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Linemen in short supply at Lodi Electric Utility
Last updated: Friday, Nov 24, 2006 - 06:17:41 am PSTComments(3)
A freshly inked deal between the Lodi Electric Utility and a local union will attract and retain electric linemen, city officials hope.
Since June, the utility has been trying to fill two vacancies for linemen, workers who perform the dangerous task of maintaining the electric lines. City Manager Blair King recently signed an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 to increase the so-called rubber glove premium from five to 10 percent, beginning on Jan. 1. The rubber glove premium is paid to workers who wear heavy-duty rubber gloves to handle live wires.
"We want to recruit and retain more linemen," King said. "We wouldn't be doing it unless we thought it would help."
The shortage of linemen is not limited to Lodi, which only has eight of its required 11 journeyman positions filled. Electric utilities everywhere are struggling to attract skilled workers, according to IBEW Communications Director Eric Wolfe. He said as baby boomer linemen reach retirement age, not enough younger workers are going into the industry.
"Lodi is not the only place," he said. "It's an industry-wide problem."
Wolfe said young workers are not lining up to become linemen because the work is demanding and risky.
"Good linemen don't grow on trees," he said. "It involves an apprenticeship of four to five years. It is extremely physical work and it involves risk to life and limb on a daily basis."
About 40 linemen in the United States were killed in 2005, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, giving the job a higher fatality rate than police officers or firefighters. The Lodi utility has not had a fatality in the 17 years Barry Fisher, construction and maintenance supervisor, has worked for it.
Fisher said Lodi has lost four workers in the last five months to other utilities. He said the increase in rubber glove premium will help retain the workers the utility has and attract new ones.
"We're getting pretty short," he said. "(The rubber glove premium increase) brings us up to match other utilities. They were way ahead of us in that."
Pacific Gas and Electric, which became the first utility to offer the premium 15 years ago, has a 12 percent rubber glove premium, according to Wolfe.
King said, because of the dangerous nature of the work, linemen should be compensated accordingly.
"If you are willing to walk up and touch that buzz in the line, you should be paid more," he said.
The city's job advertisement Web site states the salary range for a lineman is $5,000 to $6,000 per month.
Wolfe said linemen work with so-called hot sticks to grab wires, but a separate skill is required to don the rubber gloves and grab live wires with one's hands.
"It's a little nervous making because you are working in close proximity with live conductors," he said. "It can be fatal."
Wolfe said the rubber glove premium increase could make it more attractive for linemen to come to Lodi.
"In today's environment where there is a shortage of skilled linemen, anything to increase benefits is a plus," he said. "Whether that's going to be enough, only time will tell."
Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.
Rubber gloves at a glance
Lodi Electric Utility linemen who are willing to don thick insulated rubber gloves to wrangle with live electric wires receive a 10 percent premium.Workers use Class 2 Salisbury rubber gloves rated to 20,000 volts. The gloves must be inspected before each use for cracks or tears.
Source: Lodi Electric Utility
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