Business Managers Report

BUSINESS MANAGER'S REPORT
 

Local 1049 from Long Island for National Grid ratified their contract. It is a four year agreement with 2½% general wage increase for first two years and 1½% every six months for the term of the agreement. Waiting to see their benefit package to see what they are coming for with us. They are going to have a high deductible with co-sharing and co-insurance. There is confusion on whether they have to go to the plan, so waiting for further information.

 

 

Still working on the contract for the Bear Swamp property we did organize which is part of Brookfield in Massachusetts which will probably take some time to finish.

 

Good news within NYS we are a state with one of the highest union member rate of 24.6%.

 

 

Company wants to change the funds available within their 401k. There are no changes to the benefit level. The committee is reviewing now.

 

 

We met with the Company on the 12th. They are looking at limited early negotiations. They are looking for benefit changes. Their contract is up on September 30th.

 

 

Entergy has filed suit against NRG and NGrid regarding the Dunkirk agreement stating they will be holding down capacity payments and that would be unfair to them. We will need to keep an eye on how the suit progresses.

 

 

We talked awhile back about the changes in drug testing. They are now coming right out to the barn. There are a few issues regarding confidentiality, cleanliness of the bathrooms and the direct observation piece which is legal. They have the right to observe following prior positive and/or return to work and also at the site if the temperature of the sample is not right. The testers are coming out and calling out who has to be tested. It should be the supervisor taping you on the shoulder instead. We are trying to work thru the issues. This is a cost savings to the company.

 

We attended a Leadership Meeting. It went better than last year. We were very vocal on contractors, safety issues and on their bonus as it related to safety especially when someone goes to the hospital and the supervisor is right there in the emergency room after an accident talking about the light duty program.

 

We are waiting on the Design Rep. agreement from the company. It looks like they will be accepting our changes.

 

We will be meeting on March 18th for Distribution Inspector issue where they bumped everybody up and we said we would take a look after one year to see how it is progressing. We also have some open jobs that are not being filled. We will also be having a Son of Sam meeting with the company on April 29th. We have on the agenda such issues as progressive discipline and skipping steps, integrated health with someone going to the hospital, how sick pay is being applied and post and bid while on discipline with the company holding you up.

 

Met with the TDC Vice President, Doneen Hobbs, regarding members calling and the TDC not getting back to them and not being trained well. She is new and she acknowledges that stuff has to change. We discussed the expansion of hours due to the fact that you are getting out of work and they are no longer open. Also had a conversation about retirees. They might be holding seminars on how retirement works for those who have put in their papers or thinking of retiring.

 

Met with the Safety Advocates for the Line side and Keith McAfee to get safety ideas out there. We as a union are built on safety and seeing more of our members disregarding safety to get the job done. If you have something to do and it takes longer, as long as you are working safely I will back you. Our concern rolling out safety is NGrid but discipline is tied to your bonus. We have follow-up to do. Told the company, we will not violate the law. If you are driving a truck and the bridge placard says one thing and the truck says another and you do not think the truck will fit, find another way around even if it takes longer to get to the job.