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Good afternoon. My name is Tony Bartels and I am the Business Manager of IBEW Local 965. Before we get started, I would like to give you some information about the IBEW. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is about 750 thousand strong in the nation. It is a very powerful union organization that believes all people have the right to be represented. Our Local IBEW 965 was started in 1937. We presently represent about 1500 members. At this time, we have 20 contracts and Alliant Energy is one of them. We represent Physical, Clerical, Municipals, Co-ops, Police, Manufacturing and Professional. At this time, I will give you the contact information. During this call there will be many questions. We will not be able to take your questions as we are speaking. You will be able to e-mail or call in your questions and we will respond during this call or reply to your questions by e-mail. The contact information is as follows: E-mail—kg@ibew965.com or phone—1-608-259-2400 and choose Mike, Tony or Kemp. After hours you can call 1-608-751-4787 and talk to Kemp in person. We are available 24/7 or will respond to all messages. The first thing I want to do is set you mind at ease. Every step of the way it will be Confidential. Your name will not be given out, so there is no concern of reprisal. We have had a number of successful organizing campaigns and understand how this process works. Any retaliation against workers due to union activity is a violation of law. What we are doing is targeting the professionals at Alliant Energy. We have been contacted and already have held meetings with some of your co-workers. The message we are getting back is that there is a large want and need for the professionals to become represented and join a union. We have targeted about 200+ employees that will qualify to be IBEW Local 965 members. You would probably qualify to be union as long as you don’t fire people and do not work in Labor Relations. We will talk to people on an individual basis to make sure of this. I will share with you some of the reasons we were contacted about becoming union worker—lack of respect, cancelled vacation, no carryover vacation, long hours with little or no compensation, no job security, a person can be fired or laid off with little or no warning, no rhyme or reason to who gets laid off or fired, having to watch over your shoulder, been left with a poorer retirement plan and cancellations of Company matching funds, a worse medical plan & other benefits that is less than what the union members have. If you are one of these people, you need to contact us. What will bargain for on your behalf is: · A binding contract agreement with the Company · A grievance and arbitration procedure so you don’t have to worry about looking at someone wrong and looking for a new job the next day · Defined Medical and benefits · Bargained vacation and retirement that cannot be taken away on a whim by the Company There is strength in numbers and that is what we are attempting to do. The process: · We have already had meetings with potential employees · We have already received e-mails and phone calls · We are hoping during this call we will get e-mail and phone calls by any of you that are interested to try to help answer your questions · We will try to contact or visit all people that have not contacted us · When we feel we have enough people to vote, we will then file a petition with the NLRB. · We will ask everyone to sign cards. These cards are ours and shared with the NLRB only to prove we have a potential group to vote. · We will not go to the NLRB until we have enough cards so we can win the election. ·
When you sign the card, it is up to you, but we recommend you tell
people you signed a card and are standing up for the · Once we file, everything is frozen including your wage and benefits. They should not be able to change anything away until you vote and have successfully implemented a contract. · Then there will be a fact-finding process where we and Alliant decide who can and cannot be members. If we cannot agree the NLRB has the final decision. · Law allows a group classified as professionals the ability to be in their own separate unit. Some examples of this would be an accountant, engineer, attorney or position that generally require and advanced degree. We will try to get the whole group into one but there is the ability that there may be two separate groups that will be created. · The NLRB will set up a vote to date on a Union designation. · If we are successful, we then start bargaining for a contract. · First we would meet with everyone so you can give us proposals for the contract. · We then pick a negotiations committee. This will consist of a variety of your departments. This group along with a union representative will represent you in negotiations. · Just remember it will take time and the first contract is usually the longest. · When we get a tentative agreement, you will then vote to accept or not. · If it gets voted down, we go back to the table and try again. The Cost— The initiation fee is $30, but it is waived for the initial contract. To figure the monthly dues, you would take your salary and divide by 2080, multiply that by 1.5 and add $12. You pay nothing until you have your first contract. So, in short, you never have to pay until we get what the unit has voted on it. Then you start paying the monthly dues. The down side—absolutely nothing. Thank you. Here is the contact information again. Please get a hold of us by one of these methods and remember your name will not be used so you are safe. Phone: 1-608-259-2400 for Tony, Mike or Kemp E-mail: kg@ibew965.com |