Mike's Business Manager's Report
As your Business Manager and Financial Secretary, part of Mike Bell's job is to share the latest Local news with the membership. On this page, you can always find a copy of his latest report and any other media coverage we may have had.
Your Business Manager's Report
Brothers and Sisters,
Hurricane season is upon us and it isn't looking good depending on how you look at it. The major prediction players in the hurricane game are predicting an above average probability of major storms for the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Sea temperatures are up and experts predict that El Nino will weaken, creating a recipe for tropical storms morphing into hurricanes that will make landfall at Category 3 or higher.
The Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University predicts there will be 15 named storms - 8 hurricanes, 4 of which will be major storms that make landfall in the Caribbean or U.S.
Our members should be prepared to respond to an emergency at any time. You should have access to an extra set of clothes at all times just in case.
On March 15th of this year all IBEW Local Unions with outside jurisdiction were notified of the new portability agreement signed by President Hill. It allows non domicile signatory employers that are working on a transmission job of 100 kv or above, the ability to bring in the first 10 workers under portability, provided they have been employed by the contractor at least 2 weeks prior to the start of the job. Subsequent employees shall be employed on a one to one basis.
With nearly 10% unemployment, when I read this I became enraged. But here we are in June and not one employer has opted to use it and if by some strange phenomena a signatory employer does pick up additional work, not the same old work they always get, it very well may be worth it. The ball is in their court!
Dues from assessments can be a great program but it can also be devastating if the member works in another jurisdiction and forgets to self pay their dues. The best way to prevent this from happening is to pay them in advance, the more ahead they are paid the bigger cushion you have from being dropped or denied benefits in time of need.
Our industry is rapidly changing and we must change with it or get left behind. There is more and more demand for continuing education mostly regarding safety. This is a good change and we should all be on board, after all it is our safety the industry is concerned with.
My staff and I are working on ways to provide this training as inexpensive and convenient as possible for our members. All members should have the National Crane Certification, OSHA 10 T&D, First Aid/ CPR and our internal Code of Excellence program. If you are not current on these please contact the Local Union office and we will schedule you for the next opportunity.
In closing please keep the Local Union office updated on your address and phone number and call my office with any questions you have regarding local union or any other matter.
Fraternally Yours
J.M. "Mike" Bell