IBEW L.U. 180

Volume 2003, Issue 11 November 1st, 2003

SERVING NAPA AND SOLANO COUNTIES SINCE 1901

Business Managers Report

Politics Many of our recent gains in increased Man-hours, Market Share, and Membership have come because of Project Labor Agreements signed with local Agencies. These have come as a result of supporting the campaigns of labor friendly politicians. Please support those candidates that have been endorsed by the Building Trades.

California Electrical Certification Even though the Governor (Davis not Arnie) has signed a bill allowing the California Apprentice Council to delay implementation of the date that Certification will take place, there is no reason to believe it will happen. Even if it does, the date that will be used to require retesting (3 years) will be on the date that it is first implemented. This means that those of you who have already passed the test will still have three more years beginning when the requirement becomes law.

Health and Welfare Locally, statewide, and nationally we are still suffering from this crisis. I have met with our Trust Administration and our Actuary to look at short and long term strategies to protect our benefits. Within the next several weeks we will have cost projections, savings solutions, and options for the membership to look at. I would like to have a Special Called Meeting in early December to present these findings to the body. At that meeting several options will be presented and it will be up to the members to determine how to best allocate our wage and benefit package due in June of 2004. I will have as much information as possible so that a discussion can take place at the regular meeting held on the 13th of November. These issues primarily affect the Inside and Residential members. Sound and Communications have a separate regional plan.

Sound & Communications Negotiations for the S & C agreement are ongoing. We will have had our last meeting by the time that you receive this letter and we will be sending out a letter to have a ratification or notice that we will be preceding to CIR.

The process has progressed somewhat positively and I truly hope that we can reach an agreement and be looking to the members for both ratification and allocation of the Wage and Benefit package.

Fraternally,
Bruce P. Gouley

Upcoming Events Holidays	Inside this issue.
REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 13, 2003 Bar-B-Que @5:30 P. M. October 9, 2003 Retirees Club Meeting October 1, 2003 VOTE! NOVEMBER 4, 2003 Veteran’s Day November 11, 2003 Inside Agreement Only Thanksgiving Off Days November 27 & 28, 2003 All agreements Christmas Off Days December 25 & 26, 2003 - Inside & Residential Agreements December 25, 2003 - S&C Agreement Only	Business Manager's Report Congratulations Condolences Retiree's Corner 2003 Endorsements Sound and Communications From the President From the Organizer JATC From the Agent
All meetings will be held at:	720 Technology Way Napa CA, 94558

Congratulations
Alex and Merlita Agan married on August 10th

Condolences
To the Family of John Krueger who passed away on October 24, 2003.

Fairfield-Suisun School Board: Gary Falati, Kathleen Marianno, Anne Griffin, George Pettygrove

NO Recommendation on: Measure K (City of Benicia), Measure L (City of Fairfield), Measure M (City of Benicia), Measure N (Davis Joint USD), Measure O (City of Benicia)

Retiree's Corner
The Monthly Meetings for the Retirees’ Club are held the first Wednesday of each month. They are held at the Training Center. All retirees and spouses are welcome. Widows of retired members are encouraged to get involved. So carve out a spot of your busy retirement schedule and join us...
The next meeting will be held Nov. 5, 2003 at the Training Center

The Christmas Luncheon at Jonesy’s is December 3, 2003 and will offer chicken, steak sandwich and shrimp louie. Your cost is $18 each with tax and tip included. All money is due by the November 5th Retirees Meeting.

Ellie Miller won the overnight trip to Reno by attending the October Retirees Meeting.

We will be collecting deposits for the Death Valley, Las Vegas and Lake Mead tour in March.

Fraternally,
Ken Breckenridge

Upcoming “Electrical Retirees Club” Trips
“Death Valley, Las Vegas, Lake Mead March 22~27, 2004”
“Alaska in ‘04—see our web site for more info”

Looking for ideas for our next “Adventure” and new retirees to join us for the fun

Ken can be reached at (707) 643-4139.

From the President:
The voters of California have spoken. The Union registered voters in the State of California numbered enough to beat back the recall. Whether they voted for the recall or just didn’t vote, Union Organized Labor suffered a huge blow. Some of the most powerful positions with the state will now be filled with ex-Pete Wilson aides. Pete Wilson hated Organized Labor, and I don’t think his aides forgot about us either. We will survive, but back we go several steps.

Let this be a wake up call for the 2004 Presidential Election. We must prepare for the fight of our life, because this will be for our survival. The 40- hour work week and prevailing wages are under constant attack. Since the President was given his office, the federal Davis/ Bacon rate has been frozen.

We still have a lot of local Politicians that are Labor friendly and we need to support them every way that we can. Please be sure to vote for the Building Trades endorsed candidates.

Have things been so good in our jurisdiction that we have grown complacent? The rest of the country is suffering from high unemployment. It is hard to be upbeat when you are faced with loosing your home or worse.

They say that “money can’t buy happiness”, well try going without it. The lack of money can put a lethal strain on a marriage and a family. Before you get yourself into a financial bind, speak with the Organizer and see if there aren’t targets to Salt. You would be bringing in some income plus doing a service to the Local.

We have had a blessed year in Local 180. We have sustained almost full employment, took in double the apprentices from last year, and also were fortunate to work some traveling brothers. Our 5-year average on man-hours is 566,000, and this year we are going to hit close to 700,000 man-hours. Our future work situation looks fair.

We are all guilty at times of failing to express our feelings to our significant other. They are with us through the hard times as well as the good. Please, lay the paper down and tell them that you appreciate the support and what they mean to you. Remember, a kiss in the right place, at the right time, never hurt anyone!

From the Organizer:
There are 81 Union contractors performing work in our area. Of these, 12 are local with more than one electrician. The largest local employer comes in with 112 electricians; the next 2 come in at 58 and 28 electricians.

Take the above information and Dan’s report that Union electricians will perform 700,000 man-hours this year. We have over fifty percent of the market so we must have 60 or so open shop electrical contractors doing business in our area. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that we are EXTREMELY short on local contractors.

The amount of members interested in becoming contractors does not come close to filling the need. We must organize contractors – the whole shop. And when we do this, we must welcome their electricians and put our best foot forward in manning their calls.

JATC
JOURNEYMAN CLASSES
Certification Classes: Three classes of twenty each began on September 15, 16, & 18th and will run for eight weeks. The next classes will start In November; we already have at least sixty journeyman signed up at this time for these classes so it is very important that you sign up as soon as possible to reserve your spot. So Please note that it is most important that you respond to your letter when received from the Training Center.
As we have taught these classes we have refined the curriculum and there will now be a cost of $62.00 for materials and books that are required to take these classes. This money is due and payable on the first night of class. Sign up at the Training Center or call 707-251-0315.
State Certification is upon us. Within just 16 months all electricians in the State of California will be required to be certified or will not be able to be employed. From the Department of Industrial Relations: There has not been an extension of the time to take the test; it remains December 31, 2004.

Agents Report
Back to growing market share, my flow of articles on the subject was interrupted by the recall.

I write this with the understanding most of the readers are electricians, some are foremen and at least one is looking for this month’s typo. All of you understand the mantra “production, productivity and being productive”. We use it to badger others – “that’s not productive”. As I wrote a few months back, planning equals production. Let me say this again PLANNING – not wanting or reacting – equals production.

So when does this planning start? It starts when the project starts, which is when you have a signed contract. Therefore, you start before stepping foot on the job site and as soon as the ink dries. The Project Manager or Foreman must do the following, at a minimum, before hitting the site:

Read the specification – ALL of them, ALL divisions

The above is obvious to some, new to others and very seldom followed by most. Here are some guarantees. Not doing the above will result in the loss of productivity. Rework, due to buy-out errors, is unproductive. Waiting on answers, other trades and crewing up and down will kill production. To say a job is too small to plan is unprofessional. The amount of time invested in planning will be less than time lost in reacting.

So, follow the above and be more productive. Market share belongs to the most productive.
Mike Smith

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 the IBEW & NECA were instrument in establishing mandatory state Licensing in California. Why? Because we believe that our work is superior & we stand behind it! PROTECT YOURSELVES


Updated 10/29/03 Copyright© 2003 *IBEW L.U. 180* *Information on this site has been approved by the Business Manager and L.U. President*