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I am a new Line Apprentice and I just received a ballot in the mail for the 2010 Negotiations between Intermountain line construction agreement and our locals. Just hoping for some feedback from vet union members from these locals on which way to vote, pro's and con's etc.
Thanks
As a member you can vote any way you want of course, but normally you want to follow the recommendation of your bargaining committee. Are they recommending ratification or rejection? Most outside power agreements contain CIR (Council on Industrial Relations) language that is a format for settling disputes. If your locals vote the proposal down then the case will go to the CIR for settlement. If no CIR language is involved a rejection of a contract proposal usually acts as a strike vote. Bottom line is stay involved and informed. Unfortunately in todays world less than half of your membership will care to even cast a vote, which makes it difficult to sustain a work action such as a strike. It's a bitch not knowing how over half of your membership is going to behave.
most of the info is about proposed wage increases and lineco premium increases, pension increases, annuity increases and things that cover who can do what work in different situations. Nothing pertains to CIR. My only concern was that it looks as if they might be expanding the duties of groundmen and operators, are they doing that to reduce costs so they don't have to use lineman and apprentices or were the duties of groundmen and operators poorly difined and are they just clearing things up? Normally I would attend all my union meetings and keep abreast. However i am working 10 hours away and simply cant make it so I had an outside ratification vote mailed to me. If most members typically vote for these then thats what ill do.
Thanks
Just a thought. It would be cool if they could stream the union meetings to the internet say on the Locals website so all members that are out of the area could see and hear the agenda and hear other members thoughts and ideas.
FYI, everything could pertain to CIR if your bargaining committee let's it get to that point. Your locals would be better off settling their agreements prior to the next CIR session. That is unless you want a bunch of narrowbacks to make the decision for you. Amid the current economic downturn and high unemployment nationwide, CIR is a crapshoot at best. As far as webcasts of union meetings hell if you done that even fewer would show-up, just my opinion. As you can probably tell I'm not a member of the "millennium" generation. Bottom-line is stay INFORMED & INVOLVED the best you can.