs for retirees and force workers to be on call at all times by carrying either a beeper or cell phone. He likened that to an "electronic dog collar."
Surgeoner said the company is willing to listen to union ideas on how to get in touch with workers in an emergency.
"We need employees to be available when our customers need them most, which is when those customers have a power outage," he said. "As things stand today, we have to call a list of 60 or 70 people to get the four or five we need. And that just wastes time as the customer sits there."
Since some 1,350 workers struck on Dec. 8, the company has been using managers with training as line workers.
The strike is the first since 1987 for JCP&L, which provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state.
The five local unions comprising IBEW System Council U-3 represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.
---
On the Net:
IBEW Unit 3 System Council: http://www.ibew1298.org/JCPL-FENews.htm
JCP&L: http://www.firstenergycorp.com/welcome/index.jsp
Article's URL:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/104-01212005-436578.html
Thursday, January 20, 2005
IBEW Technicians, retired from Avaya, finally get their 2003 and 2004 pay!
Avaya to Pay Retired Techs $3.75 Million
By CWA, ILCA Member
A dispute over work that hundreds of retired technicians were to be allowed to do for Avaya in 2003 and 2004 has led to a $3.75 million settlement, which will be distributed to affected CWA and IBEW members.
Ralph Maly, vice president of CWA's Communications and Technologies sector, said Avaya was not complying with a provision bargained in 2003 that said the company would use retired employees for a certain number of weeks each year, unless Avaya could make a business case for opting out of the program. If so, the unions had to agree.
The first two quarters of the program, Avaya didn't provide opt-in/opt-out information at all in an adequate or timely manner, Maly said. For the final three quarters - ending in December 2004 - the company failed to reach agreement on 15 percent of the involved workers across the country.
CWA filed a grievance charging the company was violating the contract, hurting technicians who were expecting to work about three weeks per quarter. The company first offered to settle for $1 million, but CWA pushed them to $3.75 million. Maly said details about how the money will be divided and distributed to the hundreds of retirees involved are still being determined.
He said he's satisfied with the settlement but expects that there will be more battles with Avaya ahead. "The good relationship we once had with Avaya has deteriorated," he said. "The senior leadership has decided to take the company in a different direction and the union isn't part of it."
.
By CWA, ILCA Member
A dispute over work that hundreds of retired technicians were to be allowed to do for Avaya in 2003 and 2004 has led to a $3.75 million settlement, which will be distributed to affected CWA and IBEW members.
Ralph Maly, vice president of CWA's Communications and Technologies sector, said Avaya was not complying with a provision bargained in 2003 that said the company would use retired employees for a certain number of weeks each year, unless Avaya could make a business case for opting out of the program. If so, the unions had to agree.
The first two quarters of the program, Avaya didn't provide opt-in/opt-out information at all in an adequate or timely manner, Maly said. For the final three quarters - ending in December 2004 - the company failed to reach agreement on 15 percent of the involved workers across the country.
CWA filed a grievance charging the company was violating the contract, hurting technicians who were expecting to work about three weeks per quarter. The company first offered to settle for $1 million, but CWA pushed them to $3.75 million. Maly said details about how the money will be divided and distributed to the hundreds of retirees involved are still being determined.
He said he's satisfied with the settlement but expects that there will be more battles with Avaya ahead. "The good relationship we once had with Avaya has deteriorated," he said. "The senior leadership has decided to take the company in a different direction and the union isn't part of it."
.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
IBEW Local 347 (Des Moines, IA) Underwrites Tsunami Relief Drive and Donates $10K
Tsunami relief funds raised at Dahl's stores
Volunteers from the Des Moines Radio Group and Mercy Medical Center braved the cold Friday to collect donations for tsunami relief at 11 metro-area Dahl's Food Mart locations.
In addition, coupons that customers could use to donate to the fund were available at Dahl's registers throughout the weekend.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 347, which underwrote the cost of the drive, donated $10,000 to tsunami relief. Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino and Polk County matched that donation, along with all donations collected at Dahl's, leading to a $154,000 total.
The Des Moines Radio Group consists of six stations: KAZR-FM, KIOA-FM, KLTI-FM, KSTZ-FM, KRNT-AM and KPSZ-AM.
Volunteers from the Des Moines Radio Group and Mercy Medical Center braved the cold Friday to collect donations for tsunami relief at 11 metro-area Dahl's Food Mart locations.
In addition, coupons that customers could use to donate to the fund were available at Dahl's registers throughout the weekend.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 347, which underwrote the cost of the drive, donated $10,000 to tsunami relief. Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino and Polk County matched that donation, along with all donations collected at Dahl's, leading to a $154,000 total.
The Des Moines Radio Group consists of six stations: KAZR-FM, KIOA-FM, KLTI-FM, KSTZ-FM, KRNT-AM and KPSZ-AM.
Electrical Contractor donates $100K to Bush Inaugaral because of "Bush efforts to curb union organizing"
Inaugural donors: It's an investment
10:08 PM CST on Monday, January 17, 2005
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Electrical contractor Ty Runyan says he likes President Bush's efforts to curb union organizing, so he's showing his appreciation this week with $100,000 for the inauguration.
"Bush has been very pro-business," said Mr. Runyan, whose non-union Austin company is one of scores of big-dollar donors with interests in Washington who are helping to underwrite the inaugural festivities
More than 150 corporations, trade associations, lobby groups and wealthy individuals have contributed six-figure sums for a button-down bacchanalia expected to cost up to $40 million. Most have benefited from Bush administration policies.
Critics say the donors want special treatment at the expense of regular citizens who don't have the money to schmooze with administration figures and congressional leaders.
Inauguration 2005
Inaugural ball in big donors' court
At these houses, it's grand old party time
Flashback: Off on the right foot: Stroll stole the show
With ball tickets in demand, she has power – on paper
President eager to start 2nd term
Tell us: What issue should top the president's agenda for his second term?
Graphic: Where and how
"What they've set up here is a corporate and special-interest-subsidized inauguration," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsible Politics, a nonprofit group that monitors political spending.
"They're doing this as an investment."
Donors say they're expressing good citizenship. Mr. Bush dismissed criticism of the corporate largess, telling reporters last week that he sees no problem having private contributors pay for the week's parade, candlelight dinners and gala balls. "There's no taxpayer money involved in this," he said.
The swearing-in itself and security arrangements will be paid by the federal government.
Mr. Noble said the unprecedented outpouring of corporate cash is the product of ever-evolving campaign finance laws.
Federal statutes limit individual contributions to political candidates at $2,000. And the McCain-Feingold law passed three years ago bars corporations from donating unlimited amounts, so-called soft money, to political parties.
That leaves political conventions and presidential inaugurations, both exempt from limits, as ways for big-money donors to express support.
"They just view this as part of their government-relations program, their lobby program," Mr. Noble said.
Host of interests
The top-tier donors – $250,000 – have a host of interests pending in Washington: oil and gas companies pressing to open more public lands for exploration; power companies seeking lower pollution standards; Wall Street investment firms that stand to gain from private Social Security accounts; pharmaceutical companies that favored the prescription drug benefit in Medicare; defense contractors; beer and tobacco companies; and manufacturers that have benefited from tax cuts.
In exchange, donors get tickets to the most-prized inaugural events with an opportunity to rub shoulders with the president, vice president and key decision-makers in Congress.
Moreover, the week is festooned with a host of unofficial inaugural events sponsored by corporations and K-Street lobbyists that will play out in hotel ballrooms, law offices and corporate suites across Washington.
Tonight, for example, Gov. Rick Perry will be feted by beer, liquor, trucking and tobacco interests at a gala in the National Building Museum featuring rockers Ted Nugent and ZZ Top.
Bill Webb, president and chief executive of the Texas Motor Transportation Association, which is a lead organizer, said he hopes the party will raise the group's political profile in Washington. Cabinet members, governors and members of Congress from outside Texas have called for tickets, he said.
"A governor calls and you're not going to turn him down," Mr. Webb said.
'Fantastic investment'
Mr. Runyan said he's a small-businessman, not a longtime political mega-donor, whose fight with organized labor prompted him to start giving money. "Prior to two years ago, I had no interest in politics," he said.
He praised Bush appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, which has delivered some stinging defeats for labor. And he is backing a GOP-sponsored bill that would make it harder to organize non-union sites.
Mr. Runyan said he ran up a fortune in legal fees defending himself against organizing efforts by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He said the union damaged his equipment and sought to put him out of business.
"Having spent a half-million dollars in one year on legal fees, you think spending $100,000 to support my president who represents American business is a bad investment?" he said. "No. I think it's a fantastic investment."
Ed Sills of the Texas AFL-CIO said Mr. Runyan is an anti-union employer whose six-figure contribution to the Bush inaugural "tells me that business must be pretty good."
Longtime supporters
While some of this year's donors are newcomers like Mr. Runyan, many are longtime financial Bush supporters:
•Texas oilman Boone Pickens, whose most recent venture includes speculating on water rights, has been a consistent contributor to the Republican Party and gave $2.5 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked Democrat John Kerry during last year's presidential election, and $2.5 million for another independent group to air a pro-Bush television commercial in Ohio.
Spokesman Jay Rosser said Mr. Pickens gave $250,000 to help pay for the inauguration because he believes in the president, not because he is seeking any special favors.
"Boone is 76, and there's not a lot left that he needs," Mr. Rosser said. "He hates sitting on committees or through long committee hearings. He has no interest in an ambassadorship or government service of any kind."
•Dallas financier Harold Simmons gave $100,000 to the inauguration. Mr. Simmons has benefited from administration tax cuts and is seeking to bury millions of cubic feet of radioactive waste from federal nuclear weapons facilities at a site in West Texas.
Like Mr. Pickens, Mr. Simmons helped boost Mr. Bush's re-election with $4 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
•Houston-based Waste Management Inc. has given $100,000 to the inauguration. The company, which operates landfills, is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Among the $250,000 inaugural contributors is Southern Co., an Atlanta-based power company whose executive vice president was a Bush Ranger, an elite tier of donors who each raised $200,000 for the president's re-election. The Bush administration sided with Southern and other coal-fired utilities in 2003 by changing federal pollution rules.
Other donors include Las Vegas gambling executive Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson, who each contributed $250,000. Gambling and hotel interests that are helping finance the inauguration have a stake in having a ready supply of low-wage immigrant labor.
Staff writer Todd J. Gillman in Washington contributed to this report.
E-mail wslater@dallasnews.com
RESOURCE
For more information about donors to the inauguration: www.inaugural05.com/donors/
INAUGURAL FINANCIAL FRIENDS
A sampling of the larger contributors to President Bush's inauguration:
Contributor Amount Interests With Federal Government
Chevron Texaco $250,000
Long-stalled energy bill and expansion of exploration to offshore and public wilderness areas.
Marriott International $250,000
Federal immigration policies producing a large labor pool.
Pfizer Inc. $250,000
Regulation of prescription drug benefits in Medicare.
Southern Co. $250,000
Environmental regulations exempting some older coal-fired plants from installing new pollution control equipment.
Richard T. Farmer, Cincinnati $100,000
Pollution rules governing industrial laundries.
WellCare $100,000
Medicaid overhaul that would move more low-income mental-health patients into managed care.
International Paper $100,000
Federal regulations allowing forest managers more leeway authorizing logging on public land.
Goldman Sachs $100,000
Private investment accounts as part of Social Security.
Harold Simmons, Dallas $100,000
Plans to import federal radioactive waste from Ohio and bury it in West Texas.
Lockheed Martin $100,000
Federal defense contracts.
SOURCE: Bush-Cheney Inaugural Committee
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011805dnnatmoney.3b746.html
10:08 PM CST on Monday, January 17, 2005
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Electrical contractor Ty Runyan says he likes President Bush's efforts to curb union organizing, so he's showing his appreciation this week with $100,000 for the inauguration.
"Bush has been very pro-business," said Mr. Runyan, whose non-union Austin company is one of scores of big-dollar donors with interests in Washington who are helping to underwrite the inaugural festivities
More than 150 corporations, trade associations, lobby groups and wealthy individuals have contributed six-figure sums for a button-down bacchanalia expected to cost up to $40 million. Most have benefited from Bush administration policies.
Critics say the donors want special treatment at the expense of regular citizens who don't have the money to schmooze with administration figures and congressional leaders.
Inauguration 2005
Inaugural ball in big donors' court
At these houses, it's grand old party time
Flashback: Off on the right foot: Stroll stole the show
With ball tickets in demand, she has power – on paper
President eager to start 2nd term
Tell us: What issue should top the president's agenda for his second term?
Graphic: Where and how
"What they've set up here is a corporate and special-interest-subsidized inauguration," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsible Politics, a nonprofit group that monitors political spending.
"They're doing this as an investment."
Donors say they're expressing good citizenship. Mr. Bush dismissed criticism of the corporate largess, telling reporters last week that he sees no problem having private contributors pay for the week's parade, candlelight dinners and gala balls. "There's no taxpayer money involved in this," he said.
The swearing-in itself and security arrangements will be paid by the federal government.
Mr. Noble said the unprecedented outpouring of corporate cash is the product of ever-evolving campaign finance laws.
Federal statutes limit individual contributions to political candidates at $2,000. And the McCain-Feingold law passed three years ago bars corporations from donating unlimited amounts, so-called soft money, to political parties.
That leaves political conventions and presidential inaugurations, both exempt from limits, as ways for big-money donors to express support.
"They just view this as part of their government-relations program, their lobby program," Mr. Noble said.
Host of interests
The top-tier donors – $250,000 – have a host of interests pending in Washington: oil and gas companies pressing to open more public lands for exploration; power companies seeking lower pollution standards; Wall Street investment firms that stand to gain from private Social Security accounts; pharmaceutical companies that favored the prescription drug benefit in Medicare; defense contractors; beer and tobacco companies; and manufacturers that have benefited from tax cuts.
In exchange, donors get tickets to the most-prized inaugural events with an opportunity to rub shoulders with the president, vice president and key decision-makers in Congress.
Moreover, the week is festooned with a host of unofficial inaugural events sponsored by corporations and K-Street lobbyists that will play out in hotel ballrooms, law offices and corporate suites across Washington.
Tonight, for example, Gov. Rick Perry will be feted by beer, liquor, trucking and tobacco interests at a gala in the National Building Museum featuring rockers Ted Nugent and ZZ Top.
Bill Webb, president and chief executive of the Texas Motor Transportation Association, which is a lead organizer, said he hopes the party will raise the group's political profile in Washington. Cabinet members, governors and members of Congress from outside Texas have called for tickets, he said.
"A governor calls and you're not going to turn him down," Mr. Webb said.
'Fantastic investment'
Mr. Runyan said he's a small-businessman, not a longtime political mega-donor, whose fight with organized labor prompted him to start giving money. "Prior to two years ago, I had no interest in politics," he said.
He praised Bush appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, which has delivered some stinging defeats for labor. And he is backing a GOP-sponsored bill that would make it harder to organize non-union sites.
Mr. Runyan said he ran up a fortune in legal fees defending himself against organizing efforts by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He said the union damaged his equipment and sought to put him out of business.
"Having spent a half-million dollars in one year on legal fees, you think spending $100,000 to support my president who represents American business is a bad investment?" he said. "No. I think it's a fantastic investment."
Ed Sills of the Texas AFL-CIO said Mr. Runyan is an anti-union employer whose six-figure contribution to the Bush inaugural "tells me that business must be pretty good."
Longtime supporters
While some of this year's donors are newcomers like Mr. Runyan, many are longtime financial Bush supporters:
•Texas oilman Boone Pickens, whose most recent venture includes speculating on water rights, has been a consistent contributor to the Republican Party and gave $2.5 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which attacked Democrat John Kerry during last year's presidential election, and $2.5 million for another independent group to air a pro-Bush television commercial in Ohio.
Spokesman Jay Rosser said Mr. Pickens gave $250,000 to help pay for the inauguration because he believes in the president, not because he is seeking any special favors.
"Boone is 76, and there's not a lot left that he needs," Mr. Rosser said. "He hates sitting on committees or through long committee hearings. He has no interest in an ambassadorship or government service of any kind."
•Dallas financier Harold Simmons gave $100,000 to the inauguration. Mr. Simmons has benefited from administration tax cuts and is seeking to bury millions of cubic feet of radioactive waste from federal nuclear weapons facilities at a site in West Texas.
Like Mr. Pickens, Mr. Simmons helped boost Mr. Bush's re-election with $4 million to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
•Houston-based Waste Management Inc. has given $100,000 to the inauguration. The company, which operates landfills, is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Among the $250,000 inaugural contributors is Southern Co., an Atlanta-based power company whose executive vice president was a Bush Ranger, an elite tier of donors who each raised $200,000 for the president's re-election. The Bush administration sided with Southern and other coal-fired utilities in 2003 by changing federal pollution rules.
Other donors include Las Vegas gambling executive Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson, who each contributed $250,000. Gambling and hotel interests that are helping finance the inauguration have a stake in having a ready supply of low-wage immigrant labor.
Staff writer Todd J. Gillman in Washington contributed to this report.
E-mail wslater@dallasnews.com
RESOURCE
For more information about donors to the inauguration: www.inaugural05.com/donors/
INAUGURAL FINANCIAL FRIENDS
A sampling of the larger contributors to President Bush's inauguration:
Contributor Amount Interests With Federal Government
Chevron Texaco $250,000
Long-stalled energy bill and expansion of exploration to offshore and public wilderness areas.
Marriott International $250,000
Federal immigration policies producing a large labor pool.
Pfizer Inc. $250,000
Regulation of prescription drug benefits in Medicare.
Southern Co. $250,000
Environmental regulations exempting some older coal-fired plants from installing new pollution control equipment.
Richard T. Farmer, Cincinnati $100,000
Pollution rules governing industrial laundries.
WellCare $100,000
Medicaid overhaul that would move more low-income mental-health patients into managed care.
International Paper $100,000
Federal regulations allowing forest managers more leeway authorizing logging on public land.
Goldman Sachs $100,000
Private investment accounts as part of Social Security.
Harold Simmons, Dallas $100,000
Plans to import federal radioactive waste from Ohio and bury it in West Texas.
Lockheed Martin $100,000
Federal defense contracts.
SOURCE: Bush-Cheney Inaugural Committee
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011805dnnatmoney.3b746.html
Alliant Cuts Back on Service, IBEW Local 949 (Burnsville, MN) Members Laid Off
Alliant Energy workers laid off
Last Updated: 01-13-2005 07:30:53 PM
(KAAL) -- Several local Alliant Energy employees have been laid off. Vince Guertin, of IBEW Local Union 949, said last week's notice affects 11 employees who are also members of the union. Guertin says Alliant failed to meet its union contract obligation by not discussing other job possibilities within the company before issuing a layoff notice. He told 6 NEWS FIRST alliant violated the union agreement by not keeping union members informed of work within their jurisdiction, and gave work union members would normally do, to contractors. Line crew foreman Steve Arneson works in the Albert Lea area and is scheduled to be laid off.
"We're the people that restore power and in this type of, you know weather you cut personnel, what's your response time you know, and I'm not only an employee I'm a stock holder and we just don't know where this company is going."
In an official statement Alliant said, quote: "The decision will not impact the quality of customer service in the Minnesota-IPL Electric service area. Our employees will continue to focus on safety and providing safe, reliable and environmentally sound service.”
©2004 KAALTV.
Last Updated: 01-13-2005 07:30:53 PM
(KAAL) -- Several local Alliant Energy employees have been laid off. Vince Guertin, of IBEW Local Union 949, said last week's notice affects 11 employees who are also members of the union. Guertin says Alliant failed to meet its union contract obligation by not discussing other job possibilities within the company before issuing a layoff notice. He told 6 NEWS FIRST alliant violated the union agreement by not keeping union members informed of work within their jurisdiction, and gave work union members would normally do, to contractors. Line crew foreman Steve Arneson works in the Albert Lea area and is scheduled to be laid off.
"We're the people that restore power and in this type of, you know weather you cut personnel, what's your response time you know, and I'm not only an employee I'm a stock holder and we just don't know where this company is going."
In an official statement Alliant said, quote: "The decision will not impact the quality of customer service in the Minnesota-IPL Electric service area. Our employees will continue to focus on safety and providing safe, reliable and environmentally sound service.”
©2004 KAALTV.
IBEW System Council U-3 (New Jersey) Pickets in the Freezing Cold
01/18/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
Little progress seen in JCP&L, union talks
By Minauti Davè, Daily Record
MORRISTOWN -- Nine JCP&L employees weathered freezing temperatures as they stood outside the utility's Morristown headquarters Monday, saying they will remain on strike for as long as it takes the company to comply with union requests.
Negotiations between the energy company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have come to a standstill as of Monday. The two sides will meet again with a mediator on Friday.
"There has been no progress," said Jack Moriarty, spokesman for System Council U-3, which represents five unions of the IBEW. "The union is prepared to return to the bargaining table at any moment, as long as the company is prepared to discuss what precipitated the strike."
The 1,350 JCP&L employees of the IBEW union went on strike Dec. 8. Their contract expired Oct. 30.
The primary issues are health care costs and work rules -- specifically, asking employees to be on call and available 24 hours a day by pager or cell phone, Moriarty said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertise with us!
"We call it the 'electronic dog collar,'" Moriarty said. "The company says either carry a beeper or provide a cell number and you should be on call day or night. You're at your cousin's wedding, the phone rings, you have to go to work."
Moriarty called the work rule "absurd" and "un-American."
However, JCP&L has never made such demands on its employees, JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said Monday.
"We've never asked that every employee be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Morano said, adding that they are only required to remain on 24-hour call during emergencies.
"We work in a business where it's necessary during emergencies -- it's a customer service business," Morano said.
Many of the employees picketing the JCP&L office building on Ridgedale Avenue in Morristown insisted that their cell phones and beepers were constantly going off and that the company expected them to come to work when called, regardless of the circumstances.
John DePalma, who works as a cable splicer out of the Morristown office, said his wife was having difficulty with the delivery of their child and he needed to be by her side, but the company would not accept that as an excuse and he was forced to work.
"They put my family through a lot of pain," said DePalma, standing with eight others on the second shift of picketing in Morristown on Monday. "First Energy's policy is: There is no excuse to miss call-outs." First Energy is the parent company of JCP&L in New Jersey.
JCP&L suspended more than 200 employees in early 2003, some of whom failed to answer their home telephone when being called into work, union officials said. The workers get time and a half if they are called into work during off hours.
"When you're a lineman you could be called out three, four, five nights in a row -- when do you sleep?" asked Steven Sanders, a lineman working out of JCP&L's Dover office.
From the way personal problems are treated to the type of health insurance the employees get, DePalma said the company "mistreats" its workers.
"It's very unreasonable the way they treat us," DePalma said. "They treat you like a dog."
The union also disagrees with the company's proposed health insurance plan.
"The health care is geared to you not using it," said DePalma, the sole provider for his wife and four children.
The cost of providing health coverage to union workers has doubled from $7 million in 2000 to $14 million this year, Morano said.
"Their costs have not increased during that time," Morano said. "We have offered creative ways to address the differences in health care. The package we are offering is competitive."
Maurice Hedgepath, a JCP&L meter reader, said the company's health plan is unaffordable.
"The benefit plans they are trying to negotiate for is unrealistic," Hedgepath said. "As it is, we're not making a lot of money."
While employees are on strike, JCP&L has been using managers with experience as line workers to fill in.
"We are responding to emergency work and outage work -- our ability to do certain work is impaired," Morano said, adding the company is short on employees to perform new service work and read meters, although there are enough for emergency and restoration work.
In September, JCP&L reached a tentative agreement with the union, offering 9 percent wage increases over three years and a health care package, among other things, Morano said. However, the union voted down the tentative contract and instead voted to strike.
The union is comprised of linemen, meter readers, customer service staff, mechanics and clerks.
JCP&L provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties in New Jersey, primarily in the northern part of the state.
Minauti Davè can be reached at mdave@gannett.com or (973) 428-6633.
Little progress seen in JCP&L, union talks
By Minauti Davè, Daily Record
MORRISTOWN -- Nine JCP&L employees weathered freezing temperatures as they stood outside the utility's Morristown headquarters Monday, saying they will remain on strike for as long as it takes the company to comply with union requests.
Negotiations between the energy company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have come to a standstill as of Monday. The two sides will meet again with a mediator on Friday.
"There has been no progress," said Jack Moriarty, spokesman for System Council U-3, which represents five unions of the IBEW. "The union is prepared to return to the bargaining table at any moment, as long as the company is prepared to discuss what precipitated the strike."
The 1,350 JCP&L employees of the IBEW union went on strike Dec. 8. Their contract expired Oct. 30.
The primary issues are health care costs and work rules -- specifically, asking employees to be on call and available 24 hours a day by pager or cell phone, Moriarty said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertise with us!
"We call it the 'electronic dog collar,'" Moriarty said. "The company says either carry a beeper or provide a cell number and you should be on call day or night. You're at your cousin's wedding, the phone rings, you have to go to work."
Moriarty called the work rule "absurd" and "un-American."
However, JCP&L has never made such demands on its employees, JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said Monday.
"We've never asked that every employee be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Morano said, adding that they are only required to remain on 24-hour call during emergencies.
"We work in a business where it's necessary during emergencies -- it's a customer service business," Morano said.
Many of the employees picketing the JCP&L office building on Ridgedale Avenue in Morristown insisted that their cell phones and beepers were constantly going off and that the company expected them to come to work when called, regardless of the circumstances.
John DePalma, who works as a cable splicer out of the Morristown office, said his wife was having difficulty with the delivery of their child and he needed to be by her side, but the company would not accept that as an excuse and he was forced to work.
"They put my family through a lot of pain," said DePalma, standing with eight others on the second shift of picketing in Morristown on Monday. "First Energy's policy is: There is no excuse to miss call-outs." First Energy is the parent company of JCP&L in New Jersey.
JCP&L suspended more than 200 employees in early 2003, some of whom failed to answer their home telephone when being called into work, union officials said. The workers get time and a half if they are called into work during off hours.
"When you're a lineman you could be called out three, four, five nights in a row -- when do you sleep?" asked Steven Sanders, a lineman working out of JCP&L's Dover office.
From the way personal problems are treated to the type of health insurance the employees get, DePalma said the company "mistreats" its workers.
"It's very unreasonable the way they treat us," DePalma said. "They treat you like a dog."
The union also disagrees with the company's proposed health insurance plan.
"The health care is geared to you not using it," said DePalma, the sole provider for his wife and four children.
The cost of providing health coverage to union workers has doubled from $7 million in 2000 to $14 million this year, Morano said.
"Their costs have not increased during that time," Morano said. "We have offered creative ways to address the differences in health care. The package we are offering is competitive."
Maurice Hedgepath, a JCP&L meter reader, said the company's health plan is unaffordable.
"The benefit plans they are trying to negotiate for is unrealistic," Hedgepath said. "As it is, we're not making a lot of money."
While employees are on strike, JCP&L has been using managers with experience as line workers to fill in.
"We are responding to emergency work and outage work -- our ability to do certain work is impaired," Morano said, adding the company is short on employees to perform new service work and read meters, although there are enough for emergency and restoration work.
In September, JCP&L reached a tentative agreement with the union, offering 9 percent wage increases over three years and a health care package, among other things, Morano said. However, the union voted down the tentative contract and instead voted to strike.
The union is comprised of linemen, meter readers, customer service staff, mechanics and clerks.
JCP&L provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties in New Jersey, primarily in the northern part of the state.
Minauti Davè can be reached at mdave@gannett.com or (973) 428-6633.
IBEW (Canada) Continues to Negotiate With Canadian National Rail
Cdn Natl Rail Still Hopeful On Labor Negotiations >CNI
Monday January 17, 4:16 PM EST
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Canadian National Railway Co. (CNI) is still hopeful negotiations will result in a deal with three holdout unions, even as the labor groups ask their members for strike mandates.
"We're hopeful for a dialogue," Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said Monday.
Even if talks are unsuccessful, no action by either the unions or the railroad can be taken as federal labor regulators are reviewing essential rail service levels.
Talks between the railroad and the United Transportation Union, or UTU, which represents 2,500 trade and yard workers, broke down Friday. No new negotiations are scheduled and the union said it will ask its members for a strike mandate.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters Rail Canada Conference, which represents the 1,750 railroad engineers, has already asked its members for a strike mandate. And the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers plans to ask its 700 members for a mandate this week.
Contracts for all three labor groups expired at the end of 2003.
The UTU is theoretically in a strike position on Jan. 21, the Teamsters on Jan. 25 and the IBEW on March 2. All three are in the conciliation with the railroad and federal labor regulators.
The Canadian Industrial Relations Board is studying the minimal level of rail service that must be maintained in the event of a strike or lockout. A spokesman for the CIRB wasn't immediately available for comment.
In a press release, the UTU said the main concerns of its members relate to " quality of life" principles, rather than salaries.
Similar issues concern the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said union chairman Kevin Kearns. He said negotiations with the railroad have dealt principally with its new discipline policy and the treatment of employees. Kearns said he still hoped to continue negotiating with the company.
"We're still trying to get a commitment out of them for a last round of negotiations," he said.
A four-week strike by 5,000 members of the Canadian Auto Workers last year cut about C$40 million from Canadian National's first-quarter profits and caused revenue and productivity gains to retreat in the period. The controversial issues in those negotiations was also centered on quality of life issues and the railroad's disciplinary procedure.
Company Web Site: http://www.cn.ca
-Monica Gutschi, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2017; monica.gutschi@ dowjones.com
Dow Jones Newswires
01-17-05 1616ET
Monday January 17, 4:16 PM EST
TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Canadian National Railway Co. (CNI) is still hopeful negotiations will result in a deal with three holdout unions, even as the labor groups ask their members for strike mandates.
"We're hopeful for a dialogue," Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said Monday.
Even if talks are unsuccessful, no action by either the unions or the railroad can be taken as federal labor regulators are reviewing essential rail service levels.
Talks between the railroad and the United Transportation Union, or UTU, which represents 2,500 trade and yard workers, broke down Friday. No new negotiations are scheduled and the union said it will ask its members for a strike mandate.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters Rail Canada Conference, which represents the 1,750 railroad engineers, has already asked its members for a strike mandate. And the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers plans to ask its 700 members for a mandate this week.
Contracts for all three labor groups expired at the end of 2003.
The UTU is theoretically in a strike position on Jan. 21, the Teamsters on Jan. 25 and the IBEW on March 2. All three are in the conciliation with the railroad and federal labor regulators.
The Canadian Industrial Relations Board is studying the minimal level of rail service that must be maintained in the event of a strike or lockout. A spokesman for the CIRB wasn't immediately available for comment.
In a press release, the UTU said the main concerns of its members relate to " quality of life" principles, rather than salaries.
Similar issues concern the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said union chairman Kevin Kearns. He said negotiations with the railroad have dealt principally with its new discipline policy and the treatment of employees. Kearns said he still hoped to continue negotiating with the company.
"We're still trying to get a commitment out of them for a last round of negotiations," he said.
A four-week strike by 5,000 members of the Canadian Auto Workers last year cut about C$40 million from Canadian National's first-quarter profits and caused revenue and productivity gains to retreat in the period. The controversial issues in those negotiations was also centered on quality of life issues and the railroad's disciplinary procedure.
Company Web Site: http://www.cn.ca
-Monica Gutschi, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2017; monica.gutschi@ dowjones.com
Dow Jones Newswires
01-17-05 1616ET
IBEW Local 613 (Atlanta) Joins With Industry and Government to Promote Safety for Electricians
OSHA, Business, Unions, Georgia Tech Sign Partnership To Protect State's Electrical Workers
1/18/2005
OSHA, Business, Unions, Georgia Tech Sign Partnership
to Protect State's Electrical Workers
Signing Ceremony Thursday, Jan. 13, in Atlanta
ATLANTA -- Providing safer workplaces is the goal of a new partnership between the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); Atlanta Electrical Contractors Association (AECA); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 613; Atlanta Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (AEJATC), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
"This partnership provides an opportunity for the partners to come together and build on the value of safety and health for unionized electrical workers in the Atlanta area," said Cindy Coe Laseter, OSHA's Atlanta regional administrator.
Event: OSHA, AECA, IBEW, AEJATC, GA TECH - Signing Ceremony
Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 - 12:00 p.m.
Location: Atlanta Electrical Contractors Association
4221 North Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Ga.
Contact: Gei-Thae Breezley
Atlanta-East Area Director
Phone: (770) 493-6644
The partnership is part of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's ongoing efforts to improve worker safety and health through cooperative partnerships," said Gei-Thae Breezley, OSHA's Atlanta-East area director. "OSHA worked extensively with all the parties to form this partnership which covers employers and employees in North and Central Georgia. Breezley added that by working together, the partners can reach more workers and provide them with information they need to eliminate hazardous conditions at their work sites.
For information about occupational safety and health or this partnership, contact OSHA's area offices. The Atlanta-East Area Office is located at 2183 Northlake Parkway, Bldg 7, Suite 110, Tucker, Ga.; phone: (770) 493-6644. The Atlanta-West Office is at 2400 Herodian Way, Suite 250, Smyrna; phone: (770) 984-8700.
Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships, and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
1/18/2005
OSHA, Business, Unions, Georgia Tech Sign Partnership
to Protect State's Electrical Workers
Signing Ceremony Thursday, Jan. 13, in Atlanta
ATLANTA -- Providing safer workplaces is the goal of a new partnership between the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); Atlanta Electrical Contractors Association (AECA); International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 613; Atlanta Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (AEJATC), and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
"This partnership provides an opportunity for the partners to come together and build on the value of safety and health for unionized electrical workers in the Atlanta area," said Cindy Coe Laseter, OSHA's Atlanta regional administrator.
Event: OSHA, AECA, IBEW, AEJATC, GA TECH - Signing Ceremony
Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 - 12:00 p.m.
Location: Atlanta Electrical Contractors Association
4221 North Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Ga.
Contact: Gei-Thae Breezley
Atlanta-East Area Director
Phone: (770) 493-6644
The partnership is part of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's ongoing efforts to improve worker safety and health through cooperative partnerships," said Gei-Thae Breezley, OSHA's Atlanta-East area director. "OSHA worked extensively with all the parties to form this partnership which covers employers and employees in North and Central Georgia. Breezley added that by working together, the partners can reach more workers and provide them with information they need to eliminate hazardous conditions at their work sites.
For information about occupational safety and health or this partnership, contact OSHA's area offices. The Atlanta-East Area Office is located at 2183 Northlake Parkway, Bldg 7, Suite 110, Tucker, Ga.; phone: (770) 493-6644. The Atlanta-West Office is at 2400 Herodian Way, Suite 250, Smyrna; phone: (770) 984-8700.
Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships, and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
IBEW Local 1049 (Long Island, NY) Willing to Work for Cablevision Employees; Voting Over Three-Day Period
AWAITING SIGNAL ON UNIONS
More than 650 Cablevision technical workers on Island to decide if they want union representation
BY HARRY BERKOWITZ
STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2005
It's Round 3 this week for Cablevision and the unions that want to organize many of its technical workers.
Following votes in other service areas, including Brooklyn and the Bronx, that rejected unionization, 658 technical workers on Long Island will get their chance to vote on the issue.
The balloting, which will take place at eight locations during the next three days, will decide whether Local 1049 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers will represent the technicians. Most of the workers install cable TV service in homes throughout Long Island, while some work at cable TV transmission facilities. The IBEW represents about 2,000 employees of Time Warner Cable of New York.
Union organizers say the biggest complaints are that Cablevision contributes too little to retirement plans and that employees have no guidelines for gaining promotions or raises and have little job security.
"They are frustrated by the lack of structure," said Rick Fridell, an organizer for the IBEW. "They don't know what they need to get their next raise. It's based on favoritism, not the amount of work done or the quality of work."
Fridell said wages range from $12 per hour to $32 per hour, with an average of $17 per hour. In the 401(k) plan, the company matches half of the first 6 percent of annual salary contributions. Fridell said another concern is that Cablevision will be acquired by a company offering less security and fewer commitments. Time Warner Cable has often expressed interest in eventually acquiring Cablevision.
Citing the recent votes, Cablevision repeated a statement it has issued in the past, saying it has provided an "excellent workplace" for more than 30 years, including competitive salaries and benefits and "a strong dedication to our employees."
Cablevision Systems Corp. has been able to keep out unions from its cable TV operations, although some of the employees at its Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall operations are represented by unions.
In November, an effort to unionize 488 Cablevision workers in Brooklyn and the Bronx failed, as technicians voted 366-88 against being represented by Local 1101 of the Communications Workers of America.
Last month, Cablevision employees in Rockland and Orange counties voted 49-36 against being represented by Local 363 of the IBEW. In 1999, employees there rejected the union by a vote of 27-7.
The IBEW is also trying to help organize about 800 Cablevision employees in New Jersey. In the 1990s, some employees of companies that Cablevision acquired there were represented by IBEW Local 827 but dropped that representation after they got raises, Fridell said.
Fridell said Cablevision has told employees the company will not bow to union demands even if it means a strike and will withdraw some of their benefits if they unionize.
In 1999, after Cablevision hired a law firm to block efforts by labor organizers, chief executive James Dolan said at an annual meeting, "Our employees are better off and shareholders are better off with the direct relationship between employees and management."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
More than 650 Cablevision technical workers on Island to decide if they want union representation
BY HARRY BERKOWITZ
STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2005
It's Round 3 this week for Cablevision and the unions that want to organize many of its technical workers.
Following votes in other service areas, including Brooklyn and the Bronx, that rejected unionization, 658 technical workers on Long Island will get their chance to vote on the issue.
The balloting, which will take place at eight locations during the next three days, will decide whether Local 1049 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers will represent the technicians. Most of the workers install cable TV service in homes throughout Long Island, while some work at cable TV transmission facilities. The IBEW represents about 2,000 employees of Time Warner Cable of New York.
Union organizers say the biggest complaints are that Cablevision contributes too little to retirement plans and that employees have no guidelines for gaining promotions or raises and have little job security.
"They are frustrated by the lack of structure," said Rick Fridell, an organizer for the IBEW. "They don't know what they need to get their next raise. It's based on favoritism, not the amount of work done or the quality of work."
Fridell said wages range from $12 per hour to $32 per hour, with an average of $17 per hour. In the 401(k) plan, the company matches half of the first 6 percent of annual salary contributions. Fridell said another concern is that Cablevision will be acquired by a company offering less security and fewer commitments. Time Warner Cable has often expressed interest in eventually acquiring Cablevision.
Citing the recent votes, Cablevision repeated a statement it has issued in the past, saying it has provided an "excellent workplace" for more than 30 years, including competitive salaries and benefits and "a strong dedication to our employees."
Cablevision Systems Corp. has been able to keep out unions from its cable TV operations, although some of the employees at its Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall operations are represented by unions.
In November, an effort to unionize 488 Cablevision workers in Brooklyn and the Bronx failed, as technicians voted 366-88 against being represented by Local 1101 of the Communications Workers of America.
Last month, Cablevision employees in Rockland and Orange counties voted 49-36 against being represented by Local 363 of the IBEW. In 1999, employees there rejected the union by a vote of 27-7.
The IBEW is also trying to help organize about 800 Cablevision employees in New Jersey. In the 1990s, some employees of companies that Cablevision acquired there were represented by IBEW Local 827 but dropped that representation after they got raises, Fridell said.
Fridell said Cablevision has told employees the company will not bow to union demands even if it means a strike and will withdraw some of their benefits if they unionize.
In 1999, after Cablevision hired a law firm to block efforts by labor organizers, chief executive James Dolan said at an annual meeting, "Our employees are better off and shareholders are better off with the direct relationship between employees and management."
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.
IBEW Local 103 (Boston) Member Killed in Tragic Snowplow Accident
West Bridgewater dad killed by plow had planned move from busy road
By Elaine Allegrini, Enterprise staff writer
WEST BRIDGEWATER — Daniel Bellamy died Monday on the same heavily traveled street he and his wife, Susan, had feared was unsafe for their children.
The 34-year-old father of three — Cora, 4; Matthew, 2; and Lilah, 16 months — was struck and killed by a snowplow as he crossed West Street in front of his house to meet a co-worker for a ride to work as snow fell in the early-morning darkness.
"We had put an offer in on another house in the middle of the woods on a nice pond," Susan Bellamy, 30, said Monday afternoon. "We were afraid the kids would get hit by a car (on West Street)."
Bellamy, an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, was headed to a job with Norfolk Electric of Quincy when he left the family's small Cape-style house at 5:15 a.m.
Police said he walked into the path of an SUV equipped with a plow that was headed to a private snow removal job. The vehicle belongs to CWB Construction of Manley Street.
The driver told police he thought he hit a deer, but when the vehicle came to a stop nearly 100 feet away, the victim was under the plow, police said.
Given the conditions of blowing snow and darkness, Lt. Raymund Rogers said, the driver will not be charged. He was identified as Stephen Leonard, 52, of 7 Clark Hill Drive, Easton.
Police seized the vehicle to determine whether there were any mechanical problems, Rogers said.
Bellamy was pronounced dead at the scene, and police hoped to protect his wife and children from the horror, Rogers said.
However, Susan Bellamy came outside after she received a call that her husband had not shown up for work. It was then she learned her husband had died.
"He was a born-again Christian, so I know where he is," she said later as family and friends gathered at her home in response to the tragedy.
"He was the best father; he was my best friend," she said. "He'd do anything for me."
In the hours after her husband's death, Bellamy spoke about the life she and her husband enjoyed with their children.
The couple met in 1995 when Susan worked at a nursing home, caring for Daniel's mother, who was a patient there, she said.
"He was from Dorchester. He was afraid of bugs and everything," she recalled.
He was to overcome those fears as the family turned to camping, walking in the woods and other outdoor activities, she said.
"We were always together wherever we went — he was really the only friend I needed," she said.
Now, she wonders about her future, saying she must remain strong for her children and look to her faith for that strength.
"He worked very hard so I could be a stay-at-home mom," she said. "I was supposed to home-school my kids. Now, I'm 30 years old and I'm a widow with three children."
Alice Flint, who lives nearby, said she woke up and saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles from her window.
Later, a neighbor would call to tell her that Bellamy, who had moved to the neighborhood five years ago with his wife, had been run down.
Members of IBEW Local 103 were also grieving Bellamy's death, said financial secretary Chuck Monahan.
Bellamy had been a union member for 12 years, first as an apprentice and for the past eight years as a journeyman, he said. Bellamy's brother, Tim Bellamy of Dorchester, is also a member of the union.
"Dan was a pretty active kid here," Monahan said. "He was an (apprentice) officer and he also ran for office in the local."
Funeral arrangements were not available Monday.
Elaine Allegrini can be reached at eallegrini@enterprisenews.com.
By Elaine Allegrini, Enterprise staff writer
WEST BRIDGEWATER — Daniel Bellamy died Monday on the same heavily traveled street he and his wife, Susan, had feared was unsafe for their children.
The 34-year-old father of three — Cora, 4; Matthew, 2; and Lilah, 16 months — was struck and killed by a snowplow as he crossed West Street in front of his house to meet a co-worker for a ride to work as snow fell in the early-morning darkness.
"We had put an offer in on another house in the middle of the woods on a nice pond," Susan Bellamy, 30, said Monday afternoon. "We were afraid the kids would get hit by a car (on West Street)."
Bellamy, an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, was headed to a job with Norfolk Electric of Quincy when he left the family's small Cape-style house at 5:15 a.m.
Police said he walked into the path of an SUV equipped with a plow that was headed to a private snow removal job. The vehicle belongs to CWB Construction of Manley Street.
The driver told police he thought he hit a deer, but when the vehicle came to a stop nearly 100 feet away, the victim was under the plow, police said.
Given the conditions of blowing snow and darkness, Lt. Raymund Rogers said, the driver will not be charged. He was identified as Stephen Leonard, 52, of 7 Clark Hill Drive, Easton.
Police seized the vehicle to determine whether there were any mechanical problems, Rogers said.
Bellamy was pronounced dead at the scene, and police hoped to protect his wife and children from the horror, Rogers said.
However, Susan Bellamy came outside after she received a call that her husband had not shown up for work. It was then she learned her husband had died.
"He was a born-again Christian, so I know where he is," she said later as family and friends gathered at her home in response to the tragedy.
"He was the best father; he was my best friend," she said. "He'd do anything for me."
In the hours after her husband's death, Bellamy spoke about the life she and her husband enjoyed with their children.
The couple met in 1995 when Susan worked at a nursing home, caring for Daniel's mother, who was a patient there, she said.
"He was from Dorchester. He was afraid of bugs and everything," she recalled.
He was to overcome those fears as the family turned to camping, walking in the woods and other outdoor activities, she said.
"We were always together wherever we went — he was really the only friend I needed," she said.
Now, she wonders about her future, saying she must remain strong for her children and look to her faith for that strength.
"He worked very hard so I could be a stay-at-home mom," she said. "I was supposed to home-school my kids. Now, I'm 30 years old and I'm a widow with three children."
Alice Flint, who lives nearby, said she woke up and saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles from her window.
Later, a neighbor would call to tell her that Bellamy, who had moved to the neighborhood five years ago with his wife, had been run down.
Members of IBEW Local 103 were also grieving Bellamy's death, said financial secretary Chuck Monahan.
Bellamy had been a union member for 12 years, first as an apprentice and for the past eight years as a journeyman, he said. Bellamy's brother, Tim Bellamy of Dorchester, is also a member of the union.
"Dan was a pretty active kid here," Monahan said. "He was an (apprentice) officer and he also ran for office in the local."
Funeral arrangements were not available Monday.
Elaine Allegrini can be reached at eallegrini@enterprisenews.com.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
IBEW Local 1228 (Boston) Broadcast Techs Vote To Strike Because Management Won't Move on Negotiations
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=63708
Viacom workers vote to authorize strike
By Jessica Fargen
Sunday, January 16, 2005
The union that includes the technicians who power television programming at two local stations voted to authorize a strike yesterday - a move that is a step shy of an actual walk-out.
Union technicians at Viacom stations WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) and WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) and station management have reached an impasse in contract negotiations. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1228, voted to authorize a strike, said Kenneth Flanagan, business manager.
Strike-authorization votes can be used as bargaining tools, but do not mean a strike is imminent.
Flanagan said about 55 members - about half the union - voted. Members, who include news and post-production editors and studio and audio technicians, were also interested in other job actions such as informational picketing and boycotts if nothing changes, he said.
The union wants across-the-board wage increases, while the company wants pay hikes based on merit. Union negotiators also want more personal days and a fifth week of vacation for employees who have been there 20 years or more.
Viacom workers vote to authorize strike
By Jessica Fargen
Sunday, January 16, 2005
The union that includes the technicians who power television programming at two local stations voted to authorize a strike yesterday - a move that is a step shy of an actual walk-out.
Union technicians at Viacom stations WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) and WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) and station management have reached an impasse in contract negotiations. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1228, voted to authorize a strike, said Kenneth Flanagan, business manager.
Strike-authorization votes can be used as bargaining tools, but do not mean a strike is imminent.
Flanagan said about 55 members - about half the union - voted. Members, who include news and post-production editors and studio and audio technicians, were also interested in other job actions such as informational picketing and boycotts if nothing changes, he said.
The union wants across-the-board wage increases, while the company wants pay hikes based on merit. Union negotiators also want more personal days and a fifth week of vacation for employees who have been there 20 years or more.
IBEW Local 688 (Mansfield, OH) Helps Local United Way Reach Funding Goal
http://www.northcentralohio.com/newsboard/player/player2.asp?story=18437
The Richland County United Way has achieved a milestone. Friday the agency reached and passed its elusive goal of $1.9 million dollars.
It was standing room only as city officials, corporate executives and community leaders joined in the victory celebration for the 2004-2005 United Way Of Richland County Campaign.
Co-Chair J.R. Rice, business manager for the IBEW Local 688 says this is the first time in three years the agency has surpassed its goal. To date only 15 of 94 United Ways have exceeded their goals. The campaign exceeded it's goal by $68,000 an increase of 3.7% from last years goal of $1.8 million dollars.
Rice says towards the end of the campaign several corporations gave additional dollars. They include General Motors, AK Steel, Sprint, Shiloh Industries and Omni Sources.
General Motors UAW employees brought in the most amount with over $315,000. The benefactors of the community beating goal are the 28 United Way agencies and their over 100 critical programs that United Way of Richland County Funds.
The Richland County United Way has achieved a milestone. Friday the agency reached and passed its elusive goal of $1.9 million dollars.
It was standing room only as city officials, corporate executives and community leaders joined in the victory celebration for the 2004-2005 United Way Of Richland County Campaign.
Co-Chair J.R. Rice, business manager for the IBEW Local 688 says this is the first time in three years the agency has surpassed its goal. To date only 15 of 94 United Ways have exceeded their goals. The campaign exceeded it's goal by $68,000 an increase of 3.7% from last years goal of $1.8 million dollars.
Rice says towards the end of the campaign several corporations gave additional dollars. They include General Motors, AK Steel, Sprint, Shiloh Industries and Omni Sources.
General Motors UAW employees brought in the most amount with over $315,000. The benefactors of the community beating goal are the 28 United Way agencies and their over 100 critical programs that United Way of Richland County Funds.
IBEW Local 1289 (Lakewood, NJ) Works With NRC for Nuclear Safety
State official: Feds go easy on nuclear plants
By NICHOLAS CLUNN, MANAHAWKIN BUREAU
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/16/05
TRENTON -- Federal regulators have been too easy on New Jersey's four nuclear reactors since changing their inspection process four years ago, according to a top state radiation protection official.
Jill Lipoti, assistant director of the state's radiation protection program, identified the process' failure to detect the mishandling of safety concerns by PSEG Nuclear managers at a Salem County plant as the most troubling problem.
The process, she wrote to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has also given the public sugarcoated assessments of poor performance, including grades given to mishaps at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey.
Regulators welcomed Lipoti's comments, but disagreed with her assessment. The existing process, they said, gives regulators more opportunities to revisit problems. It also targets risk areas better than the old rules.
James McGovern, a 70-year-old Ocean Grove resident who made radioactive pharmaceuticals before retiring, said he trusts the NRC. Misinformation damaging atomic energy's reputation also has hurt the agency's standing, he said.
"There is false information that is being released, primarily by anti-nuclear groups, and a lot of it is not based on scientific information," he said. "It's mostly based on suspicions and innuendo."
But Jean Timmerman, a 77-year-old Long Island native, pointed to a fact many plant critics have cited when explaining their skepticism of the NRC: The agency has granted 20-year license renewals to every plant owner that has applied for one. This trend means that regulators approved the renewals without much scrutiny, she said.
"I don't trust the federal government to make a decision that will have our best interest at heart," said Timmerman of Lacey, whose elected officials support a license renewal for Oyster Creek, the nation's oldest commercial reactor.
David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who favors nuclear energy and works to improve reactor safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he criticized regulators for considering a proposal that would cancel thinly attended public meetings required annually under the existing oversight process.
"For people who live near a plant, it's really their only opportunity to meet face to face with the NRC," he said.
Agency officials instead should develop new ways to publicize the meetings and attract larger turn outs, said Lochbaum.
Lipoti's chief concern at the Salem plant stems from a rare NRC order demanding managers reform its "safety culture" -- an action that came about last year, four months after a whistle-blower approached regulators about managers ignoring worker concerns about unsafe conditions.
The new process "has significant flaws since it allowed this poor safety culture," Lipoti wrote to Michael T. Lesar, chief of rules and directives at the NRC.
Also under the existing process, the NRC has issued fewer "significant enforcement findings" -- citations that usually come with increased oversight, wrote Lipoti.
This trend stems from a new rule allowing reactor owners to explain violations before they're classified according to risk.
The NRC uses a four-color system to grade risk. The scale ranges from green to white, yellow and red, the most serious. Since white, yellow and red grades could carry increased oversight, plant owners often testify before regulators and try for green.
Lipoti took issue with how the NRC classified a mistake made by workers rebuilding a backup generator at Oyster Creek. Regulators had considered grading the oversight as white, but then characterized it as green after considering testimony provided by experts and officials from plant owner AmerGen.
The green grade, said Lipoti, concealed poor performance. Regulators should make judgments based on fact and then allow reactor owners a chance to appeal, she said.
Regulators began using the new Reactor Oversight Process, or ROP, April 2000, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. The process focuses inspectors on safety areas that would pose the most risk if degraded. The ROP also prescribes more opportunities for inspectors to follow-up on trouble spots.
"We're not going to back off until we're satisfied that a problem has been fully addressed," he said.
Although Lipoti has provided regulators with insight into the process, Sheehan characterized Lipoti's comparison of the old and new rules as comparing "apples to oranges."
Lipoti wrote Lesar after the agency solicited comments from her, officials from other states and industry observers.
Regulators are more organized under the new rules, although they require more information and more paperwork, said Oyster Creek Vice President Bud Swenson.
Plant workers have had healthy working relationship with the two NRC resident inspectors at the plant, said Edward Stroup, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1289.
"They feel comfortable with them because everybody is looking to do the right thing and is looking to keep the plant running well," he said.
Nicholas Clunn: (609) 978-4597 or nclunn@app.com
By NICHOLAS CLUNN, MANAHAWKIN BUREAU
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/16/05
TRENTON -- Federal regulators have been too easy on New Jersey's four nuclear reactors since changing their inspection process four years ago, according to a top state radiation protection official.
Jill Lipoti, assistant director of the state's radiation protection program, identified the process' failure to detect the mishandling of safety concerns by PSEG Nuclear managers at a Salem County plant as the most troubling problem.
The process, she wrote to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has also given the public sugarcoated assessments of poor performance, including grades given to mishaps at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey.
Regulators welcomed Lipoti's comments, but disagreed with her assessment. The existing process, they said, gives regulators more opportunities to revisit problems. It also targets risk areas better than the old rules.
James McGovern, a 70-year-old Ocean Grove resident who made radioactive pharmaceuticals before retiring, said he trusts the NRC. Misinformation damaging atomic energy's reputation also has hurt the agency's standing, he said.
"There is false information that is being released, primarily by anti-nuclear groups, and a lot of it is not based on scientific information," he said. "It's mostly based on suspicions and innuendo."
But Jean Timmerman, a 77-year-old Long Island native, pointed to a fact many plant critics have cited when explaining their skepticism of the NRC: The agency has granted 20-year license renewals to every plant owner that has applied for one. This trend means that regulators approved the renewals without much scrutiny, she said.
"I don't trust the federal government to make a decision that will have our best interest at heart," said Timmerman of Lacey, whose elected officials support a license renewal for Oyster Creek, the nation's oldest commercial reactor.
David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who favors nuclear energy and works to improve reactor safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he criticized regulators for considering a proposal that would cancel thinly attended public meetings required annually under the existing oversight process.
"For people who live near a plant, it's really their only opportunity to meet face to face with the NRC," he said.
Agency officials instead should develop new ways to publicize the meetings and attract larger turn outs, said Lochbaum.
Lipoti's chief concern at the Salem plant stems from a rare NRC order demanding managers reform its "safety culture" -- an action that came about last year, four months after a whistle-blower approached regulators about managers ignoring worker concerns about unsafe conditions.
The new process "has significant flaws since it allowed this poor safety culture," Lipoti wrote to Michael T. Lesar, chief of rules and directives at the NRC.
Also under the existing process, the NRC has issued fewer "significant enforcement findings" -- citations that usually come with increased oversight, wrote Lipoti.
This trend stems from a new rule allowing reactor owners to explain violations before they're classified according to risk.
The NRC uses a four-color system to grade risk. The scale ranges from green to white, yellow and red, the most serious. Since white, yellow and red grades could carry increased oversight, plant owners often testify before regulators and try for green.
Lipoti took issue with how the NRC classified a mistake made by workers rebuilding a backup generator at Oyster Creek. Regulators had considered grading the oversight as white, but then characterized it as green after considering testimony provided by experts and officials from plant owner AmerGen.
The green grade, said Lipoti, concealed poor performance. Regulators should make judgments based on fact and then allow reactor owners a chance to appeal, she said.
Regulators began using the new Reactor Oversight Process, or ROP, April 2000, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. The process focuses inspectors on safety areas that would pose the most risk if degraded. The ROP also prescribes more opportunities for inspectors to follow-up on trouble spots.
"We're not going to back off until we're satisfied that a problem has been fully addressed," he said.
Although Lipoti has provided regulators with insight into the process, Sheehan characterized Lipoti's comparison of the old and new rules as comparing "apples to oranges."
Lipoti wrote Lesar after the agency solicited comments from her, officials from other states and industry observers.
Regulators are more organized under the new rules, although they require more information and more paperwork, said Oyster Creek Vice President Bud Swenson.
Plant workers have had healthy working relationship with the two NRC resident inspectors at the plant, said Edward Stroup, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1289.
"They feel comfortable with them because everybody is looking to do the right thing and is looking to keep the plant running well," he said.
Nicholas Clunn: (609) 978-4597 or nclunn@app.com
IBEW Local 1228 (Boston) Broadcast techs vote on strike
http://business.bostonherald.com/realestateNews/view.bg?articleid=63592
Viacom workers voting on strike
By Greg Gatlin
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Union broadcast technicians are turning up the heat at Viacom Boston-owned TV stations, and could vote today to give authority for contract negotiators to call a strike.
The move could be aimed at jump-starting what a union official says are stalled contract talks amid growing labor tension between management of local Viacom stations WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) and WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) and negotiators with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1228.
Technicians at the Viacom stations include news and post-production editors, master control workers, satellite truck operators, studio and audio technicians and others critical to getting television programming on the air.
A strike authorization vote is often used for bargaining leverage, and does not indicate a strike is imminent.
"At present, there is insufficient pressure on the company to move these negotiations forward,'' Kenneth Flanagan, business manager, wrote in a Dec. 27 letter to to the technicians' bargaining unit.
Wages, personal and vacation days and arbitration of disciplinary matters are key sticking points. Flanagan told the Herald that management wants merit-based wage increases.
The union wants across-the-board wage increases. Union negotiators want more personal days and a fifth week of vacation for employees with 20 or more years on the job.
Flanagan said Viacom Boston has insisted on eliminating arbitration for unresolved disciplinary grievances, which would leave final decisions in the hands of the company.
"Those are the important issues from our perspective,'' Flanagan said.
A Viacom Boston spokeswoman said the station operator does not comment on personnel matters, including union negotiations. She said negotiators are scheduled to meet next Tuesday.
Viacom workers voting on strike
By Greg Gatlin
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Union broadcast technicians are turning up the heat at Viacom Boston-owned TV stations, and could vote today to give authority for contract negotiators to call a strike.
The move could be aimed at jump-starting what a union official says are stalled contract talks amid growing labor tension between management of local Viacom stations WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) and WSBK-TV (Ch. 38) and negotiators with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1228.
Technicians at the Viacom stations include news and post-production editors, master control workers, satellite truck operators, studio and audio technicians and others critical to getting television programming on the air.
A strike authorization vote is often used for bargaining leverage, and does not indicate a strike is imminent.
"At present, there is insufficient pressure on the company to move these negotiations forward,'' Kenneth Flanagan, business manager, wrote in a Dec. 27 letter to to the technicians' bargaining unit.
Wages, personal and vacation days and arbitration of disciplinary matters are key sticking points. Flanagan told the Herald that management wants merit-based wage increases.
The union wants across-the-board wage increases. Union negotiators want more personal days and a fifth week of vacation for employees with 20 or more years on the job.
Flanagan said Viacom Boston has insisted on eliminating arbitration for unresolved disciplinary grievances, which would leave final decisions in the hands of the company.
"Those are the important issues from our perspective,'' Flanagan said.
A Viacom Boston spokeswoman said the station operator does not comment on personnel matters, including union negotiations. She said negotiators are scheduled to meet next Tuesday.
Community thanks to IBEW Local 1523 (Witchita KS) for help with hospice
From The Newton Kansan
PUBLISHED: Friday, January 14, 2005
Letters to the editor: Community supports hospice
We wish to say thank you to the community for its support of the 2004 Hospice Tree of Life. The tree-lighting ceremony that took place Nov. 30 was both meaningful and beautiful. The tree spoke to our community's financial support for the extraordinary care of hospice. Thank you to the donors who remembered a deceased loved one or who honored a living loved one with their gifts. More than 400 names were added to the name book throughout the holiday season. The Tree of Life is a testimony to our community's continued support of hospice and stands as a beautiful symbol of the holiday season.
Central Homecare & Hospice and the Friends of Hospice wish to thank the following individuals, businesses and groups for volunteering their time, resources, in-kind gifts and sponsorship to help make this event possible: The family of Helen Burgett, Mennonite Press, Citizens State Bank, Central National Bank, Emergency Services of Kansas P.A., First Bank, Wenger Oil, Midland National Bank, St. Mary's Catholic Church, First United Methodist Church, Newton Community Children's Choir directed by Diane Fast, Phil Fischer of Trinity Heights United Methodist Church, Eddie Griswold, Night Life Sounds Inc., The Newton Kansan, Hesston Record, Harvey County Independent, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Kaye Electric, Cox Communications, Harvey County, City of Newton, and Mike Jacobs, Mike Martinez and Kory Gehrer of IBEW Local No. 1523.
Friends of Hospice serving our community are: Donna Becker, June Bunting, Virginia Claassen, Betty Dody, Jeannie Dreier, Jack Fey, Lois Harms, Vicki Howard, Peggy Hwa, Virginia and Allan Mills, Eveanna and Bill Mosier, Bee Reimer, Norma Ruff, Harold Schorn, Bill and Naomi Wenger.
Robert Carlton, executive director, Central Homecare & Hospice
Click here to return to story:
http://www.thekansan.com/stories/011405/opinion_0114050028.shtml
PUBLISHED: Friday, January 14, 2005
Letters to the editor: Community supports hospice
We wish to say thank you to the community for its support of the 2004 Hospice Tree of Life. The tree-lighting ceremony that took place Nov. 30 was both meaningful and beautiful. The tree spoke to our community's financial support for the extraordinary care of hospice. Thank you to the donors who remembered a deceased loved one or who honored a living loved one with their gifts. More than 400 names were added to the name book throughout the holiday season. The Tree of Life is a testimony to our community's continued support of hospice and stands as a beautiful symbol of the holiday season.
Central Homecare & Hospice and the Friends of Hospice wish to thank the following individuals, businesses and groups for volunteering their time, resources, in-kind gifts and sponsorship to help make this event possible: The family of Helen Burgett, Mennonite Press, Citizens State Bank, Central National Bank, Emergency Services of Kansas P.A., First Bank, Wenger Oil, Midland National Bank, St. Mary's Catholic Church, First United Methodist Church, Newton Community Children's Choir directed by Diane Fast, Phil Fischer of Trinity Heights United Methodist Church, Eddie Griswold, Night Life Sounds Inc., The Newton Kansan, Hesston Record, Harvey County Independent, Wal-Mart Supercenter, Kaye Electric, Cox Communications, Harvey County, City of Newton, and Mike Jacobs, Mike Martinez and Kory Gehrer of IBEW Local No. 1523.
Friends of Hospice serving our community are: Donna Becker, June Bunting, Virginia Claassen, Betty Dody, Jeannie Dreier, Jack Fey, Lois Harms, Vicki Howard, Peggy Hwa, Virginia and Allan Mills, Eveanna and Bill Mosier, Bee Reimer, Norma Ruff, Harold Schorn, Bill and Naomi Wenger.
Robert Carlton, executive director, Central Homecare & Hospice
Click here to return to story:
http://www.thekansan.com/stories/011405/opinion_0114050028.shtml
Red Dog Mine Electricians Ask IBEW Local 1547 (Anchorage AK) to Represent Them
http://www.adn.com/business/story/6024888p-5915187c.html
Red Dog electricians want union
MANAGER: All 250 hourly workers must decide, not just 16 electricians.
By PAULA DOBBYN, Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 15, 2005)
A group of electrical workers at the Red Dog mine near Kotzebue wants to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and Teck Cominco, the Canadian company that runs the world's largest zinc mine, objects.
As a result of the dispute, the National Labor Relations Board held three days of hearings in Anchorage this week to gather testimony and evidence before deciding whether the employees can hold a union election.
The labor board must decide whether the electricians and instrument maintenance employees form a distinct work unit. If so, they'll be allowed to hold an election. But if the board decides that their work duties blend with that of other mine employees, then they may not be able to vote.
"We're optimistic about getting the unit and we're real optimistic about winning the election," Jake Metcalfe, general counsel for Anchorage-based IBEW Local 1547, said Friday.
Red Dog's general manager, Rob Scott, said employees have the right to decide whether they want to organize. But the size of the electrical and instrumentation unit is small, and it doesn't constitute its own separate work group, he said. The IBEW should have to organize all the hourly workers, some 250 people, not just the 16 electricians, Scott said.
"It's a question of the working relationship with the other departments. The E and I group is not an independent group that doesn't have interrelationships with other departments. In our mind, it would be inappropriate to be a separate bargaining unit," Scott said, speaking from the Deering high school, where he was meeting with community members.
Metcalfe disagreed. The electrical workers have a distinct craft that sets them apart from other employees, he said.
But if the labor board rules in favor of Teck, the IBEW will try to organize the majority of the Red Dog work force, Metcalfe said. Some 350 people work at the massive open-pit mine. Organizers would have to get at least 50 percent of roughly 250 hourly employees to win an election.
"We would have to run a bigger campaign," he said. "We would do that."
Three primary factors are driving the union push: wages, pension and safety concerns, Metcalfe said.
Journeymen electricians who are IBEW members on average earn nearly $7 an hour more than the top Red Dog electrician, Metcalfe said. Pension seems to be an even bigger issue. At Red Dog, there's a "bubble of baby boomers who are getting closer to retirement age," he said.
"We've got one of the best pension programs in the state," Metcalfe said.
Jim Utley, Teck's vice president for human resources, said from Vancouver that his company offers an attractive wage and benefit package. Utley also said the company has "responded constructively" to issues employees have brought up. He didn't provide specifics.
If a union election was successful, it's hard to say at this point how it would affect Red Dog operations, Scott said. But if, as a result of collective bargaining, the scope of the work electricians do is narrowed, "that would be a concern," he said.
Prior efforts to unionize Red Dog workers have failed, Scott said. He didn't recall how many attempts have been made or which unions were involved. This is the first time a union has managed to get 30 percent of a work group to sign union cards, enough to trigger an election or a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, he said.
During the hearings in Anchorage this week, the labor board's resident officer, Norm Hayashi, gathered facts from employees and management under oath. He'll the send evidence to the board's Seattle office, where regional director Richard Ahearn will make a decision next month, according to Ahearn. Briefs from lawyers for the IBEW and Teck are due on Jan. 24, Metcalfe said.
The union organizing effort has "changed discussion around the coffee pot in the morning," Scott said.
"That's fair enough," said Scott.
Daily News reporter Paula Dobbyn can be reached at pdobbyn@adn.com or 257-4317
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1282415.htm
Red Dog electricians want union
MANAGER: All 250 hourly workers must decide, not just 16 electricians.
By PAULA DOBBYN, Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 15, 2005)
A group of electrical workers at the Red Dog mine near Kotzebue wants to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and Teck Cominco, the Canadian company that runs the world's largest zinc mine, objects.
As a result of the dispute, the National Labor Relations Board held three days of hearings in Anchorage this week to gather testimony and evidence before deciding whether the employees can hold a union election.
The labor board must decide whether the electricians and instrument maintenance employees form a distinct work unit. If so, they'll be allowed to hold an election. But if the board decides that their work duties blend with that of other mine employees, then they may not be able to vote.
"We're optimistic about getting the unit and we're real optimistic about winning the election," Jake Metcalfe, general counsel for Anchorage-based IBEW Local 1547, said Friday.
Red Dog's general manager, Rob Scott, said employees have the right to decide whether they want to organize. But the size of the electrical and instrumentation unit is small, and it doesn't constitute its own separate work group, he said. The IBEW should have to organize all the hourly workers, some 250 people, not just the 16 electricians, Scott said.
"It's a question of the working relationship with the other departments. The E and I group is not an independent group that doesn't have interrelationships with other departments. In our mind, it would be inappropriate to be a separate bargaining unit," Scott said, speaking from the Deering high school, where he was meeting with community members.
Metcalfe disagreed. The electrical workers have a distinct craft that sets them apart from other employees, he said.
But if the labor board rules in favor of Teck, the IBEW will try to organize the majority of the Red Dog work force, Metcalfe said. Some 350 people work at the massive open-pit mine. Organizers would have to get at least 50 percent of roughly 250 hourly employees to win an election.
"We would have to run a bigger campaign," he said. "We would do that."
Three primary factors are driving the union push: wages, pension and safety concerns, Metcalfe said.
Journeymen electricians who are IBEW members on average earn nearly $7 an hour more than the top Red Dog electrician, Metcalfe said. Pension seems to be an even bigger issue. At Red Dog, there's a "bubble of baby boomers who are getting closer to retirement age," he said.
"We've got one of the best pension programs in the state," Metcalfe said.
Jim Utley, Teck's vice president for human resources, said from Vancouver that his company offers an attractive wage and benefit package. Utley also said the company has "responded constructively" to issues employees have brought up. He didn't provide specifics.
If a union election was successful, it's hard to say at this point how it would affect Red Dog operations, Scott said. But if, as a result of collective bargaining, the scope of the work electricians do is narrowed, "that would be a concern," he said.
Prior efforts to unionize Red Dog workers have failed, Scott said. He didn't recall how many attempts have been made or which unions were involved. This is the first time a union has managed to get 30 percent of a work group to sign union cards, enough to trigger an election or a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, he said.
During the hearings in Anchorage this week, the labor board's resident officer, Norm Hayashi, gathered facts from employees and management under oath. He'll the send evidence to the board's Seattle office, where regional director Richard Ahearn will make a decision next month, according to Ahearn. Briefs from lawyers for the IBEW and Teck are due on Jan. 24, Metcalfe said.
The union organizing effort has "changed discussion around the coffee pot in the morning," Scott said.
"That's fair enough," said Scott.
Daily News reporter Paula Dobbyn can be reached at pdobbyn@adn.com or 257-4317
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1282415.htm
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