UTILITY
WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA
AFL-CIO,
LOCAL 483
EXECUTIVE
BOARD MEETING
May 10, 2003
Flamingo Hotel
Laughlin, Nevada
The
meeting called to ordered by President Dennis Zukowski at 9:00 a.m.
Flag
salute waived.
Officers: President: Dennis
Zukowski
Vice-President: Roy Bozarth
Secretary-Treasurer: David
Brown
Trustee: Jim Shirley
Erhard
Hofmann
Area Officers: Butch Hamilton
Bill Kimble
Robin Downs
Absent: Junious Greene
John
Seward
Item 1. Secretary-treasurer
report:
Minutes from January11, 2003 Executive board meeting
was handed out to board members. Motion
made by Roy Bozarth to accept the minutes.
Motion second by Jim Shirley.
Motion carried.
Secretary-treasurer handed out copied of financial
statements, for the period ending March 31, 2003. Motion made by Butch Hamilton to approved
financial statement. Motion second by
Billie Kimble. Motion carried.
Item 2. Trustee report:
Trustee, Jim Shirley voiced some concern regarding
some minor details, but he believes the reporting of the financial information
is improving. The new procedure of
having Executive board reconcile their credit card statement has been slow in
implementing. Secretary-Treasurer advised the Trustees they would have all the
statements and receipts, from January to June 2003, for the next audit. Motion made by Billie Kimble to accept
trustee report. Motion second by Robin
Downs. Motion carried.
Item 3:
Transmission Safety report, Butch Hamilton:
Safety Congress conference will be held on June 12,
2003, at the Anaheim Hilton. Attendance
to Safety Congress is important, let make sure we get some one from each
location to attend. A block of rooms has
been set aside. Your local base should
make the room reservation for those who plan to attend. The Joint Steering Committee members should
receive separate packages. Employees
attending the Safety Congress meeting will be entitled to two day of per
diem. Per Diem should be claimed on time
sheet.
Sempra’s new Safety Vision program was presented to
all transmission employees. None of the
employees in Storage have seen the presentation. All employees, including those in Storage,
should have an opportunity to learn about Sempra’s new safety program.
Safety staff is coming out with new standard for
Smith Driving program. The new standard
will decide who receives formal training based upon the number of miles an
employee drives. Employees who drive less than 3,000 miles will be given the
copy of the Smith Driving procedure to read.
Electrical safety gloves are required when working
on live circuits. If you don’t have
electrical safety gloves, you should let your supervisor know. Boring gloves and electrical glove are not
the same. Safety gloves come in a package
consisting of three gloves, a rubber glove, a cotton glove, and a leather
glove. The rubber gloves must be sent
out for testing and receritifed.
Ideally, employees should have two pairs, so a one pair is available at
all times. A Maximo work order should be
set up to alert employees when gloves are due for recertification. Butch Hamilton will send copies of procedure
to all Executive Board members.
Employees should also have tools along with gloves. If you don’t, call Ed wager. .
Item 4 Safety Report Storage, Roy Bozarth:
Roy has tried to schedule meeting with Storage
Safety management representatives. So
far two meeting have been cancelled. Ed
Wager did attended the first meeting, but hasn’t attended any since that first
meeting. He is scheduled to be at
meeting on Thursday. The Executive Board
believes a stronger approach should be used in set up any future meetings.
The Company is required to post Form 300A, Summary
of Work Place Injuries and Illness, every year from February 1 to May 1. Failure to do so will result in an automatic
fine. No names are listed on the form;
it is informational only. Supervisor
should have to provide accident report for the last 3 year.
Playa Del Rey’s ESD:
We need written reports on safety incident root cause analysis of what
cause the unscheduled emergency shut down at Playa Del Rey Storage field.
On the Company intranet, you can now find an
Operator Qualification site. Contractors
are required to have a card showing what tasks they are qualified to
perform. You must be Operator
Qualification in order to perform ordorometer test A question was asked if
Dispatcher specialist are required to be Operator Qualified? That question should be addressed.
Item 5 Arbitrations and Grievances:
President Dennis Zukowski has contacted our attorney
so we can move forward with our arbitration case regarding supervisors and
contractors performing bargaining unit work.
We are looking for way to solve the problems. So far, we are not getting cooperation from
Storage and Transmission.
We have some old arbitration we need to move forward
on or withdraw. The several of the
arbitrations the individual have retired from the company. A certified letter was send to each
individual inviting them to our Executive Board meeting so they could explain
why they feel we should continue with their arbitration. Everyone declined our invitation to appear.
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw John
Lee arbitration. Motion was second by
Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw David
Barragan arbitration. Motion was second by Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw Larry
Jones arbitration Butch Hamilton second by Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw Craig
Basa arbitration Motion was second by Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw Dan Mc
Groff arbitration. Motion to was second by Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to withdraw Ed
Cavazos arbitration. Motion was second by Billie Kimble. Motion carried
Item 6. Old
Business
The Joint Steering Committee has reached a tentative
agreement on benefit contract. The JSC
is recommending a yes vote on the new agreement. Ballots will be in the mail soon.
Company is willing to grant the System Dispatchers
priority bid rights to open jobs. The Executive Board was asked how should we
proceed? Motion was made by Roy Bozarth
to pursue grievance process and not to enter into any side agreement. Local 483
should cooperate with JSC in resolving this matter. Motion Second by Billie
Kimble. Motion carried.
Junious Greene, Area Officer at Playa Del Rey has
missed the last three Executive Board meeting. ARTICLE VIII. Section A, of our
bylaw states, ”Any Officer who is absent from two (2) consecutive meetings of
this Local's membership and/or Executive Board, without being excused by the
Executive Board, may have their office declared vacant by the Executive Board. After discussion of on the matter a motion
by Kimble was made to have Secretary/treasurer send a letter to Junious Greene
advising him that he stands the risk of being removed from office. Motion was second by Jim Shirley. Motion carried.
The way we have ran our last couple of elections
needs to be address. As Executive Board
members we need to do a better job. We
are putting the ballot together at the last minute. Secretary/Treasurer must call nouninees to
see if they have accepted the nounination.
Our next election is in November of this year. By then we will have forms the will be fill
out when an individual is nouninated and also sign by the individual accepting
the nounination.
New Business
The way we have ran the last couple of elections
should to be address. As Executive Board
members we need to do a better job. We
are putting the ballot together at the last minute. Secretary/Treasurer is calling nominee to see
if they have accepted the nomination.
Our next election is in November of this year. By then we will have forms the will be fill
out when an individual is nominated and also sign by the individual accepting
the nomination.
Robin Downs have filed s grievance and information
request on Smith Driving. IPP requires
two ride along after any all vehicle accident.
Joe Armstrong, on Jim McCluskey behave raised the
issue of cathodic protection reads at Playa Del Rey be taken by Distribution
crews. President Dennis Zukowski advised
Joe Armstrong and the rest of the Executive Board, we have already looked into
this issue and have talked to the president of the other local. We were told distribution crews are only
taking reads on distribution line.
Motion was made by Mike Michalski to send stipend of
$100.00 to following employee Joe Hesse, Bob Riddle, Butch Clemons and Joe
Sanchez. Motion second by Jim Shirley.
Motion carried.
Erhard Hofmann raised the issue of security system
at larger and company policy for responding to intrusion alarms. An employee at Newberry Station, responding
to an intrusion alarm at the station wait at the freeway for forty five minutes
for a sheriff deputies to arrive so that he could accompany into the
station. This is a system wide issue
that needs to be addressed.
Motion was made to have Dennis Zukowski write a
letter to Company requesting information on the policy on employees responding
to intrusion alarm and security in general.
Motion second. Motion carried.
Motion was made by Butch Hamilton to have next
meeting in Santa Barbara. Motion second
by Jim Shirley. Motion carried.
The next meeting will be held in Santa Barbara, CA
on August 16, 2003.
Motion to adjourn made by
David Brown. Motion second by Billie
Kimble. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30
P.M.