Construction Lineworkers Unite!

[Stanman, at ComEdy Il.]

Tramp,
You act as if all union hands sit with their thumbs in their ass when storms roll around. Wrong pal! Union or not, everyone has shitbirds. The reason union gets cut loose first is because of pay, nothing more or less. On any storm, alot of non-union hands have to pay for their own room, union doesn't. Most of the time this doesn't matter cause there are no accommodations anyway(all hotels are out of power anyway). Pike is the last released cause they make half as much, why? Cause they don't have the same amount of experience as union hands.
Getting back to the real issue. An all lineman's union would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. We nave enough trouble with the union we have(inside guys taking our work). Inside has no problem taking our work, but look out if we were to take any of theirs. All we can do is fight the good fight and try to keep "anyone" from getting killed. Nice job E.S.

[electric squirrel]

Interesting to read about all the crying and whining about narrowbacks taking our work away, and how we should be separate from the IBEW wiremen, and the bitching about who is running the IO.
Too bad you can't direct some of that energy towards the real issue, and remember about being Union, and what the IBEW is all about, what the real goals of the IBEW are. Maybe you need to talk to a first year ape, and have them explain it to you again.
The real issue is Union vs. non-union. Reading some of the crap in this thread, no wonder so many of the non-union linemen out there have no desire to be Union. For the record, those of you non-union linemen reading this, the majority of the Union linemen out here would probably love to see you working for a union contractor.
You should focus your energy on trying to regain our work from the rats, and give the non union linemen reasons to want to join us. The rat contractors, Pike especially, is getting bigger by the day, and taking more of our work from us. There's the biggest problem. Sure, there needs to be a line drawn between what falls under inside and outside construction. But we don't need to try to separate ourselves from our Inside Brothers. We need to all work together and try to organize non union workers, and to give them reasons to want to be Union members.
When is the last time you've been on a hurricane? Look how many Pike trucks are everywhere. There's our work, why aren't you fighting to get that back from the rats? And when is the last time you've given an honest days' work when you've been on storm? I hear guys bragging all the time about how much they got paid to just sit in the trucks for days on end. I've seen crews hiding on side streets, sitting around doing nothing for days, and telling the bird dog every morning that they have lots of work to keep them busy.
And then you wonder why the contractor you are working for gets cut loose before Pike. Think about it. Our trade pays pretty decent money, and the benefits are good. We all would like more money, better benefits. But how many times do you "go to the bar or home after 6 hours", and then turn around and complain about not getting a bigger raise in your new contract? We are well trained, and we are supposed to be the best. That's being IBEW. We also need to start giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. And we need to quit fighting amongst our fellow Brothers, and focus on trying to regain our work from the rat contractors. We need to show the utilities that we are better than the rats, and that we are worth the extra cost, and that they are getting their money's worth by hiring Union contractors, instead of rats. If you really want to turn things around and start getting our work back, we need to do it together, and with the help and solidarity of ALL of our Union Brothers.

Well said,,,,,,,,,,, E.S.

[tramp67]

Tramp,
You act as if all union hands sit with their thumbs in their ass when storms roll around. Wrong pal! Union or not, everyone has shitbirds. The reason union gets cut loose first is because of pay, nothing more or less. On any storm, alot of non-union hands have to pay for their own room, union doesn't. Most of the time this doesn't matter cause there are no accommodations anyway(all hotels are out of power anyway). Pike is the last released cause they make half as much, why? Cause they don't have the same amount of experience as union hands.
Getting back to the real issue. An all lineman's union would be nice, but I doubt it'll happen. We nave enough trouble with the union we have(inside guys taking our work). Inside has no problem taking our work, but look out if we were to take any of theirs. All we can do is fight the good fight and try to keep "anyone" from getting killed. Nice job E.S.

No, Stanman, I wasn't trying to imply that all Union hands stand around all day f@cking the dog. Union or no, you are right, there are bad apples. Unfortunately, those are the ones that people always seem to notice, especially the customers. And those are the ones that screw it up for the rest of us. They also are the ones that whine the most about getting cut loose on storms, getting laid off on the time jobs, etc. My point is that we, being IBEW, are supposed to be the cream of the crop, the top dog. The utilities are out to make money, and to get the most for their buck. If the IBEW contractor charges more than a rat contractor, but gets more work done, and done safely, the utility will recognize that. The utilities aren't stupid, they will keep on the most cost effective help that they have available and weed out the expenses and liabilities. Yes, the IBEW hands are much better trained and qualified, and the utilities know that. They also know the IBEW contractors charge more. But if the utilities are getting, dollar for dollar, comparable amounts and quality of work, they will keep the IBEW contractor on, knowing that they have much better training and should be safer. Even if the utility isn't responsible for contractor fatalities and injuries, it is bad for their corporate image, and it does affect their rates and their bottom line.
If the IBEW were able to organize the Pike employees, there would be more work out there than you would know what to do with. The Pike jobs would be utilizing more manpower to work safely, and the crews would be working within Union Local rules and guidelines. There's a lot of jobs we do as Union Linemen that we could get done with less manpower, but we would be sacrificing safety. Rather than fighting amongst the ranks, we should concentrate our efforts on uniting the workers.
I agree that the Outside trade needs to keep their work, and the Inside trade needs to keep theirs. There are some gray areas out there, there's also many areas that the IO needs to step in and enforce the boundaries. Trying to separate the Union isn't the way to go, if the narrowbacks are totally separate from us, who will be able to enforce the job areas? If we tell the narrowbacks that we don't want to be in the same organization as them, they'll tell us to pound dirt and they will be free to do whatever work they feel like. If we stick together, but work with the IO to establish work jurisdiction, then we might actually accomplish something worthwhile.

[Highplains Drifter]

Drifter, I would never argue that strength and solidarity at the local level is not important , in fact it is of the upmost importance. Are you disagreeing that we need our own department at the I.O. level or that it doesn't matter either way? Personally I feel a brother with a linework background heading our own department at the international level would help the outside branch immensely. I know the IBEW has it own problems but to compare us to the government, I don't know about that one Brother.

wudworker51, you never answered my question. Go ahead and then I'll answer you'res.





When was the last time you took a referral for a job for the Good of the Union? I mean the one that isn’t a time job, poor equipment and management that doesn’t like to abide by the contract. I talking about one that is not drivable from the house and in the long run cost you more than you want. But at least you know you manned it for the Good of the Union.

[wudwoker51]

I've taken a few Highplains, the first was for a contractor that had originally abandoned a 34.5 kv project and was forced to return to the utilities property to finish what they had started. The equipment was the worst I have ever worked with and none of the local hands would go to work for them, so my rep contacted me and another hand to see if we would take one for the brotherhood, which we did until the contractors commitment to the project was finished. Have also helped man some projects within my home local, even though there was work closer to the house, because not manning them with union labor would have meant that the utility could have secured help from other sources (AKA non-union). So yes Highplains I've taken calls for the GOOD OF THE UNION.

[Highplains Drifter]

WUDWOKER51, thank you. I do not believe that having one outside Rep in the International is going to help the Outside Construction Lineman. Right now my worries aren’t the narrowbacks that are moving into line work. I feel our biggest enemy is the Operating Engineers. They are infiltrating the wind generation and the International will not help one iota.. I know where they are placing conductor in the ground, setting transformer pads, setting transformers and even building duct bank.. Like I said in my previous post things have to be taken at the Local level. Each Local has their agreement and needs to enforce it at all costs and man it with there own members. You need to be looking over you’re backside and not to far forward.