Today, January 30, 2007 we exchanged proposals with Alliant Energy.  The purpose for the meeting was to exchange and clarify proposals.  Today was not to argue the other side’s position nor was it justify our proposals, again it was strictly to explain and clarify the proposals.

First you will find our proposals

Next you will find the Company’s proposals.

We will meet for the first time for formal negotiations on February 13, 2007

2007 Alliant Negotiations

Local 965 Union Proposals

AGREEMENT

 1.        Length of Agreement three (3) years.

2.        Update dates under agreement to reflect June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2010.

LABOR MANAGEMENT COUNCIL

3.               Discuss current structure of Labor Management Council.

ARTICLE II. UNION MEMBERSHIP AND DUES

4.        Modify language to Article II paragraph (2).  To read the Company agrees that it will send written notification to the Local Union Office and Local Chief Steward representative within a week of the hiring of a new employee coming under this Agreement.

ARTICLE III. SENIORITY

 5.       Change seniority group (24) Janesville Customer Service Center to

           CSC-DDC.

 6.       Article III, paragraph (7) (a).  An employee who transfers to another seniority group when his/her job has not been eliminated, shall have accumulated seniority within the seniority group from which he/she transferred up to the date of acceptance transfer and accumulates seniority in the new seniority group from the date of acceptance transfer, plus any seniority that may have previously accumulated in that seniority group.

ARTICLE IV - REDUCING FORCES

7.         Article IV paragraph (2), Reduction in forces.  Change all referenced

         20 calendar days to 30 calendar days.

8.        Article IV paragraph (5) (b).  Employees with at least five (5) years of service shall be eligible for an additional payment of 2.0 1.25 weeks of separation pay at their regular wage rate for each full year of service.  If an employee has less than a full year of service it will be prorated for that year.  Under no circumstances will the minimum payment be less than 10 6.25 weeks, nor will it exceed 60 37.5 weeks, which is equal to 2.0 1.25 weeks x 30 years of service. 

ARTICLE XIV. MEALS

 9.        Increase all meal allowances.

10.       Increase storm duty expense.

ARTICLE XV.  TRAVEL

11.      Increase travel amounts and eliminate true-up payment method (pay upfront)

ARTICLE XVI. SAFETY

12.      Discuss the formation of a joint generation safety committee to represent the generating facilities in Wisconsin .

ARTICLE XVII.  CALL BACK MINIMUM

13.       Article XVII Call-Back minimum paragraph (1).  Amend to read as follows:  A minimum of three (3) two (2) hour’s pay at the appropriate overtime rates shall be allowed to all employees who are called back to work after having been released from their regular daily work.

ARTICLE XX.  VACATION

14.       Article XX paragraph (18) amend to read.  Employees may carryover one (1) week of vacation (40 hours) to the next year.  This vacation carryover must be taken in a one (1) week increment in January, February or March.

ARTICLE XXI.  SICK LEAVE

15.       Receive credit for unused sick leave at the time of retirement.

ARTICLE XXIV.  ABSENT FROM WORK

16.       Investigate domestic partner language as it relates to benefits.

17.       Add paragraph (5) d.  The employee’s spouse’s aunts and uncles.

            Add paragraph (5) e.  The employee’s nieces and nephews.

            Add paragraph (5) f.  The employee’s spouse’s nieces and nephews.

ARTICLE XXIX.  TEMPORARY SUBSTITUTIONS

18.       Change paragraph (2).  Occasionally a regular full‑time employee is assigned to substitute in a higher paid position. The employee temporarily substituting in a higher position shall receive the maximum minimum rate of pay of the higher position.  or the step in the higher position which equals or is greater than the amount of the next time step on the employee's regular job, or if the employee is at the maximum rate of the regular job, the step immediately preceding the maximum rate of that regular job.  Please note the exclusion to the first three steps of the wage schedules depending on the position and the employee’s start date as identified in Article XXXVII. Wage Schedule for Physical Positions and Article XXXVIII. Wage Schedule for Clerical Positions.  When an employee who is filling a lower paid position is assigned to perform the duties of his/her former higher paying position, the employee shall be paid at the wage step formerly held in the range of the higher position and this rate shall be for no less than eight (8) hours of pay in any work day regardless of the number of hours the employee performs the duties of the higher position.

19.     Increase the lead rate in paragraph (4) (c)

ARTICLE XXXIII.  PREMIUM PAY

20.       Increase all premiums.

21.       Change Article XXXIII, paragraph (9).  Increase idle time premium.

APPENDIX 2 - ALTERNATE WORK SCHEDULES

            Alternate Starting Times

22.       Change 1. h.  2).  The make-up work time must occur during the pay period work week in which the excused absence occurred.  The work week begins on Sunday and ends the following Saturday.

4-10 Hour Days

23.       Under paragraph 2. g.  Eliminate the first paragraph referring to the return to 5-8’s and modify paragraph’s 2 and 3.

MISCELLANEOUS

24.       Increase Safety Toe Footwear from $30.00 per calendar year to $60.00 per calendar year beginning in 2007 and add the positions of Sr. CFR, CFR I and CFR II and Meter Readers.  Employees will be allowed to continue to bank the reimbursement allowance.

25.       Increase Flame Retardant Clothing initial rate to $600.00 for employees when they first become eligible and also increase the annual flat rate to $400.00 to employees for replacement of Flame Retardant Clothing as needed.

BENEFITS

26.       Maintain Health and Dental employee contributions, co-pays,    deductibles and maximum out of pocket contributions at the current 2007 rates for the term of the agreement.

MEDICAL

27.       Introduce an opt out option for bargaining unit employees.

28.       Improve or expand the Coordination of Benefits between our medical plan and other plans.

29.       Increase the Flexible Spending Health / Dependent Care Account Cap.

30.       Request the Company to join with the Union to endorse the Wisconsin Healthcare Partnership Plan of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO (and other stakeholders) and also to work in coalition with the Union and the State AFL-CIO to establish said plan.

DENTAL

31.       Include composite and/or porcelain fillings to be covered similar to the current amalgam fillings covered under the current dental plan.

32.       Increase the orthodontic maximum benefit amount.

33.       Increase the dental maximum benefit amount.

VISION

34.       Increase the benefit amount for vision.

401K

35.       Increase the company match to 75¢ per dollar up to 8%.

PENSION

36.       Make improvements to the current pension benefits.

MAINTENANCE ITEMS

37.       Include a calendar for the length of the contract to be put in the back of the agreement.

WAGES

38.     Receive an equitable general wage increase for all job classifications.

39.       Discuss the status of Bargaining Unit Incentive Compensation Plan.

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COMPANY PROPOSALS

TO AMEND THE 2003 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

BETWEEN LOCAL UNION 965, IBEW

 AND

WISCONSIN POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY

SUBMITTED TO THE UNION ON JANUARY 30, 2007

Work Rules:

  1.    Reinstate the 40¢ premium for all hours worked when hooking up secondary electrical connections for qualified gas technicians, line clearance technicians, and substation maintenance inspector and relief dispatchers.

  2.    Provide a fire brigade premium for employees when engaged in fire brigade activities.

  3.    Alternate Work Schedules, 4-10 Hour Days - Modify Appendix 2, paragraph 2(a) and 2(g) to allow all employees when working 4-10’s the ability to receive 10 hours of holiday pay with the understanding the company can require a simple majority for a crew to be in favor of 4-10’s.

  4.    Amend work rules to allow more hand work on energized 12.4 kV and 24.9 kV distribution systems.  

  5.    Refine our current measure of accountability for emergency responders with residency requirements. 

  6.    Create a new classification, Construction Line Technician, subject to new travel rules.

  7.    Eliminate overtime meal allowances.

  8.    Eliminate the job-site meal allowances and incorporate into a per diem.

  9.    Amend Article XIV Meals., paragraph 4 and Article XXXI., Hours for Physical Workers, paragraph 9(c) to provide overtime pay if employees are required to work during their regularly scheduled lunch time and are not granted sufficient time to eat their lunch. 

10.    Modify Article XXIX, Temporary Substitutions, paragraph (8) to extend the period of temporary substitution to 180 days.

11.    Require all employees to utilize direct deposit.

12.    Eliminate WP&L Hourly Employee Relocation Benefits Policy (MAN 24) and establish a reimbursement allowance in the contract under Article XXVIII. Transfers, Promotions, and Demotions with a requirement to reimburse the company if the employee leaves within 12 months of relocation.

13.    Given the coverage provided through the Workers’ Compensation Law, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the company proposes the elimination of Article XXVII. Partially Disabled Employees.

14.    Pre-assignment physical fitness evaluations will be required for employees bidding into physical positions.

15.    Newly hired journey level employees will be credited 50% of their time as a journeyman for the purpose of determining vacation eligibility.

Health and Welfare Benefits

16.    Provide redesigned Health and Dental Plans under which the company will contribute a fixed monthly dollar amount towards the premiums not to exceed 80% of the total monthly premium or, in the alternative, extend the FlexBenefits plan to Local 965 employees.

         The FlexBenefits plan provides the following benefits:

Ø      Medical Plan Options – Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP) and PPO Plan or $100 per month medical opt out

Ø      Dental Plan Option

Ø      Life Insurance – Additional options for Dependent Life and Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D)

Ø      Long-Term Disability - (optional 7% buy up to 67% of pay)

Ø      Other Optional Benefits – Auto and Homeowners Insurance, Legal Plan and Long-Term Care Insurance

Ø      Flexible Spending Account Plan

17.    Employees hired after June 1, 2007 will be provided access only to the company Retiree Medical Plan at the time of retirement.   

Pension

18.    Provide an enhanced 401(k) Plan for new hires in lieu of the WP&L Retirement Plan B.

Workers’ Compensation

 19.   Eliminate the supplemental payment under Workers’ Compensation.

General Maintenance Items

20.    Residency Requirement

         Amend Exhibit 9 of the 2003 Negotiations “Employees Subject to the Residency Requirement” to include the following positions:

         J01206 - Chief Electrician

         J01207 - Electrician

         J01208-J01211 - Electrician Apprentices

         J03783 - Lead Line Technician

21.    Core/Core Resource Titles

         For clarification purposes change Core, Core/Resource titles to reflect “Emergency Responder” and “Non-Emergency Responder” for vacancy posting purposes, etc.

         Also clarify Appendix 2 Alternate Work Schedules, Paragraph 2. 4-10 Hour Days, replacing all references to “Resource” with the word “Traveling”.

Contract Maintenance

22.    Include a gender neutral reference in the contract:  “Words used in this Agreement in the masculine gender shall also include the feminine.”

23.    Revise Article IV. Reducing Forces, paragraph (6) to reflect the appropriate plan document as follows:

         (  6)   Employees whose jobs are eliminated and have received the notification described in paragraph (1) above or employees who are bumped as the result of an organizational change and who are age 55 years or older, shall be eligible to receive temporary supplemental retirement income payments described in Retirement Plan B, Article VI ‑ Retirement Income At Early Retirement Date, 6.4 Supplemental Retirement Income Your Retirement Benefit, Special Supplement Retirement Benefits.

                  In the event the retiree dies prior to attaining age 62, a surviving spouse will continue to receive the supplemental payments until the retiree would have been age 62.  The supplemental payments will be discontinued immediately if the surviving spouse remarries or dies. Employees can elect to delay commencement of their Early Retirement Income and be in receipt of the Temporary Supplemental Retirement Income.  An employee must notify the Company when to start the Retirement Income.  The age factor at this commencement date will apply.

24.    Revise Article XXIX - Temporary Substitutions, paragraph (2) to reflect the appropriate wage schedules as follows:

         (  2)   Occasionally a regular full‑time employee is assigned to substitute in a higher paid position. The employee temporarily substituting in a higher position shall receive the minimum rate of pay of the higher position or the step in the higher position which equals or is greater than the amount of the next time step on the employee's regular job, or if the employee is at the maximum rate of the regular job, the step immediately preceding the maximum rate of that regular job.  Please note the exclusion to the first three steps of the wage schedules depending on the position and the employee’s start date as identified in Article XXXVII XXXVI. Wage Schedule for Physical Positions and Article XXXVIII XXXVII. Wage Schedule for Clerical Positions.  When an employee who is filling a lower paid position is assigned to perform the duties of his/her former higher paying position, the employee shall be paid at the wage step formerly held in the range of the higher position and this rate shall be for no less than eight (8) hours of pay in any work day regardless of the number of hours the employee performs the duties of the higher position.

         Revise Article XXX. Hours for Clerical Employees, paragraph (4) to reflect the Clerical Wage Schedule as follows:

         (  4)   Shift schedules may be established for those data processing center employees so designated in Article XXXVIII XXXVII as shift positions.  The shift employees, except those in relief classifications, shall receive a four (4) week advance notice of any change in their schedule.  For such shift employees the regular hours of employment shall be eight (8) consecutive hours per day, five (5) days per week Monday through Friday, holidays included, in accordance with any one of the shift provisions in (a) or (b) below.

Wage Schedules

25.    Revise Article XXXVI and XXXVII - Wage Schedules as follows:

         Denote the following positions as Supervisory with a double asterisk:

         J02849 - Line Clearance Specialist**

         J03783 - Lead Line Technician**

         Add the following new positions:

         J04009 - Customer Field Representative I

         J04017 - Logistics Coordinator

         J03865 - Relief Client Service Specialist II

         J04387 - Relief Distribution Center Dispatcher

         J04322 - T-Equipment Operator Fuels

         J04324 - T-Maintenance Instrument & Control (ND/RR)

         J04323 - T-Maintenance Operator Technician - Welding (PDS/KIL)

         J04321 - T-Maintenance Technician - Electrical

         J04317 - T-Maintenance Technician - Mechanical - Welding

         Apprentices:

         J04243 - Gas Technician Welding Apprentice - 1^st Year

         J04244 - Gas Technician Welding Apprentice - 2^nd Year

         J04245 - Gas Technician Welding Apprentice - 3^rd Year

         J04351 - Maintenance I&C Apprentice - 5^th Year

         J02880 - Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 4^th Year

         J04345 - Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 5^th Year

         J04346 - T-Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 1^st Year

         J04347 - T-Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 2^nd Year

         J04348 - T-Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 3^rd Year

         J04349 - T-Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 4^th Year

         J04350 - T-Maintenance I&C Apprentice (RR/ND) - 5^th Year

         J04319 - T-Maintenance Technician - Electrical Apprentice - 4^th Year

         J04318 - T-Maintenance Technician - Mechanical Apprentice - 3^rd Year

         J04320 - T-Maintenance Technician - Mechanical Apprentice - 4^th Year

         Change In Title:

         J01259 - Customer Field Representative changed to Customer Field Representative II

         Pay Rate Change:

         J01161 - Chief Electric Meter Technician

         Eliminate Duplicate Positions:

         Eliminate the following duplicate Genco Maintenance classifications - removing references             to Evening and Night, continuing to pay shift premiums as appropriate.

         J01325 - Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Evening)

         J01327 - Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Night)

         J01324 - Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Welding) (Evening)

         J01326 - Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Welding) (Night)

         J01299 - Master Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Large Crew) (Evening)**

         J01301 - Master Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Large Crew) (Night)**

         J01303 - Master Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Small Crew) (Evening)**

         J01305 - Master Maintenance Technician - Mechanical (Small Crew) (Night)**

         In light of the above, modify Article XXXIII. Premium Pay, paragraph (2) to read as follows:  “In addition to the employee’s regular wage rate, a shift premium shall be paid for work performed in the shift job classifications marked “S” under the wage schedule.  The shift premium shall be paid for the Master Garage Mechanic (Evening), Garage Mechanic (Evening), and Garage Mechanic Helper (Evening), Maintenance Technician Mechanical, Maintenance Technician Mechanical Welding, Master Maintenance Technician Mechanical (Small Crew), and Master Maintenance Technician Mechanical (Large Crew).  This shift premium shall be sixty-six cents (66¢) per hour for the evening shift and seventy-eight cents (78¢) per hour for the night shift.”

         Remove the following obsolete positions from the wage schedules:

Appendix

26.    Remove Appendix 3 - Job Sharing Program (obsolete) from the labor agreement and all references to Appendix 3 within the labor agreement.