Non-union Alabama Utility workers sent packing

[weedbeater17]

New Jersey's Utility workers have sent Alabama's non-union utility crew packing. Hope the link works. And you wonder why the jobs went overseas.

http://nj1015.com/report-non-union-alab ... ew-jersey/

[E_]

Frickin retards!

[Islander_212]

I loved it when the president said he was going to see that all the bureaucracy and red tape was to be removed to aid in the recovery effort. Folks that is French for getting big government out of the way. That coming from the guy who wants it to be bigger and more intrusive. Anyone else find this more than just a little hypocritical? Also, anyone want to bet that he comes out and says anything about this union nonsense? I have a $100 bill I would like to double up on!

[E_]

The unions are his homies, he isn't going to say a word against his Chicago estabilishments. Sure, he would LOVE to get big govt. out of the way. So he and ONLY he could make all the calls.

[weedbeater17]

If you read the peoples comments at the end of the article, Not only are the Alabama People pissed off, The New Jersey storm victums are embarrassed now, on top of being in dire need of help. I will wager there are going to be some union members joing the unemployed rank and file over this. I will also bet this does not make Fox news or CNN.

[Islander_212]

If you read the peoples comments at the end of the article, Not only are the Alabama People pissed off, The New Jersey storm victums are embarrassed now, on top of being in dire need of help. I will wager there are going to be some union members joing the unemployed rank and file over this. I will also bet this does not make Fox news or CNN.

Fox reported on it yesterday. They were all over it. There is no way the union members will lose their jobs. The storm victims should vote for someone who will reign the unions in. I am sure Christie will get on this, at least I hope he does, although I am rather pissed at him after kissing the current idiot's behind the other day...

[weedbeater17]

Just now the head lines have been changed. The New Jersey Electric Company is denying any of there Brothers and Sisters would say such a thing. Right

[imaposer]

Being involved in post disaster emergency repair type situations myself, I fully understand not wanting some bunch of yahoos from out of town to come in and fix anything my company is going to be responsible for later on.

Since they are already heading home, I'd be willing to bet they weren't asked by any of the local utilities up there to come help out, they just showed up and offered to help- for a hefty hourly rate. There's a multitude of reasons why they could have been told to go home, but the fact that a local "crew" told them they weren't union is the one that makes the headline? This story has BS all over it.

[imaposer]

Hmm. Didn't take much looking to find further updates to the story......

Alabama power companies are denying a local TV station's report that linemen who had traveled to New Jersey from Alabama (a right to work state) to help restore power to those hit hard by Superstorm Sandy were told they could not work there because they were non-union.

The report by WAFF TV quotes a worker from Decatur Utilities saying he was told by crews in New Jersey they could not work there, after the utility receiving a call to assist in Seaside Heights, N.J.

The Decatur employee told WAFF that crews were told to stand down, and that linemen from Trinity, Ala.-based Joe Wheeler are already headed back home. Moore said they are frustrated being told, "Thanks, but no thanks."

However, Decatur Utilities, based in Decatur, Ala., denied the report.

In a press release issued Friday morning, Decatur Utilities said it had sent a six-man crew to the Northeast on Wednesday, bound for Seaside Heights, N.J.

"Communications with Seaside Heights was poor due to lack of cell phone service in the area," the statement said. "Upon arriving at a staging area in Virginia, crews were held in place pending clarification of documents received from IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) that implied a requirement of our employees to agree to union affiliation while working in the New York and New Jersey areas. It was and remains our understanding that agreeing to those requirements was a condition of being allowed to work in those areas.

"As we waited for clarification, we became aware that Seaside Heights had received the assistance they needed from other sources, To be clear, at no time were our crews "turned away" from the utility in Seaside Heights.

"In connection with state and regional public power associations, Decatur Utilities attempted to contact other areas that needed assistance. However, based on the uncertainty of union requirements that we could not agree to and the uncertainty of whether a resolution could be reached, we ultimately made the decision to return them to Decatur after being stalled in the Virginia area most of the day on Thursday."

George Kitchens, GM and CEO of Joe Wheeler EMC - a union shop - told CBS News that the initial report that Joe Wheeler linemen had been turned away was "completely off-base."

Kitchens said eight linemen from Joe Wheeler were among 145 Alabama linemen who traveled to Maryland and Virginia in response to calls for help with repair efforts.

"They rode out the storm, and then did repair work there," Kitchens said. "Our people are on the way back home, [but] it's not from being turned away."

Huntsville Utilities also said their workers were not turned away and are working in storm-ravaged areas.

Utilities from other right-to-work states have also reported their crews working in New York and New Jersey, including repair crews with Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas assisting in New York State. Florida Power & Light sent more than 860 employees and contractors to assist seven utility companies from Virginia to New Jersey.

As customers in Maine and Massachusetts have regained power, utilities there have announced they are sending crews to other states still recovering from the storm.

Not all has gone well for utility workers responding to calls for help. On Monday morning police in Hagerstown, Md., said copper wire was stolen from five trucks of Pike Electric linemen who had traveled from Indiana and Ohio to assist in the recovery.

As of Friday morning power outages in the East stand at more than 3.8 million homes and businesses, down from a peak of 8.5 million. In New Jersey alone, Public Service Electric & Gas says 716,000 customers were still without power, down from about 1.4 million. Jersey Central Power & Light is reporting more than 711,000 customers still without power. Atlantic City Electric has more than 45,000 customers without power.

link

[imaposer]

And even right on the web site of alabama power and light.....

A Note About New Jersey

We've seen a number of news reports about electric line crews that are being turned away in the state of New Jersey, on the grounds that the crews are non-union.

Rest assured, our Alabama Power crews have not been turned away from anywhere. Our employees are proudly representing us in several states that have been affected, and have received a warm reception everywhere they've been.

[Islander_212]

This whole thing smells like a rat... The way I read it that they have to agree to be in the IEBW if they are to perform work in that area. In this situation, does that really matter? There rates should be high, they have to travel a great distance and then there are a ton of costs to do work out of town. I will believe the workers version before I believe the management's version. They have to work with the others... something does not seem right.

[E_]

I agree. And in one statement I think we see PART of the truth.
""Upon arriving at a staging area in Virginia, crews were held in place pending clarification of documents received from IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) that implied a requirement of our employees to agree to union affiliation while working in the New York and New Jersey areas. It was and remains our understanding that agreeing to those requirements was a condition of being allowed to work in those areas.

"As we waited for clarification, we became aware that Seaside Heights had received the assistance they needed from other sources, To be clear, at no time were our crews "turned away" from the utility in Seaside Heights.

"

That there says they had to the IBEW before working. Then they WAITED for clarification on it. ...and HMMMM while they waited they were told the IBEW had found someone else? Riiight... Someone union perhaps?

[Pop-O]

This whole thing smells like a rat... The way I read it that they have to agree to be in the IEBW if they are to perform work in that area. In this situation, does that really matter? There rates should be high, they have to travel a great distance and then there are a ton of costs to do work out of town. I will believe the workers version before I believe the management's version. They have to work with the others... something does not seem right.

+111111 Yep, Just listen to the management spin their BS. With the mess up there and they are headed home......Tell me about it!!!!!

[imaposer]

Riiight... Someone union perhaps?

Sheesh. I realize you guys are going to make it out to be a union thing no matter what facts are pointed out, but did you not get this part of the article I posted above?

Utilities from other right-to-work states have also reported their crews working in New York and New Jersey, including repair crews with Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas assisting in New York State. Florida Power & Light sent more than 860 employees and contractors to assist seven utility companies from Virginia to New Jersey.

As far as the IBEW stating they have to agree to working under union guidelines while up there, yep, that means they probably have to pay union dues while there. But, the important part is they have to follow union rules while working up there, which, believe it or not, has more to do with following safe working practices, knowing what the hell you are doing, and doing the job correctly than just paying in to the evil union coffers.

I don't know all the details about IBEW, that's not my union. But, I can tell you from my personal experience in knowing how my union works and how the non union side of my trade works, that if there is a disaster, and guys are showing up from all over to help out with the emergency repairs, if they don't have a union card in their pocket saying the are a certified journeyman, they're not just going to jump in the mix and start working on stuff. If they can prove they have the experience, ability, and knowledge to do the job correctly, I'd let them work, but until then, they can turn around and head home. I'm not taking the chance of having them get killed, or doing something wrong that gets someone else killed just because it's an emergency.
Our union is international. If you have a journeyman card, then you had the same four plus years of schooling and the required hours of OJT, and took the same test I had to take to get it. That's good enough for me in a disaster situation. If you are non-union, I have no way of knowing if you are the best, most knowledgeable worker I've ever met, or a guy who was selling used cars last Tuesday, who took a job as a lineman just to go up north and fix stuff.

[Islander_212]

Here is what I know from all my union contacts, to which there have been many. They universally tell me the only thing the union does for them is take $XX.XX money from each paycheck and I got this mug, jacket, shirt, etc. and they have kept people working here that should be fired. I know of no union that is responsible for the professional standards as related to the competence of the workers in the union. I was in a union once and my experience was the same as mentioned above. While they have been needed in the past, I feel they have outlived their usefullness and have likely caused more jobs to leave this country than any other reason.

[Fall Creek]

Here is what I know from all my union contacts, to which there have been many. They universally tell me the only thing the union does for them is take $XX.XX money from each paycheck and I got this mug, jacket, shirt, etc. and they have kept people working here that should be fired. I know of no union that is responsible for the professional standards as related to the competence of the workers in the union. I was in a union once and my experience was the same as mentioned above. While they have been needed in the past, I feel they have outlived their usefullness and have likely caused more jobs to leave this country than any other reason.

^^^Agree 100%^^^ I had a long conversation with a fellow firefighter, I am a volunteer and he is a Full Timer in a large Ohio City and volunteers when he is at home. As our conversation turn into an argument about how great Obamay is and how important his union is I had to expose him to the real business world. I told him: Tomorrow everything changes, I am going to walk into your station and transform you. Starting tomorrow there is no union, everything that happens is all based on performace. Each and every member will held responsible for there actions and job performance! Then the last thing I said was that I was going to make him Chief and he was incharge of the entire company and everyone in it. What's the first thing your gonna do?

His answer: I would probably fire 4 or 5 guys that are lazy, don't do there jobs and I don't trust them going into a fire with me.

Amen! so why are you protecting them by staying with your union? They are protected from losing there job just because there in a union! well out here in the real world if you don't do your job you get FIRED!

One more thing and then I am done rambling. I am not the most computer savy and if I was I would go out and find the facts myself but can anyone tell me who the Top contributers to the Obama campain are? I bet if we look real hard we will find a number of union's up there! Crooked Ba$$$$$$!

[Islander_212]

^^^Agree 100%^^^ I had a long conversation with a fellow firefighter, I am a volunteer and he is a Full Timer in a large Ohio City and volunteers when he is at home. As our conversation turn into an argument about how great Obamay is and how important his union is I had to expose him to the real business world. I told him: Tomorrow everything changes, I am going to walk into your station and transform you. Starting tomorrow there is no union, everything that happens is all based on performace. Each and every member will held responsible for there actions and job performance! Then the last thing I said was that I was going to make him Chief and he was incharge of the entire company and everyone in it. What's the first thing your gonna do?

His answer: I would probably fire 4 or 5 guys that are lazy, don't do there jobs and I don't trust them going into a fire with me.

Amen! so why are you protecting them by staying with your union? They are protected from losing there job just because there in a union! well out here in the real world if you don't do your job you get FIRED!

One more thing and then I am done rambling. I am not the most computer savy and if I was I would go out and find the facts myself but can anyone tell me who the Top contributers to the Obama campain are? I bet if we look real hard we will find a number of union's up there! Crooked Ba$$$$$$!

The last I saw the lead contributor was SEIU. That is the Service Employees International Union. Andy Stern was the head of the union and visited the WH the most of any visitor in the first year of the administration. He is a bad dude... This is Stern’s operating philosophy: “[W]e prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work we use the persuasion of power.” Look him up as he has a lot of press.

[Lock5]

Just the notion that a Union Electrician is more skilled than a non-union one falls flat on arrival, I am the service manager where I work(non-union) and we have the most highly trained, and safety consious group of guys that anyone could ask for. I am not going to let any of them do anything unsafe and if they do I'll fire their a$$ and hire one that will pay attention to me. Something I couldn't do if they were union.

[E_]

Well, got a bit more info Monday night on this. Bluegrass Energy also was sending up Employees and trucks to help and it is 100% confirmed with my source that works there that they were told since they were non union they were not needed or wanted.

[JLA]

Meanwhile, two weeks later people and businesses are still without power.