IBEW Local 352 (Lansing MI) Maintains Safety for Member despite Management Intransigence from BWL

Published January 21, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]

3-crew teams will be kept, BWL agrees

Utility will press issue in next contract talks

By Matthew Miller
Lansing State Journal

Avoiding a court hearing, the Lansing Board of Water and Light has reached an agreement with union officials over the size of line crews working on high voltage wires.

But a BWL spokeswoman said the company again will press the issue during contract negotiations.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 352 said earlier this week that BWL was violating its contract and endangering workers by dispatching crews of two, instead of three, to work on high voltage wires.

According to the BWL safety manual, two linemen must go up in the bucket when repairing overhead lines while one person acts as a safety observer.

On Friday, the two sides agreed BWL would continue using three-person crews.

In a statement, Joseph Davis, the business manager for IBEW Local 325, called the agreement "a constructive solution that resolves our underlying differences."

But Nancy Kremsreiter, a senior public information analyst at BWL, said the utility plans to bring up the issue again when the union's contract expires in September.

"This is not and never has been about safety," she said.

"It's about how much our customers are expected to pay for productive work. Rather than continue to spend money on this issue in litigation, we determined to go back to the status quo and pursue the issue in contract negotiations later this year."

On Tuesday, an Ingham County Circuit Court judge issued a temporary restraining order against BWL, requiring it to use three-person crews. A hearing on the issue had been scheduled for next week.

Contact Matthew Miller at 377-1046 or mrmiller@lsj.com.