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January/February 2004 IBEW Journal L.U. 481 (ees,em,i,mt,rts,s&spa), INDIANAPOLIS, IN-The work situation continues to be slow but it has some potential to pick up at the beginning of the year. City elections have come and gone and we were able to retain our Democratic mayor and many labor friendly city county council members. This would be nearly impossible without our members' COPE contributions. The local web site continues to be updated on the news and union activities. Keeping the membership well informed is a main goal of the local. Take time to visit our site at www.ibew481.org. The Quality Connection, with the help of Bro. Steve Menser, has gotten the safety program started. They were able to utilize lockout tags with a space for a picture ID to help protect the individual using the equipment. The organizing team continues targeting the non-union. Members' efforts in salting helps the organizing team gather information on the non-union, which will help us continue getting more of the market share. Steve Montgomery, P.S. L.U. 518 (i,rts&spa), GLOBE, AZ-In 2003 Globe, AZ, was the site for the IBEW State Association Labor Day parade. This annual event, sponsored by IBEW Locals 266, 387, 518, 570, 640, 769 and 1116, was a huge success. Parade grand marshal was Sharon Huggins, the widow of Bro. Chuck Huggins, longtime secretary-treasurer of the Arizona State AFL-CIO and business manager of Local 518. The parade highlight was Boston Local 103's Pipe & Drum Corps under the direction of Bro. Mark DeMariano. Local 518 Bus. Mgr. Ron Chesley praised our fellow Arizona IBEW members for all their help. Bro. James McNally a 55-year member of Local 518 was presented a plaque in appreciation for his past service as apprenticeship director and for the instrumental role he played in establishing Local 518's health and welfare plan, as well as his pioneering work on the pension plan. At long last the first three members of Local 518 are beginning to staff up the Springerville powerhouse job. Bechtel Corp. received its "notice to proceed" Oct. 21. This 400 MW unit, the third at TEP's Springerville station, should bring full employment to the local for the first time in years. Jim Spence, P.S.
L.U. 520 (i&spa), AUSTIN, TX-The City of Austin South Regional Water Plant #1 was a 17-month renovation completed by IBEW members employed by KST Management, LLC. Bro. Daryl Petrosky, general foreman, and Bro. Al Glesser, foreman, managed the instrumentation/control phase of the project. This project employed 14 members at its peak. The work consisted of installing new switchgear, control cabinets, lighting, more than 48 miles of control wiring and 8,000 terminations of that wire. Control cabinets and panels were built by Local 520 members at KST's shop. All the exhaust fans, crane and valve operators work off 480 volts, while the six 600 hp main pumps operate at 4,160 volts and have the capacity of moving 32M gallons of effluent per day. This station was originally wired by IBEW 520 members and traveling brothers during the early 1980's. It was good to see the IBEW tradition of quality craftsmanship continued. At our annual picnic, Bros. Walter Timberlake and the beloved Richard Bohls were presented with their 50-year plaques and pins. Lane Price, R.S./P.S.
L.U. 530 (i,o&rts), SARNIA, ON, CANADA-Workers in Ontario had cause to celebrate on Oct. 2, when the radical Conservatives governing the province for the past eight years were swept from office in a landslide victory for the Liberals. Ousted Premier Ernie Eves-a former Finance Minister who took over the Conservative party leadership a year ago-tried to cast himself as a moderate during the campaign, despite having been a chief architect of the Tories' 1995 "Commonsense Revolution" (a knock-off of Newt Gingrich's 1994 "Contract with America"). Would we get fooled again? Ontario's unions replied with an effective slogan of their own: "Not this time, Ernie." Sarnia's building trades unions played a prominent part in the election campaign, making front-page news. More than a hundred building trades workers met Eves' Sarnia campaign stop with a rally that the region's largest newspaper, the London Free Press, called "the most significant protest yet of the campaign." Sarnians sent their Conservative incumbent packing in the last provincial election, showing common sense before most of the province. In 1999 Sarnia's Liberal member of provincial parliament was the sole non-Conservative elected in southwestern Ontario's ten ridings. This time around the Liberals took nine of the ten ridings. On a more somber note, Local 530 members were saddened by the recent passing of retired Bus. Mgr. Fraser Collins. Bro. Collins will be remembered as our most colorful and longest-serving member in that office. Lee Merrick, P.S.
L.U. 551 (c,i&st), SANTA ROSA, CA-Work has slowed somewhat since our last report. The bright side is that we are doing better than last year at this time. The jobless recovery continues and the Bush administration continues to do nothing but pay lip service to this issue while attacking overtime and shipping more of our work overseas. It is imperative that we send this group packing in 2004. In the good news department, we were successful in organizing a new contractor in Crescent City, CA-Northridge Electric. Thanks to Organizers Herman Marchbanks and Larrick McDowell for a job well done! We recently conducted a survey regarding public works projects in our area and found that we are doing over 60 percent. This is largely due to labor compliance and an aggressive public elected official outreach and education program. Labor compliance and getting involved in local politics works. Steven A. Benjamin, B.M. |
