I'm not being negative so much as being skeptical.
Your "question" comes off as being very salesmanlike. You are selling something. I, in response to your sales pitch, am introducing a little caveat emptor into the discussion.
You might think 5-12's is the coming norm, but you haven't considered that a HUUUUUGE number of contract RP's are going to get sucked into DOE projects that are being funded by all that new stimulus money. It is impractical to believe that the depleted number of techs will be able to cover the outage schedule on reduced hours.
You are also neglecting that only ONE RP tech per site is required to have ERO duties. Since this ONE tech can change every week, day or shift, there is no need to limit the hours of the rest. This is, was, and will be no more than an excuse to limit overtime costs, but when it starts to affect outage lengths, it will be whisked away. Yeah, I know SONGS does not care a whit about outage length, but the other sites do, and they will be offering maximum overtime to get their outages over quickly. You think you can compete with that by offering somebody 40 hours a week on a project that will spillover into the next outage season? No way.
Yes, there are long-termers at SONGS. They use them to augment the house staff.
The cutting up of the old S/G's will either be done very quickly with a bunch of people or it will be done very slowly with very few people. My guess is the latter with no overtime, non-outage per diem rates, and non-outage pay rates. I'll bet those slots have already been promised to all those "super-techs" who are there "pumping out clean plans". If they turn them down, what does that say?
No SGR ever finishes with the same number of RP's that are there at the beginning. At least half will commit their entire outage season to this one job only to be laid off as quickly as they would at any normal outage - but with nothing lined up and no notice, leaving them to scramble to another outage where the local hotels and campgrounds were all taken by those folks who knew in advance where they would be going.
Nice that they won't be deducting the half hour for lunch, but that still makes the weekly gross pay $1890 - still far less than you could be making elsewhere at a lower pay rate. You also make no mention of the campground on the Mesa. Will this be available to the techs, or will they get kicked out again to make room for all the Bechtel employees? Any local hotels offering outage deals? If so, let's hear about them.
Look, I don't have any problem with the idea of people going to SONGS for an SGR. Just don't bait the hook with a bunch of promises that will not be kept. Only a few of the people who are going will be there beyond the first half of the project. Those people are already going there without any coaxing from you. The rest - the ones you are trying to recruit - will get laid-off and have to secure work elsewhere. So, instead of promising them the things that you are not going to give them, why don't you be upfront and tell them the truth.
It goes something like this:
Hey, SONGS is having an SGR outage this fall. Many of the techs will be there for the entire outage season, but we need many more to support the S/G removal. This will be a short-term assignment, but there will be many follow-up outages in need of your help - especially considering that quite a few of your colleagues will be tied up for the remainder of the SONGS SGR. Why don't you call today and secure your spot, and we can discuss where you will go from there. Thanks, Your Friendly Bartlett Recruiter.
You see how that works? You are not making any promises you can't keep. You are not asking anyone to gamble. Nobody will get disappointed by such an offer. Who knows, some folks who take you up on it just might not even want to go there if they think they are going to have to stay for the whole thing, but will go for a short while.
The RP techs are not stupid. They know the truth from a lie, and you can tell if you read this site at any length that a lie is about the worst offense you can commit in this business. Lots of people will go to SONGS for the short-term and leave early quite happily for another outage. But they will MF you until the end of time if you promise them long-term when you don't mean it. By implying long-term work you are promising it to EVERYONE who responds. Unless you intend to keep everyone to the bitter end, you are being dishonest when you dangle this carrot. You are, in fact, making the biggest mistake you can make. Just be honest. Ask for what you need, and give some real consideration in return. You will be a superstar.
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