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Non Union Crews Turned Away in NJ
DECATUR, AL (WAFF) - A Decatur Utilities crew left Alabama to help with storm recovery in New Jersey, but did not make the trip because of what they are now calling confusion over union paperwork.
The six-man crew staged in Virginia, but Decatur Utilities said they were never able to get in touch with officials or utility companies in New York or New Jersey. While the crew stood down in Virginia, Decatur Utilities officials claimed they received a union contract they thought they would have to agree to before helping storm victims.
General Manager Ray Hardin appeared on Fox Business Channel Friday morning saying, "We were presented documents from IBEW that required our folks to affiliate with the unions and that was something we could not agree to."
Decatur Utilities later released a statement expanding on that, "Upon arriving at a staging area in Virginia, crews were held in place pending clarification of documents received from IBEW 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."
Late Friday at a press conference, Hardin said the documents actually came from Electric Cities of Alabama, a coalition of the state's municipally owned utilities.
Bottom line, it appears now that Decatur Utilities wrongly assumed they would have to agree to the union contract before traveling to New Jersey to help with recovery efforts. The IBEW said in times of crisis, help is welcomed from union and non-union utility workers.
Hardin said as they waited for confirmation on the documents, crews received word that Seaside Heights had received the assistance they needed from other sources.
"At this stage, it is not clear who is alleged to have turned the crew away and the company that employs the affected workers has denied the claim," said IBEW President Ed Hill in a statement. "IBEW local leaders in New Jersey have reiterated what has been the long standing record of our union – in times of crisis all help is welcome and we pull together with everyone to meet the needs of the public. We have communicated this to the office of New Jersey Governor Christie as well."
The crew from Decatur Utilities attempted to look for work in other areas, but Hardin said based on the uncertainty of other union requirements, they made the decision to return home after being stalled in Virginia most of the day Thursday.
Other utility crews from Alabama are still helping with storm cleanup. Huntsville Utilities said they were not turned away and are in Long Island, New York. Joe Wheeler EMC said they did not respond to New Jersey, but did travel to Maryland and headed home once they were finished.
Copyright 2012 WAFF. All rights reserved.
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/19981857/some-nonunion-ala-crews-turned-away-from-sandy-recovery
What a damn shame. Help is help. This kind of "confusion" should never even have come up.
The six-man crew staged in Virginia, but Decatur Utilities said they were never able to get in touch with officials or utility companies in New York or New Jersey. While the crew stood down in Virginia, Decatur Utilities officials claimed they received a union contract they thought they would have to agree to before helping storm victims.
General Manager Ray Hardin appeared on Fox Business Channel Friday morning saying, "We were presented documents from IBEW that required our folks to affiliate with the unions and that was something we could not agree to."
Decatur Utilities later released a statement expanding on that, "Upon arriving at a staging area in Virginia, crews were held in place pending clarification of documents received from IBEW 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."
Late Friday at a press conference, Hardin said the documents actually came from Electric Cities of Alabama, a coalition of the state's municipally owned utilities.
Bottom line, it appears now that Decatur Utilities wrongly assumed they would have to agree to the union contract before traveling to New Jersey to help with recovery efforts. The IBEW said in times of crisis, help is welcomed from union and non-union utility workers.
Hardin said as they waited for confirmation on the documents, crews received word that Seaside Heights had received the assistance they needed from other sources.
"At this stage, it is not clear who is alleged to have turned the crew away and the company that employs the affected workers has denied the claim," said IBEW President Ed Hill in a statement. "IBEW local leaders in New Jersey have reiterated what has been the long standing record of our union – in times of crisis all help is welcome and we pull together with everyone to meet the needs of the public. We have communicated this to the office of New Jersey Governor Christie as well."
The crew from Decatur Utilities attempted to look for work in other areas, but Hardin said based on the uncertainty of other union requirements, they made the decision to return home after being stalled in Virginia most of the day Thursday.
Other utility crews from Alabama are still helping with storm cleanup. Huntsville Utilities said they were not turned away and are in Long Island, New York. Joe Wheeler EMC said they did not respond to New Jersey, but did travel to Maryland and headed home once they were finished.
Copyright 2012 WAFF. All rights reserved.
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/19981857/some-nonunion-ala-crews-turned-away-from-sandy-recovery
What a damn shame. Help is help. This kind of "confusion" should never even have come up.
If I've ever needed help, I gladly accepted it from where ever and whom ever it came from. In return, I gladly reciprocate.
Yes, I think unions are a thing of the past and now can often cause more issues than any good they do. Just my opinion.
Hopefully those that need it get the help they need regardless!
Hopefully those that need it get the help they need regardless!
I think unions had their place in history and really did do an awful lot of good. No question that pre union many employees were badly taken advantage of. Times have changed though, and I think that often unions now do more harm then good - they are way too powerful. And we have laws in place now to protect the worker from unfair treatment. I just don't see them as necessary any more. This situation is a perfect example - utterly ridiculous that this happened.
Not sure I understand the problem. We got how many millions without power and someone willing to help. Seems simple enuff to me!
I was born and raised in a union shop town, on union money. The majority of my parents friends were union and the majority of my friends that still live there are union shop people. All of my union friends expect me to have some kind of allegiance to union shops because I was raised on union money. I don't get that.... My grandfather was a union employee and he told me that it was the only way that he could keep work, back in those days. He hated to pay union dues because nobody every stood up for him.... they didn't have too. It was his work ethic and attitude that kept him working.
My mother disliked the union. Mom was an educator and there was a strike back in the day. Being the union pawn, she didn't cross the picket line and this strike was a big hardship for her. (Single mom raising 2 kids on an elementary school teachers salary. The union did nothing to help make ends meet during the strike and bargained only for something that didn't benefit her....) Today, my mother cannot stand the union. "They no longer represent what they represented when unions came around."
I am a firm believer that the unions helped establish employee rights, the 40 hour work week, over time pay, child labor laws, etc. But now there are laws on the books that a union has nothing to do with and we are protected by those laws. They are antiquated.... they served their purpose and have run their duration.
A little over 11% of the nations workforce is union. Union members in the private sector is around 7% and is the lowest number since 1932 (according to wikipedia). Public service employees make up the largest percentage of union shop employees. (In most places, there is not a choice.... you are forced to be in the union.)
The majority of the people I know that are in the union swear by it. To me, it seems like the unions are what the majority of these very same people are trying to get rid of on the political agenda.
Ill never understand it....
My mother disliked the union. Mom was an educator and there was a strike back in the day. Being the union pawn, she didn't cross the picket line and this strike was a big hardship for her. (Single mom raising 2 kids on an elementary school teachers salary. The union did nothing to help make ends meet during the strike and bargained only for something that didn't benefit her....) Today, my mother cannot stand the union. "They no longer represent what they represented when unions came around."
I am a firm believer that the unions helped establish employee rights, the 40 hour work week, over time pay, child labor laws, etc. But now there are laws on the books that a union has nothing to do with and we are protected by those laws. They are antiquated.... they served their purpose and have run their duration.
A little over 11% of the nations workforce is union. Union members in the private sector is around 7% and is the lowest number since 1932 (according to wikipedia). Public service employees make up the largest percentage of union shop employees. (In most places, there is not a choice.... you are forced to be in the union.)
The majority of the people I know that are in the union swear by it. To me, it seems like the unions are what the majority of these very same people are trying to get rid of on the political agenda.
Ill never understand it....
"We really need a lot of help Mr. President.... oh, we don't need those guys though. We need other help." .
I know, really!
This is a perfect example of the antiquated nature of unions. They served a purpose in the past, but more often than not, all they do now is serve to protect the lazy workers, and rule breakers. I've seen a few unions in action, it was astounding.
As a supervisor, I just loved when I would try to guide or direct my staff. LOL. I can't tell you how many times I was threatened with a union grievance. Eyeroll. God forbid I had to discipline anyone. The process (to be in compliance with union rules) was so ridiculous, it wasn't even worth it. Many times, I didn't even bother. I would want to talk with someone about using their cell phone at work (a no no), and would have to wait until there was aunion rep available, and a witness, make sure someone was documenting the meeting. A 3 minute talk turned into WW3.
One of my fellow supervisors told an employee about not eating at the nurse's station, that employee filed a grievance, and won (of course)...they put in place special rules for that girl (being a diabetic) that she could leave the floor every 15 min to ther breakroom for a snack or drink. LMAO. The ONLY thing my colleague was saying was NOT to eat AT the nurse's station...she was not telling her that she couldn't snack and drink during work hours. That kind of crap made it impossible to be a supervisor. I could spend days writing those kinds of stories.
Hubby too has had a lot of exposure with union electricians. More important than getting the job done and getting it done right, is THEIR rights. He's had to work with union guys on different projects. They literally would NOT help with ANYTHING that wasn't electric related. If furniture needed moved, or a floor needed swept (for them to access electrical panels), they would flat out refuse to do it, stating it was "not their job". So, they would sit there, and watch my hubby and his crew do the "grunt work", that of course, benefitted them for their part of the job. The union would back that kind of guy up.
I've only seen the union legitimately represent and help a member ONE time, when there was an issue with OT hours being unfairly distributed. Every other thing I've seen was nonsense.
Unions should be a thing of the past.
I know, really!
This is a perfect example of the antiquated nature of unions. They served a purpose in the past, but more often than not, all they do now is serve to protect the lazy workers, and rule breakers. I've seen a few unions in action, it was astounding.
As a supervisor, I just loved when I would try to guide or direct my staff. LOL. I can't tell you how many times I was threatened with a union grievance. Eyeroll. God forbid I had to discipline anyone. The process (to be in compliance with union rules) was so ridiculous, it wasn't even worth it. Many times, I didn't even bother. I would want to talk with someone about using their cell phone at work (a no no), and would have to wait until there was aunion rep available, and a witness, make sure someone was documenting the meeting. A 3 minute talk turned into WW3.
One of my fellow supervisors told an employee about not eating at the nurse's station, that employee filed a grievance, and won (of course)...they put in place special rules for that girl (being a diabetic) that she could leave the floor every 15 min to ther breakroom for a snack or drink. LMAO. The ONLY thing my colleague was saying was NOT to eat AT the nurse's station...she was not telling her that she couldn't snack and drink during work hours. That kind of crap made it impossible to be a supervisor. I could spend days writing those kinds of stories.
Hubby too has had a lot of exposure with union electricians. More important than getting the job done and getting it done right, is THEIR rights. He's had to work with union guys on different projects. They literally would NOT help with ANYTHING that wasn't electric related. If furniture needed moved, or a floor needed swept (for them to access electrical panels), they would flat out refuse to do it, stating it was "not their job". So, they would sit there, and watch my hubby and his crew do the "grunt work", that of course, benefitted them for their part of the job. The union would back that kind of guy up.
I've only seen the union legitimately represent and help a member ONE time, when there was an issue with OT hours being unfairly distributed. Every other thing I've seen was nonsense.
Unions should be a thing of the past.
I could not agree with you more. Here these people are in dire straights, people everywhere complaining about how much help they need, and then they run help off? Good on ya.... brilliant.
"We really need a lot of help Mr. President.... oh, we don't need those guys though. We need other help."
"We really need a lot of help Mr. President.... oh, we don't need those guys though. We need other help."
"What a damn shame. Help is help. This kind of "confusion" should never even have come up."
I agree!
I agree!
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