This week the Company and Union Negotiating Committees held discussions concerning all three Business Units.  On Monday and Tuesday, discussions continued from the previous week on Distribution proposals dealing with;

·        Callout overtime response.

·        Reducing the percentage of people working outside the hours of 6:00am and 6:00pm and Saturdays and Sundays.

·        Provisions that would allow for additional staffing based on a formula tied to the combined total of overtime worked in a location.

·        Payment for the rest day and voluntary acceptance for storm assignments.

On Wednesday, discussions were held on the Union proposals for the Power Generation Business Unit.  During these discussions, the Power Generation representative had no interest in the majority of our proposals because they did not meet the needs of the Business Unit.  However, after much discussion, they were willing to address a few of the following proposals;

·        An increase to the meal allowance under Paragraph 41, Option 2.

·        A change to the way the overtime list is established for overhauls using actual hours for the year, instead of starting the list at zero hours once the assignment starts under Paragraph 44, Traveling Crew-Power Generation.

·        An increase to the Nuclear Premium allowance in Exhibit “A” Notes.

·        An increase to the Certified and Qualified Welder yearly payments.

The Union is performing additional research and has requested additional information as a result of those discussions. We are also awaiting a possible counter offer to our proposal to increase shift differentials from the Company.

In addition to Power Generation proposals on Wednesday, the negotiating committees met with the joint J-Post team for a presentation on their findings thus far. At this point, the team has identified all the problems with the system design and processes that has led to the numerous problems in awarding jobs which in some cases, has taken as long as two-hundred days.  The team will now go back and identify steps for final recommendations before the negotiating committees address any contractual changes that may be necessary.