Local 1900 2012 Election Of Officers

Frederick Gas 3 year contract is ratified

IBEW 1900 President John Holt with the assistance of a negotiating team made up of union members Julie Eyler, Roy Green and Iain Moon reach a tentative agreement with Washington Gas for their Frederick Maryland unit.

President Holt on Workers Independent News Radio

During the blizzard and ice storms that are creating havoc across the country it’s often the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers linemen who are on the front lines making sure your power stays on – or restoring it when Mother Nature takes it out. But in Washington, D.C., IBEW Local 1900’s John Holt says

Testimony of President Holt
Before the MD Public Service Commission
Hearing on PEPCO’s Service Reliability
September 2, 2010
Prince George’s Community College

Good evening Commissioners, Elected Officials and concerned customers. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight. My name is John Holt. I am President/Business Manager IBEW Local 1900. I represent 1700 members, 1100 of which are PEPCO employees which transmit, operate, maintain and restore electric power to this region.

First, I would like to commend the members/employees for a job well done. They truly
deserve it.

This is not about them, so let’s not make it so.

I am here in an attempt to shed some light on what I and a number of people feel is the root of the problem. Since deregulation and the creation of the Utility Holding Act, two things have happened, ‘customer bills have gone up and reliability has gone down’.

This is not the employees’ fault.

I am not sure how many people realize it but PEPCO is run by a holding company called PHI located in Delaware. PEPCO is just one of the 4 companies that it controls. Most of our non-operation departments have already been moved there. PEPCO’s staffing levels have decreased substantially over the past 10 years. This is in direct correlation with the increase in the restoration times. We are down at least 40% in Operations Department employees since deregulation. In a Report to the Commission in 1996, PEPCO stated that we had 854.5 customers per field employee. Now it is approximately 2000. Of the employees we have left 30 to 40% of them have over 30 years service and can retire in the next 3-5 years. PEPCO knows this but refuses to hire more employees. Instead, they hire back retirees and other contractors that do not maintain and have no ownership of our system.

It is just a paycheck to them.

In an attempt to guise this real problem, the Company has created what they call a Dual Role employee during a storm. Most of these people are administration, exempt and engineers who rarely, if ever, go out in the field. These people, even as hard as they may try, are not familiar with the system or the areas and these are the ones that are assigned to lead the “out of state contractors”. In addition, because our numbers are so small, the employees that work on the system each day are assigned the role of “contract watchers” during these storms and cannot man their tools.

You can sit and watch the news reports and count on one hand how many PEPCO trucks are in the background.

There are just not enough of PEPCO qualified employees.

The members that are responsible for operation system repair and maintenance have worked on an average of 400 hours overtime since January and most of these hours were worked prior to these storms under investigation. We are told on numerous occasions that the budget has been cut by PHI. So year after year, trees do not get trimmed, outdated transformers and poles do not get replaced and normal maintenance schedules go deferred. IBEW has offered on numerous occasions to help recruit and train in qualified facilities; but the answer that comes back each and every time – it’s not in the budget.

Personally, I felt it necessary to negotiate new jobs in 2009 CBA. Out of the 120 jobs over the 3 year period we agreed upon - only 34 have been filled.

In conclusion, I respectfully request that the Commission go back to the practice in the past:

1. Requiring staffing levels of full time PEPCO employees in Operations that their sole jobs are to operate, maintain and repair the transmission and distribution system for our customers.
2. Have PEPCO replace the outdated poles, transformers and equipment using QUALIFIED PEPCO employees.
3. Order PHI to set aside money for PEPCO so we can do our job and serve our customers.

Mirant Contract Ratified by the Membership

Late Friday the union received the final articles to confirm the most recent tentative agreement between Local 1900 negotiating committee and the company. Union officials worked through the weekend ensuring that the package was complete to roll out to the membership. Since the current contract expires May 31,2010 there will be meetings held this week and a subsequent vote towards the end. Material will be distributed tommorrow Monday May 24 notifying members of the times of the informational meetings.

The Union and the Company are continuing talks and are schedule to meet with he full committees on Wednesday. A clear message was received that the memberships main concern I the escalating medical costs to both the active employees and the retirees.
We insist that the company absorb more of the burden of these rising costs. Several different options are being considered to approach this issue.
We will post updates as more specifics are available.
Fraternally,
Mirant Union Negotiating team.

2010 Tentative Agreement
Informational Meetings

Monday 5/3/10 Informational packet handout at all the plant locations

Tuesday 5/4/10 Potomac River ………………………….. 6:00 am

Wednesday 5/5/10 Dickerson………………………………….6:00 am
Wednesday 5/5/10 Hampton Inn……………………………...5:00 pm
5311 Buckeystown Pike
Frederick, Md.

Thursday 5/6/10 Morgantown………………………………6:00 am
Chalk Point………………………………11:00 am

Thursday 5/6/10 Hughesville American Legion……………7:00 pm
Rt. 381 & Rt. 231
Hughesville, Md.

Friday 5/7/10 Morgantown……………………………… 6:00 am
Chalk Point………………………………. 6:00 am

Monday 5/10/10 Ratification Vote at all Plant Locations

To all Local 1900 members that work for Mirant Mid-Atlantic,

We are pleased to announce that late yesterday the Union and the Company came to a tentative collective bargaining agreement. Your negotiating team made sure that all issues were addressed and all areas were given detailed consideration. We feel that we received more than a fair and equitable agreement for all our members. Your committee is working on the communication flyers and meetings will be held both on and off site next week. Notification of these meeting dates and the date for the ratification vote will be sent out as soon as the details have been finalized.

Fraternally,
Your Local 1900 Negotiating team,