Important Message for the Utility Workers of the IBEW from International President Hill President Hill has a very important message for the Utility Workers of the IBEW. He has summarized the position of the IBEW in the video entitled "State of the Union - Utilities". In effort to bring this message to all of our Local Union Officers, Stewards and Members he has put together an International Roll-out that will be broadcast via Web cast over the Internet on THURSDAY, March 27, 2008 at 8:00pm EST. This roll-out for the "State of the Union - Utilities" will have a profound impact on the Utility Industry. Please take the opportunity to watch and hear this important message from President Hill.
This Web cast can be viewed by logging onto the IBEW Website at www.ibew.org and click on the special icon for the Web cast that will take you directly to the Web cast.
Posted 03/14/08 By Steve Feldhaus Just a Reminder for Prescription Drugs The company has been sending e-mails about alternatives when purchasing generic drugs. Their e-mails tell employees they can go to another retailer to purchase cheaper generic drugs. The Four Dollars generic prescription drugs can also be bought at any Tri-State Kroger's pharmacy. Kroger's is a Union grocery store the other retailer is not. These Four Dollar prescriptions are for up to a 30 day supply. Here is Kroger's list of Four Dollar generic drugs link to the list. Check the list to see if you or any family members have prescriptions for generic drugs on this list or call a Kroger pharmacy. If so it will save you money by having them filled at Kroger's instead of Medco. Please remember that you don't need to show your prescription card to the pharmacy when purchasing the Four Dollar generic drugs.
Posted 03/11/08 By Steve Feldhaus Is Duke determined to give away the store? Brothers and Sisters this headline was borrowed from our Sister Rowena Bush in the Meter Dept. Sister Bush used this headline to start her letter (link to the letter) to Jim Turner on his blog. Sister Bush was very articulate in expressing her views concerning Duke outsourcing more work in Service Delivery (Premise Trouble) section. I want to personally thank Sister Bush for her eloquent attempt in trying make the company realize the mistake they would be making in contracting out this work. We have been meeting with the company discussing this issue for some time. The process we have been using is from the LMEC (Labor Management Executive Committee). The LMEC was created before the Duke takeover of Cinergy. The company agreed to keep using this process after the takeover by Duke. During these meetings the company explained their intentions of wanting to out source this type of work. The LMEC process allows the affected Unions losing the work to look at what the company will be charged for outsourcing this work to a contractor. After reviewing the information the Union/s can submit a proposal that would meet or beat the outside contractor to keep this work in house. This process has been used on several occasions and we were successful in keeping the work. Again this time IBEW and the USW did make an offer to the company to keep this work in house. You can read the company's counter (link to company's counter proposal) to our offer below. IBEW and the USW did make an offer that would save the company money in doing this type of work and there would be no harm to existing members. If you read the company's counter proposal to us and USW you will see if we except their proposal many of our members will be harmed significantly. How many times lately have you heard the upper management types say they are going to hire new employees. These new employees they talking about must be employees for the contractors. Please keep in mind that this company does not want to have employees. THEY WANT TO BE A VIRTUAL UTILITY. We must be a burden not a benefit to them. It seems all they want are contractors who don't know how to do the work and in some cases can't even speak English (could be illegals), because they think it saves them money and they get their bonuses.
Posted 02/29/08 By Steve Feldhaus Cash Balance Pensions Pension Payouts Are Shrinking I came across a very interesting article about cash balance pension plans. Please read this article very carefully. If you thought that cash balance pension plans were the greatest thing since slice bread you might have a different opinion after reading this article.
Posted 10/31/07 By Steve Feldhaus Need Answers to your Medical and 401K Plan Questions! If you have any questions concerning these plans please call Christopher Rolfe at 704-382-5566. Christopher Rolfe was instrumental in closing the I People center here at Cinergy. These were the people who would answer all your questions. Evidently he felt these people were not needed. If that is the case then he must have all the correct answers to your questions please call him.
Christopher Rolfe # 704-382-5566
Posted 10/31/07 By Steve Feldhaus Four Payroll Deductions to Remain After filing a grievance against the company for eliminating all payroll deductions, I have received a letter from the Labor Relations. The letter indicates they have reconsidered eliminating all of the current payroll deductions. According to the letter there will be four payroll deductions that will continue to be taken from your payroll check. These deductions will be as follows:
AFLAC Cancer Insurance Mutual Benefit Association Dues (MBA) Safety Apparel/Shoes Laundry/Uniforms
The AurGroup Credit Union payroll deduction will not be available in 2008. The company said they were able to eliminate 1 FTE that will save them 80,000 dollars a year. I wonder who is getting that bonus for causing a lot of inconvenience to many employees. This is another way of the company trying to get the employees to direct deposit their payroll checks.
Posted 10/25/07 By Steve Feldhaus Buying Alternative for Generic Prescription Drugs The Kroger Company Pharmacies are now selling Generic Prescription Drugs at Four (4) Dollars per prescription. This price of Four (4) Dollars is cheaper than our current prescription co-pay with our medical plans. Not all generic drugs are being sold at this price. Please look at the link below for a list of generic drugs that Kroger's is selling for Four (4) Dollars. On the list below the Generic Drugs are listed on the left hand side and the Name Brand on the right side. This price for Generic Drugs will definitely be cheaper (this includes the 3 month mail in prescriptions) than next years prescription co-pays for Generic Drugs with the medical plans. If you or someone in your family is taking a Generic Drug you should check this list below
Posted 10/22/07 By Steve Feldhaus Please take a minute to read below if you like to fish and hunt.
The IBEW has join forces with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) to form the Union Sportsman's Alliance (USA), a unique hunting and fishing club exclusively for AFL-CIO union members, retirees, and their families. Please go to the links below for more information about this club.
Posted 09/13/07 By Steve Feldhaus Notice to the Membership Some Payroll Deductions being Eliminated The company has notified Local 1347 that it will no longer have certain voluntary payroll deductions taken from employees checks beginning in 2008. There are 15 items that have been deducted from our members pay checks in the past that the company said it will no longer process. To see the items that are being eliminated, go to the link below this message. I have filed a grievance with Labor Relations concerning this issue. The company is abolishing a long standing past practice without negotiating with the Union.
Posted 09/06/07 By Steve Feldhaus Notice to the Membership Personal Days Pursuant to the 2006 - 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 4, Section 2(a) all members must make arrangements or schedule their Personal days before November 1, 2007. If you don't use or schedule these days before 11/01/07 you can lose them per the contract. The Personal days can be scheduled to be taken after 11/01/07. Also, don't forget to use your Diversity Day before the end of the year.
Posted 08/30/07 By Steve Feldhaus Three New L. U. Officers Appointed The Executive Board Members at their 08/28/07 meeting appointed three members to fill the vacant Executive Board positions in the following areas: East Bend Station; Brian Thoerner, Miami Fort Station; Jeff Brandt, Inventory Services; Tom Brauch. Congratulations to the three newly appointed Officers.
Posted 08/21/07 By Steve Feldhaus It is "OFFICIAL" they are illegal Please read the correspondence (3 pages) below I have just received from Representative Jean Schmidt. Our members in the regulated and non-regulated areas of Duke Energy were correct in saying the company was hiring contractors with illegal alien workers. It is a shame that we now are trying to compete with illegal aliens. This should be an embarrassment to the company. How much lower will Duke Energy stoop in trying to save money. Aren't we proud to say we work for Duke Energy, the company that knowingly hires contractors with illegal alien workers. The same illegals who raped and abducted two young girls. I want to thank Representative Schmidt for her help in this matter. The other two Representatives Chabot and Davis once again just gave lip service with this issue.
Posted 06/12/07 By Clay Montgomery /Election Judge Local 1347 2007 Election Results
President: Kenneth Gross Vice President: Russell Cosby Recording Secretary: Don Reilly Treasurer: Walter Howard Business Manager: Stephen Feldhaus
Executive Boards Members Wm. H. Zimmer Station: Gary Bender W.C. Beckjord Station: Kent Evans Miami Fort Station: Vacant East Bend Station: Vacant Substation: Daniel Amshoff Power Del. & Gen. Supply Chain: Vacant Transportation Services: Larry Creech Overhead Dist. Dept. No.1 Tom Messamer Overhead Dist. Dept. No.2: David Campbell Overhead Dist. Dept. No.3: James Bell Electric Trouble Dept. David Stenger Underground Dept. Ron Hill Electric Meter Dept. Wayne Napier
Posted 06/11/07 By Steve Feldhaus Spread the Word!! The AFL-CIO Union Industries Show is this Weekend!!
IT WILL AMAZE, INFORM, ENTERTAIN AND DELIGHT VISITORS OF ALL OF ALL AGES. AMERICA @ WORK 2007 IS THE BEST-EVER EXHIBIT OF UNION MADE GOODS AND SERVICES, SHOWCASING THE SKILLS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICAN UNION WORKERS.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Free Admission Family Fun Valuable Prizes
Posted 03/16/07 By Steve Feldhaus Pension Educational Seminar Scheduled Local 1347 has scheduled a Pension Educational Seminar for Saturday April 28, 2007 at our Union Hall. I have asked Peter Anderson and Steve Hilmes from the Principal Financial Group to come and give a presentation about our Pension Plans. This presentation will be helpful to our members in understanding how our Pensions are calculated and the comparisons between the Traditional and Cash Balance Plans. Also I have asked Peter and Steve to give a presentation on the new management pension plan that was just offered to the legacy Cinergy management employees. This part of the presentation is for informational purposes only, this is a management plan The seminar will start at 10:00am and end at 2:00pm, lunch will be provided, RSVP's are requested by April 20, 2007. Spouses of any member attending are also welcome to attend this seminar. Please call Angie at our office or e-mail (ibew1347angie@fuse.net) to RSVP. If you can not make this seminar and you are interested in attending one please call the office.
Posted 02/27/07 By Steve Feldhaus Local 1347 has a new Vice President Tonight the Executive Board has appointed Brother Russ Cosby from the Meter Department to fill the vacant office of the Vice President. Brother Cosby will serve in this office for the remainder of the current term. I like to congratulate Brother Cosby on behalf of all the members of Local 1347.
Posted 02/27/07 By Steve Feldhaus Jobs coming back to the Union I have been in talks with company for three months about bringing back the jobs in the storeroom that were contracted out to a warehousing vendor about four years ago. The company agreed and is bringing that work back in house. They are planning to hire 8 to 10 people into the Materials Spec. C classification. These new hires will be working at the Brecon Storeroom. The company said they will be hiring these people sometime in May.
Posted 02/12/07 By Steve Feldhaus Disturbing actions by some members I have received several phone calls concerning a few of our members. I have been told that in the power plants some of our members have taken a temporary upgrade to supervisor so they can teach the non union contractors how to do our work. We worked hard during the past negotiations to keep from being replaced by non-union contractors. This is completely unacceptable. Contractually I can not stop someone from a temporary upgrade to a supervisor. I am absolutely against any of our members training a non-contractor to do our jobs so that it would be easy from them to replace us. The company hired these incompetent non-union contractors, let the company deal with the fact these people cannot do the work.
Posted 02/07/07 By Steve Feldhaus The 2006 - 2009 Contract is now signed It has taken some time but we now have a signed contract. The corrections have been made and the language is correct. You can view the new contract on the "CONTRACTNEWS 2006" page.
Posted 11/27/06 By Steve Feldhaus More Information on Possible ILLegal Aliens I have received a response from Representative Jean Schmidt from the Ohio second district. Rep. Schmidt was one of three area Congressional delegates that I contacted for help with this issue. The other two just talk the talk and don't walk the walk. They were Steve Chabot and Jeff Davis. Steve Chabot did not even respond to my letter, Jeff Davis also offered no help. I hope our members remember these two names in two years when they come asking for your help at the voting booth. I have to say this in support of Rep. Schmidt, she does talk the talk and walk the walk concerning her campaign message when it comes to illegal aliens. Rep. Schmidt replied very quickly to my request. PLEASE LOOK AT THE RESPONSE FROM REP. SCHMIDT BELOW. If anyone in the power plants has any information concerning possible illegal aliens working on the property please call the Union Office.
Posted 10/23/06 By Steve Feldhaus Possible ILLegal Aliens It has come to my attention that there may be illegal aliens of Hispanic descent working in the four Duke Energy power plants in our area. These possible illegal aliens are employees working for Sunbelt Insulation Company Inc., from Decatur, Alabama. If anyone has information concerning this issue please contact the Union Office. I have also sent letters to U.S. Congressmen Chabot and Davis and U.S. Congresswoman Schmidt asking them to investigate this matter. If I can remember correctly they are in the Republican Party, the Party of President Bush. It was President Bush who said these illegal aliens are only doing jobs that Americans don't want to do. It seems that before this September there were Americans who belong to Unions doing this work. Please keep in mind that it is a federal crime for employers to hire illegal aliens. Remember to treat these contract employees with respect do not get yourself in trouble, hopefully the federal authorities will do their jobs.