Dear Brothers & Sisters,

In light of the economic environment and lack of calls, I am as of today’s date, December 30, 2012, continuing to temporarily suspend strikes on all job calls until June 30, 2012.

Outside of the Wind Turbine calls, hands have been faced with few job opportunities for months on end and to get a 3 to 4 week call or face a strike and roll off of the books is achieving nothing but financially harming a member.

Calls for the duration of nine months or longer are remaining within the top forty on Book One. For all of 2011, we went to Book Two once for two men. Over the next few months, we should be seeing calls coming in for longer term projects at various Kaiser Facilities.

The Clay Bank Jail facility will bid the end of spring and should start early summer.

Valero is awaiting a decision from the Bay Area Air Quality Board on the NOx credit issue and solution. If we receive a favorable decision, work could start late spring or early summer on a $250-M Hydrogen Unit along with a $25-M Services Building. I will keep you informed of the progress of this project.

I was also contacted by the staff of Mare Island Studios about available property in Solano or Napa Counties for their studio proposal. I put their rep in touch with a property owner in Fairfield who have 300 acres of industrial land for sale and will keep you posted as to the progress of work as soon as we hear something.

Fraternally,

Dan Broadwater
Business Manager

Know Your Agreement.

Shift Work

Inside Agreement, Section 3.10
S&C Agreement, Section 3:04

When so elected by the contractor, multiple shifts of a least five (5) days’ duration may be worked. When two (2) or three (3) shifts are worked:

The first shift (day shift) shall be worked between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM. Workmen on the “day shift” shall receive eight (8) hours’ pay at the regular hourly rate for eight (8) hours’ work.

The second shift (swing shift) shall be worked between the hours of 4:30 PM and 12:30 AM. Workmen on the “swing shift” shall receive eight (8) hours’ pay at the regular hourly rate plus 10% for seven and one-half (7 1/2) hours’ work.

The third shift (graveyard shift) shall be worked between the hours of 12:30 AM and 8:00 AM. Workmen on the “graveyard shift” shall receive eight (8) hours’ pay at the regular hourly rate plus 15% for seven (7) hours’ work.

A lunch period of thirty (30) minutes shall be allowed on each shift. All overtime work required after the completion of a regular shift shall be paid at one and one-half times the “shift” hourly rate.

There shall be no pyramiding of overtime rates and double the straight rate shall be the maximum compensation for any hour worked. There shall be no requirement for a day shift when either the second or third shift is worked. 

S&C has (d) that allows flexibility when requested in writing by the Customer.

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NEWS & EVENTS

From the Union Meeting

The Drawings: the $25 BevMo card went to Marty Ohlemacher, the George Foreman Gill went to Steve Garcia and the Smoothie Machine went to John Bogart.  The membership drawing for $100 went to Russ Taylor. The January drawing will be $25.00.

Public Works

Three and a half of the public works projects did not go our way for the month of November.  The fire alarm part of the Yountville went to Intrepid Electronic Systems.  The electrical part, Solano College Bldg 1300 and the Claybank Adult Det. security upgrade went the other way. 

December was also a bad month.  The truck scales on I80 are being moved and the bridge and road work bid for $48-Mil.  Hwy12 between I80 and Hwy29 is being widened to four lanes!  That bid in two packages, $20-Mil and $35-Mil.  Mike Brown was listed on $35-Mil package but none of our contractors were listed on other or the road work for the truck scales.

Contra Costa was listed on the $19-Mil Vallejo ferry project; it’s $2-mil over the engineer’s estimate.

To put some perspective on public to private work, follow-up from last month’s article, Bid Clerk reports just over one billion in construction from the time we started tracking in very late 2010 out to 2014.  The percentage projects break out as 69% private and 31% public.  However, this is not 100% accurate projection of the “work” since many of the private projects do not include a value, or are not listed on Bid Clerk.

Before the crash we had about two billion under PLA’s that went away when the financing went away.

Retirees’ Club

The Retiree’s Club Meetings have returned to the first Wednesday of the month and start at 12:30 here at the Training Center in classroom two.

Discount at Gyms?

Yes, it is correct that Kaiser members can obtain discounts at certain gyms. The discounted gyms can be found at this website https://www.choosehealthy.com. The Choose Healthy site will ask the member to create an account, once an account is created they can find a provider.

2012 Outlook

In the next newsletter we will be able to take an accurate look back at 2011 man-hours as December’s hours are reported January 15th.

If we look at permits as a sign of the recovery, it remains slow.  Mostly small projects.  Remodeling, PV, roofs, HVAC, water heaters and windows make up a good deal of permits.  Chevron E.S. did show-up on the Benicia permits with the city wide PV project and we have cleared in their crew and dispatched apprentices.  PV is a high value project but low in man-hours.

If we look at Bid Clerk as a sign of the recovery it looks very good.  2011 had 81 projects for $228-Mil., 47% public and 53% private.  2012 has 38 projects for $348-Mil., 52% public and 48% private as of this newsletter.  This excludes Kaiser, the movie studio and Valero which do not show-up on Bid Clerk.  These are projects listed with start dates and includes conceptual through approved.  One has to beware not to read too much into the tea leaves with this.  Projects for 2012 have a $50-Mil Nut Tree “conceptual”  project and also includes $72-Mil in highway work.  The point is, it does show an increase in construction spending—both real and conceptual.  Much better than what we witnessed twelve months ago when we started tracking Bid Clerk projects.

Bid Clerk recently listed a winery resort in Napa as “conceptual” with a value of $250-Mil., and start date of Jan 2013!  Someone thinks the economy is starting to turn around!

L.E.D. Street Lights

Heads up to every one driving around that if you see crews retrofitting street lights to L.E.D.—CALL THE UNION HALL.  If you cannot call the Union Hall then please snap a photo or two with your phone and email them to stann@ibewlu180.org & mikes@ibewlu180.org.

Mike is running certified payroll reports and Stan is  getting photos of the workers.  These are electrician jobs, not jobs for laborers or traffic signal techs.  We are finding both union and nonunion shops and need to get this work under electricians A.S.A.P.

Kaiser Construction Services

Kaiser Construction Services will require a background, drug; and health screening. Background screening consists of criminal checks for felony and misdemeanor criminal record checks, OIG/EPLS/OFAC searches, Social Security Number verification and sex offender convictions for the past seven years from date on application. No education, employer or credit checks are conducted. Drug screening consists of a 9 panel screen. Health screening comprises Tuberculosis (TB) screening, and Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR). If the individual cannot provide proof of MMR vaccination, they will be required to receive the vaccination. Any employment offer is contingent upon successfully passing all screening processes.

Kaiser will pay four (4) hours of show up pay for the pre-screening process on the individual's first paycheck. The pre-screening process may take up to ten days. If the individual does not pass pre-screening at any point in the process, they will not be put on the payroll and no monies will be paid to the individual.

WORK PICTURE

SMUD 3, This project should be coming to a close by the end of this month.

SHILOH 4 is up for planning commission approval and the rumor on the street (hills?) has Blatner/Rosendin doing the job.  As with construction the ink must dry on the approval and contract and we want to clear-in the foreman before calling it “WORK”.  With hope it should start in Spring 2012.

Queen of the Valley Hospital, Rosendin has transferred people from Montezuma Hill 2 to the project.  We should not see any job calls and the completion is 2013.

The Kaiser Project in Napa, Cupertino has the packages and plans to hiring slowly; recently two job calls for one JIW and apprentice.  The peak manpower (50-60 people) will be in July and then start tapering down to the late part of 2012.  No mass hiring.

VacaValley Hospital, Schetter has the expansion of the operating rooms (new building) and the central plant (modification of existing).  We have been told it could start March 2012.

Solano County Jail, the latest news is the County hopes to bid this soon and break ground in the spring of 2012.  The project is under a PLA so local hire will be in place.  Prequalification of bidders in underway.

Kaiser Vallejo, The old hospital tower is coming down in 2013 so some work is taking place for the demo and calls will be coming in for fire alarm work; 2-3 JIW’s.  Nothing is “publicly out to bid” so we will only know what happens as the job calls come in.  Kaiser likes to keep things private.

From the JATC

Night-Time Scheduled Classes
(Require for Night Classes 12 min. or class canceled)
You Want To Be A Contractor?
Winery Electrical Knowledge
Basic Motor Control

Visit the JATC's Calendar at:
http://www.jatclu180.org/?zone=/unionactive/private_view_page.cfm&page=ContEd20Info
Link opens in a new window

Classes are subject to cancellation without prior notice

12 Student MINIMUM / Per Class

Must attend all classes to receive Cont. Ed Credits

PAYMENT for Journeyman Cont. Ed Classes:

CASH ~ MONEY ORDER ~ Credit/Debit Card: VISA or MasterCard

 

UPCOMING NEGOTIATIONS:

The Inside Wireman’s Agreement expires on May 31, 2012. The Negotiating Committee shall meet on January 11, 2012 and future meetings with the Northern California Chapter of NECA are to follow.

Local 180 has not had a zero increase for Health Care since I have been a Trustee. I have requested quotes from our current Health Care provider, Kaiser, along with quotes from additional Health Care providers through Carpenter Benefits. This will allow us to be educated in costs and increases through our negotiating process. It is hoped that we shall have more than one option for Health Care. This will be vetted by the Health and Welfare Trustees and the membership.

Last year, we had representatives from Kaiser and the IBEW/NECA National Family Plan give presentations on their products. It was followed by a question and answer session. Recommendations came from the membership, such as, offering more Kaiser Alternatives and leaving it as status quo. Needs varied for different family sizes along with family health care needs. At one time, it was an all or nothing proposal from Kaiser. That has changed and split plans are allowed by Kaiser.  All of this shall be taken into consideration. 

As soon as the information comes from our consultants, I will forward it to the membership and a Special Call meeting will follow.  

Condolences

None. All past condolences are posted on our website.

Kaiser

Click on image for PDF.

Call Kaiser at 1-866-399-7696 (toll free),

Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

S&C - Residential H&W Information

Please note that this is not a complete list, but is intended to provide Plan participants with examples of Over The Counter (OTC) items that may be eligible.

To be reimbursed for these expenses, a completed claim form must be submitted to UAS along with one of the following:

• A customer receipt identifying the name of the person for whom the prescription applies, the date and amount of the purchase, and an Rx number; or

• A customer receipt that reflects the date and the amount of the purchase, along with a copy of the prescription.

Section 213d governs the eligible expenses for HRA, FSA plans. Publications 502 and 503 are written to help taxpayers determine what qualified expenses can be deducted on their income tax returns FSAs and DCAP, respectively. They should not be used as the sole determinant for what is reimbursable under these plans.

T-SHIRTS

T-Shirts are offered for sale in various sizes; all shirts will have one front pocket with the bug. Prices are as follows:

Safety Orange Short Sleeve - $20.00

Grey Long Sleeve—$25.00

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Holiday Calendars

Inside

Bay to Borders

S&C

Upcoming Meetings Events & Holidays: REGULAR MEETING 7 P.M. SECOND THURSDAY B-B-Q - 5 P.M. ONLY ON BLOOD DRIVES RETIREES MEETING FIRST WEDNESDAY @ 12:30 P.M. Benevolence Committee 5 P.M. FOURTH WEDNESDAY E-BOARD MEETING 6 P.M. FOURTH WEDNESDAY EXAM BOARD MEETING 6 P.M. By appointment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dan Broadwater, Business Manager

UNION BUILT MEANS BETTER BUILT

You want a “ no-worry” electrical system installed in your home safe, reliable and guaranteed.  Then you need an electrical system installed by a union electrical contractor.  That’s right– UNION!  A competent union electrical contractor who employs qualified IBEW union electricians.

Each IBEW journeyman learns the trade through a 3 to 5 year Apprenticeship program.  This extensive training combines on–the-job practical experience with classroom theory and testing.  And the training doesn’t stop there.  Continuing education constantly up-dates the union electrician’s skills through programs sponsored by the IBEW and NECA.