A Message from Your Business Manager
We Need Your Email Address (Home not Work Email)
Local Union Bylaws
A Message from Assistant Business Manager, Dale Blank
A Message from Assistant Business Manager, Roger Erickson
A Message f rom Assistant Business Manager, Dave Loechler
A Message from Assistant Business Manager, Mike Priem
Conference Report
Third Annual Local 953 Ice Fishing Derby
IBEW Per Capita Notice

A Message from Your Business Manager

Well Brothers and Sisters, it’s that time again when the snow shovels are out, we are waiting for the tax bill to come in the mail, and we are out keeping the economy alive by buying all those Christmas presents! I truly hope that everyone survives all this activity.

At the Local Union office we purchased some computers and have been busy developing a web page for Local 953. With the web page each individual within our office will have their own email address. We have been trying to get all members that have an email address at home to e-mail their address to us. This will be a great tool for communication between the Local Union and the membership. I hope everyone enjoys the web page and can use all the links that are with the web page. The web page can be changed from time to time so we are looking for your feedback on how we can improve it. The Local Union President has been busy putting together a Committee On Political Education (COPE) Committee. Local 953 has always been very light on any COPE Contribution and this committee will be trying to educate the members on the importance of COPE. I firmly believe our political involvement will need to grow considerably so we can remain strong and continue to reach good agreements so many times what we and other Union’s fight so hard for are gone with a stroke of a politicians pen. This COPE Committee will also act as a political Action Committee to address legislative bills that would affect our livelihood along with getting members out to vote on election day. So their work will be cut out for them. What I ask is that you come forward and do your part when asked. I believe over the next few years we will be in for some real battles. We need to all stick together and work for one common goal and we will survive and become stronger because of it. Just like our forefathers did.

2004 will be a very interesting year. Two of our larger contracts are open, Dairyland Power and Xcel Energy. Between the two contracts it represents approximately 675 members or 48% of our membership. For the membership of these two groups, trust your bargaining committees, they are there representing all members involved within those agreements. The goal of any bargaining committee is to reach a satisfactory agreement for it’s members. The end result is the membership votes to decide if it’s satisfactory or not. I urge you to show your solidarity during these negotiations. When management observes this, it gives us more strength at the bargaining table.

There is no time more fitting to thank you for your support during the past year and to wish you and everyone close to you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

Until the next newsletter article, solidarity forever and God Bless!

John Marincel
Business Manager/Financial Secretary

We Need Your Email Address (Home not Work Email)

Please send us an email including the following information:
Name, Employer, Email Address

Local Union Bylaws

Article II - Local Union Meetings

Section 1. Meetings of the five (5) Regional Units; Northern Region, Central Region, Southern Region, Western Region, Eastern Region, shall constitute and be considered the regular meetings of the Local Union.

Article III - Officers-Elections-Duties

Section 7(a). Nominations for officers shall be held in April, 2004, and Election of Officers shall be held in June, 2004, and every three (3) years thereafter, as stated in Article XVII of the IBEW Constitution. Notice shall be mailed to all members at least twenty (20) days prior to the meeting for nominations in election years with all information regarding nominations, list of offices to be filled, date, time and place of election and the date, time and place of run-off election, if required.

The notice will be mailed in the March newsletter to all members for nominations at the five (5) regional meetings held in April.

Hellow Brothers and Sisters! From Assistant Business Manager, Dale Blank

Here it is! Holiday time! It seems like this year blew past at a record pace! There were a lot of different things that happened this year. Some good, some not so good.

At a recent tailgate meeting with the Union employees from Everbrite Lighting, I was informed that some of their work that was previously being done overseas in China, is being brought back here to the United States, due to poor quality of work and extreme tardiness in shipping. This is the first good news that I have received for manufacturing in this country in quite some time. It’s about time and I hope this trend continues. I know that most of the shopping for Christmas is most likely completed for this year, but we are always shopping for something. Remember to look for the Union Label and always look for the words “Made in the USA”!

On the other side of the fence, there is currently legislation in Wisconsin that is trying to attack Collective Bargaining rights for Municipal Union Employees. The Assembly Bill 598 is trying to do away with the binding arbitration clause which all municipal contracts in Wisconsin currently have. It is also intended to let local governments out source their work without regard to current employees. It that isn’t enough, the bill also wants to take away the Union’s right to use comparables when negotiating contracts. Further, the bill wants to limit back pay awards plus other changes to limit pay and benefit increases.

Assembly Bill 598 is anti-worker and anti-union and still another economic threat to working families. This bill has been spearheaded by the Republicans in Wisconsin. What can you do to help? Contact your Senator and Representative by using the toll free hotline: 1-800-362-9472. You can also use email (www.legis.state.wi.us) be sure to include your mailing address.

Until next time.........Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Fraternally yours,

Dale Blank
Asstistant Business Manager

From the Desk of Assistant Business Manager, Roger Erickson

Greetings Everyone! I hope this letter finds all of you in good health as we head on into the Holiday Season.

On October 9th & 10th, I was in attendance at the Eleventh Annual Utility Workers Coalition Conference held in Wisconsin Rapids. This conference is held annually and delegates from several different labor organizations are on hand to listen to guest speakers from the local government to talk about current legislative issues and share perspectives.

Mr. Jim Hunter, IBEW, Rep. spoke on behalf of the I.O. lobbying efforts involving issues such as deregulations and CDL’s. He also touched on issues of storm restoration on the east coast that resulted from the hurricane season and also the August 14th blackout that affected over fifty million people.

State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager spoke on clean air concerns vs the need for new generation facilities in Wisconsin. She also touched on a variety of other pending bills most notably concealed weapon legislation.

Several breakout workshops were held with discussion topics including Electric Transmission/Distribution, Gas Distribution, Fossil/Generation Nuclear, and Utility Operations. On the local scene the Wisconsin PSC continues to hold hearings relating to the Arrowhead- Weston 345 Line. Construction work in Local 953's jurisdiction remains fairly slow, however, Xcel appears to be letting out a few smaller projects.

Congratulations to Josh Reneson who recently passed his journeyman test.

The Line Clearance/Tree Trimming Agreement expires on May 20, 2004. As with all contracts, health care cost is the number #1 issue. Line Clearance members should be thinking of amendments that are worthy of proposal and forward them through their steward to this office or send them directly to me. One other option is e-mail, drop me a note at rogere@ibew953.org.

Xcel Energy appears to desire getting back to basics after financial difficulty with it’s NRG subsidiary. The current Labor Agreement at Xcel expires on December 31, 2004. Rest assured, the fall months of 2004 will be a busy timenegotiating a new agreement. I recently attended an “open house” at the French Island Generating Facility in La Crosse. Thanks to those employees that took the time to share your expertise with me.

Happy Holidays!

Roger Erickson
Asstistant Business Manager

Seasons Greetings! From Assistant Business Manager, Dave Loechler

With the holiday season approaching I personally want to wish everyone very happy and safe holidays!

This fall, once again, has been busy with contract negotiations. At this time, the contracts I have settlements with are; Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative, Pierce Pepin Cooperative Services, Eau Claire Energy Cooperative, and Dunn Energy Cooperative. Still open at the time of this writing and are due by the end of the year are; Taylor Electric Cooperative, Baldwin Telecom, City of Bloomer, City of Medford, City of New Richmond and City of Rice Lake, so this should keep me busy for the rest of the year.

At Local 953 we have a number of contracts due every year. With the American economy and with bills being brought forward in the Wisconsin Legislature, we now, more than ever, need to become more active and stand together to stop these politicians from eating “our” lunch. The best voice we have as Union members is our solidarity and setting goals for ourselves as Union brothers and sisters that whenever a politician is in your area campaigning and his/her political record is “not” Union friendly, to stand up against them!

February 7, 2004, is the date set for the 3rd Annual Ice Fishing Derby. This year we hope the attendance is even larger than last year’s. Encourage other members to participate! If anyone is willing to help in setting up this event, please contact me at (715) 834-4911, ext. #15.

Look for the Fishing Derby registration form in this newsletter edition and remind others to clear their calendars and attend on February 7, 2004. Here’s to a Happy Healthy 2004!

Work Safe!

Dave Loechler
Asstistant Business Manager

A Message from Assistant Business Manager, Mike Priem

Since our last newsletter we have had two organizing campaigns, the first is a small group of employees that work for the City of Medford Public Library. There are (5) five employees, three are full time, two are part time. The employer exercised it’s option under Wisconsin law to appoint a “confidential employee,” thereby removing one of the Union supporters from the bargaining unit. We convinced the WERC to allow the confidential to vote in the election and the employer challenged the vote. This resulted in a 2 to 2 tie with the part time voting against the full timers. As a result of the challenged vote by the employer, a hearing was scheduled by the Wisconsin Employee Relations Commission at the City of Medford on October 14th. The briefs are due in by November 19th, but I don’t look for a favorable ruling on our part. Although the employer clearly appointed a confidential employee to intentionally tie the election, the Wisconsin Employee Relations Commission rarely, if ever, denies an employer the right of this appointment.

The second campaign is with a local manufacturing company, Intek Plastics. A little background of this company, Intek was started in 1966 in Hastings, Minnesota. In 1968 the IBEW won a certification election 9 to 1 and ratified it’s first contract with Local Union 2047. Intek Plastics has a 35 year history as being an IBEW employer. Then about three years ago, the company decided to expand operations in Eau Claire, making the same products for the same customers, the only change was, of course, the Eau Claire plant would be non-union. The stage has now been set by the employer to accomplish their goal of getting workers to compete against workers. Under this scenario when workers compete against each other, workers always lose! The employer has been threatening the union members from Hastings with loss of work to Eau Claire because they work cheaper and they have been threatening the Eau Claire group that they could be replaced by workers from Hastings. There is only one solution, that is a separate Union for Eau Claire, and that is exactly what we’re trying to give them. The campaign began with house calling workers at home and escalated with meetings at the hall. I invited Scott Clothier to attend these meetings, as Scott is a 14 year employee of Intek and also the Business Manager of Local Union 2047, IBEW. Scott recognizes the importance of this campaign and is more than willing to assist us in any way possible and this is a great help because of his background. When the Eau Claire group discovered what the Minnesota workers have in their contract for wages and benefits, the card signing began. We have continued our meetings at the hall and we will continue the meetings right up to the election. The Company is putting on it’s anti-union campaign with all the standard rhetoric and many of the Eau Claire group are scared for their jobs, after all they are “at will” employees, which means they can be terminated for any reason or no reason at the will of the company. Local 953 has a majority of the cards signed and on November 4th we petitioned the NLRB for an election. The date for the election is December 18th & 19th. This is to accommodate all employees as they work a rolling 12 hour schedule, with 2 crews and each crew with a day and night shift. There are approximately 55 bargaining unit employees in this group and if you know anyone that works at Intek in Eau Claire, give them your support!

In October, I attended the IBEW International Organizing Conference which was held in Chicago. The number #1 focus of the brotherhood is organizing. President Hill’s opening address leaves absolutely no doubt about what the number one goal of the entire brotherhood and there will be excuses accepted. President Hill stated that in the last year the brotherhood lost approximately 30,000 members!! “If these numbers don’t scare the hell out of you, they should, because they cause me to fear for the future of our brotherhood and our future as working men and women who count on the IBEW to provide us with the wear-with-all to achieve and maintain a good standard of living,” quote from Hill. President Hill also stated, quote “I, for one am going to do all within my power and authority as the International President to correct the course that we are following and the road that we are traveling. If a Local Union isn’t organizing or at least attempting to organize, they’ve had their warning!” President Hill’s complete address to the conference is available on ibew.org and I urge each of you to read it on the web.

I attended as many of the break out sessions as I could in the 3 ½ days I was there and most of the sessions were again, very informative.

I wish you all a joyous and safe holiday season for 2003.
Fraternally,

Mike Priem
Organizer/Asstistant Business Manager

Conference Report
By Ryan W. Rykal, Local 953 Executive Board Member Representing Dairyland Power

On October 8 & 9, 2003, I represented Local 953 at the Eleventh Annual Utility Workers Coalition Conference held in Wisconsin Rapids with members from 20 other local unions
located through the Midwest.

The conference started off with a welcome and introductions. Then, Jim Hunter from the Washington office of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers staff in the Utility Department. Jim started out discussing the August blackout in the eastern United States. He covered the facts that this should not have surprised anyone and is a direct result of deregulation of the electrical grid. This is due to a combination of problems with the transmission system. Control and operation of the nation’s transmission system was never designed to operate in the manner that it is currently being used. In an effort to control costs, transmission owners are reducing maintenance budgets. At the same time new construction is grinding to a halt. Existing lines are becoming more heavily loaded and reserve capacity is shrinking. Jim also stated that transmission construction dollars have dropped for the last 25 years from around 5 billion dollars in 1975 to about 2 billion dollars in 2000 and this is in 1999 dollars.

Jim also touched on the current Energy Bill proposals in the Congress and Senate. He stated that passage of these bills would be a positive thing for the members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but Democrats have no desire to work with the Republicans to get this bill passed. The International has been pushing for this as it would create over 700 construction jobs and would result in high paying maintenance jobs. This bill also has some language concerning who would pay for power grid upgrades, the utility’s in the south want the costs of improvements needed for merchant plants to access the grid be paid for by the merchant plant owners, not other utility’s.

The next speaker was Carl Wood, Commission on the California Public Utilities Commission. Carl talked about the deregulation of electricity, gas, and phone along with other things in California. He talked in length about the problems California has had with the deregulation of electricity and how they evolved to their current state. Carl really just reaffirmed what most of us already know, and that is that deregulation is not a solution but really just another problem.

Peggy Lautenschlager, the Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin was the next speaker. She is a very energetic speaker and spoke on laws that pertain to the electric utility and safe working conditions. Although most of the questions people asked her pertained to new power plants and new transmission lines which she really doesn’t have a lot of input with.

The last speaker was Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer and Legislative Director for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Phil discussed things that are currently going on through Wisconsin, including the get together at the Oak Creek Power Plant site in support of the new plants there. Phil, as well as all the speakers encouraged everyone to contact their legislators concerning items that are going through congress as well as DNR rules and PSC rules that pertain to union and utility issues.

After lunch, the group broke into different workshops, which included Clerical, Electric and Gas, Electric Transmission and Distribution, Gas Distribution, Fossil Fuel Generation, Nuclear, and Utility Operations. The workshops were an open format so you could come and go, which allowed people to sit in on parts of different workshops.

I first sat in on the Fossil Fuel Generation workshop. This workshop’s discussion centered on contracts, that were just settled, that were currently in negotiations, and contracts going into negotiations. As you would suspect medical benefits were the most time consuming part of all the negotiations, most of the people came out ok but they all seem to take a slight reduction in benefits or increase in employee costs. The raises that they received were between 3% and 3.75%. Working conditions were a concern at some plants most of them concerned work hours and contractors. One plant started issuing a tracking number for all work done by a contractor, to track the amount of time that they assisted contractors with setup, tear down, and redoing work done by the contractor. They are also pushing to have qualified personal doing the contract work; the person doing the work must have the same qualifications as the employee that would do it at the plant if it wasn’t contracted out. I found this very interesting.

After a break, I sat in on the Electric Transmission and Distribution workshop. When I was in this workshop the discussion centered on DOT rules, for the most part everyone figured that the state and federal government will in time wave the rules as they apply to the utility industry. They also discussed apprenticeship training and obtaining Journeyman Linemen, it seems that more companies are looking for journeyman Linemen and they seem to be in short supply.

The discussions that I had with other people attending the conference at breaks and in the evening were really interesting. You soon understand that most companies don’t really care about their current employees, and are having a hard time hiring new employees that have the training that the companies desire.

There were several people from the PSC that addressed us, and discussed the upcoming power lines and plants in Wisconsin. It looks like even with the blackout in the East this summer it isn’t going to be easy to build new ones. You have the independent power producers that want to build plants and force companies to buy their power. You also have the environmentalists that don’t want coal plants, or really any plants. They also are against any new power lines, but when it comes to lines then they talk about plants that may have to be built where the power is needed. But then again, not near any large city so really they are just playing a game to prolong the whole thing.

One of the things I found interesting is that everyone at the conference understands that we need to build power plants and lines. We need to make sure that our government leaders understand that we need these things to keep down the cost of power in Wisconsin and the Midwest to maintain industry and attract new industry.

Third Annual Local 953 Ice Fishing Derby

DATE: Satuday, February 7, 2004
TIME: 11 AM to 3 PM
PLACE: Chetek - The Bay between Gilligan's and Northwoods on Country Road D, east of Chetek

ENTRY FEE: $10 per person, adults only
INCLUDES: Beer, pop, and brats
PRIZES: 1st Place Game Fish, 2nd Place Game Fish, 1st Place Pan Fish, 2nd Place Pan Fish.
Fish judged on length only.
Prize amount determined by entry fees.

MOTELS:
Chetek Super“8" ---715-924-4888
Rice Lake Super “8" ---715-234-6956
Rice Lake Americinn---715-234-9060

Ice Fishing Registration
Please return your name, address, and entry fee by January 26, 2004 to:
Local Union 953, IBEW
PO Box 3005
Eau Claire WI 54702

IBEW Per Capita Notice

According to action taken at the 36th IBEW International Convention in September 2001, the IBEW Per Capita will increase One Dollar effective January 1, 2004. Therefore, please add an additional $1.00 a month, beginning with your January 2004 dues payment. Thank You!