Brunswick

[vikingfan]

Eric, while you may not be involved in the bottom line in relation to the contracts my question is this .Why is there different perdiem rates for HP's v.s. decon? when the last time I checked they are paying the same rate at the local hotels. so why is there a different rate if the cost of living is the same?l

[Eric_Bartlett]

Eric, while you may not be involved in the bottom line in relation to the contracts my question is this .Why is there different perdiem rates for HP's v.s. decon? when the last time I checked they are paying the same rate at the local hotels. so why is there a different rate if the cost of living is the same?l

I've been asking the same question since I started back in '89.   Never had an answer to that question that I liked.  So to answer your question, I don't know.  I think you all know where I stand on this issue.  The problem is its not up to me, its up to each and every buyer/purchasing agent for the utilities.

Eric

[jjordan]

Biloxi,
It was good to see you again! Thanks for all of your hard work in the well! You and your brother are always welcome. Bring your bowl and spoon, cause they can't take the ice cream because I buy it!!!!  :PWe missed ya Rad Gal. We're starting to wind down and people are leaving, still a bit to do though. We are missing another pin and stellite roller, we'll have to look and that will take a little time, will keep you posted!
JJ

[scrub]

For the upcoming outage please consider the following local flavors...

Quick and easy

Bella Pizza
New York style pizza, subs, and dinners to go.

Sit down

Bella Cucina

Both are located in the shopping plaza next to the Hampton Inn.  I spun pizza at Bella part time when I first got into town.  

Mention this post on nukeworker to Bella pizza and get fountain drinks or ice tea on the house.

[hamsamich]

Provisions in Southport was awesome when I used to work there back in '99.  They filmed part of "I know what you did last summer" close to that restaurant.  A little hole in the wall right on the dock, but man did it have flavor and character.  Good food.  Thai Peppers in Southport was good too.  I used to eat at Henry's in Wilmington and it was good for a homoginized type of place.  Maybe they aren't there anymore...sniffle.

[nuke_girl]

Jess Jenn...amen to the 70 foot drama team and her minions...the Rp staff is great !! the deconners are overworked...and no ice cream..lolol but i got a place on the beach with great neighbors so it was worth it lolol

[LaFeet]

Seems to me I need to start a list of who to avoid when I start hitting the different plants.  As well as who I might need to cook for 

[LaFeet]

I am hoping to try and get in down there some day soon

[Mike McFarlin]

Always enjoy BSEP. And its characters, right JJ.

[Cathy]

Just finished an excellent outage there. I was treated very well. I would not hesitate going back for their next outage. And due to the "ice cream man" I now have several new favorite ice cream flavors. He kept us well stocked for the outage.

[LaFeet]

I have heard about the ice cream ventures.. but I have not yet managed to sneak into this one - yet.  Hope to soon, sounds great

[jjordan]

LaFeet,
If and when you come, you can cook for all of us! We kinda take turns. This outage I made some spaghetti once, and some hot beef dip another time. We had some swedish techs this outge, and Madelene made us some swedish meatballs. Someone else made some jambayla on my night off (rats!) This is the only site I know where HP's have a full kitchen, and we have about 6 or 7 killer cooks on the house staff! On your resume don't forget to add all of your cullinary specialties! And if you can't cook, you can always help me with the ice cream! It's getting real expensive since they've discovered klondike bars!
JJ

[jjordan]

Cathy,
It was good to have you, sorry you had to do the exit point. That was and still is painfull. We hope to have that fixed  before summer.You should have been here 2 or 3 years ago, when things were going smooth, it was awsome. We've hit a few speed bumps along the path to success. I'm hoping we'll smooth them out too. This is a great plant to work, even when its messed up here, it's still a lot better than most other places. I have to keep reminding myself, because I've gotten a wee bit spoiled! Hope to see everyone next spring!
JJ

[jjordan]

It's been several months now since the IBEW has started an attempt to organize the Progress energy employees here at Brunswick. I haven't seen anything on here either pro or con. I was kind of wondering how everybody feels about union contracts. Management is stating that it will adversly affect our performance. I really don't think that is a valid argument due to the fact that most of the plants rated higher than us have union contracts in place. It could be a matter of simple math, 80% of all nukes are union, so it would stand to reason that 80% of the better rated plants would be union also. Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome, even if you are from another site , union or not! I'll start a poll to see if there is a silent majority or not!
Thanks,
JJ

[jjordan]

The IBEW is trying to organize all of theProgress Energy employees at Brunswickand Shearon Harris. We are wondering how the population feels about unions, since they seem to be a new and misunderstood concept to the Progress Energy workers.
Thanks for your opinion and vote!
JJ

[PWHoppe]

[The IBEW is trying to organize the workers at Brunswick. We are wondering how the population feels about unions

Which workers are they trying to organize?

[Already Gone]

I'm not going to advise you whether to vote for or against a union.  That choice depends on so many things, about which I am totally uninformed that I couldn't give informed advice.
But here's what I know from having been in your place before.  Take it for what it's worth.
1.  The union will expend resources proportional to their chance of getting a favorable vote.  If it looks like they are going to lose, they are going to cut back on the time and money they can spend to organize you.
2.  Management will tell you a lot of things about the union that are not true.
3.  THe union will tell you a lot of things about the management that are not true.
4.  Both sides will make promises that they can't keep.
5.  Both sides will make predictions about what the other side is going to do next.  Usually, they are correct.
6.  Both sides are going to accuse the other of violating the FLSA.
7.  Both sides will probably violate the FLSA numerous times.
8.  The union will tell you that you will make more money and get better benefits if you join.
9.  The company is probably already paying you as much as they are ever going to.
10.  Even though number 9 may be true, they don't have to keep paying you the wages and benefits you are getting now, and there is nothing stopping them from taking it away unless you get a contract.
11. Joining the union is the only way to get a contract.
12.  Joining the union does not automatically get you a contract, nor does it guarantee what the contract will contain.
13.  The union is going to make your bosses (some of whom are your friends) out to be a bunch of thieves living high off your labors.
14.  The bosses are going to make the union out to be some kind of organized crime syndicate, squeezing you for your money.
15.  Management will tell you that the union is an uninvolved third party who has no business meddling in the affairs between you and them, and that they will just make things more complicated and difficult.
16.  Management belongs to INPO, WANO, EPRI, NEI, NANT, MANTG, and a host of other organizations who tell them every day how to run every aspect of their business - right down to how much they should pay you.
17.  Both sides will try to make the other seem like a faceless entity which lives afar and governs in absentia.
18.  The reality is that the company is you and the managment you already know, and the union is you and your co-workers.  Both sides can and will reach outside the local "community" for resources if they have to.

You have to consider a lot of things.  Are you a relatively small company (compared to Exelon, Entergy.. etc.) who is ripe for takeover by a bigger company?  If so, they may want to come in and clean house.  They may drastically change your job descriptions, pay scales, benefits package, pensions, an so on.  In that case, a union affiliation may not be to protect you from your present management, but from the ones who come in and kick them out of their chairs.

[alphadude]

look at crystal river, you will get what they get since they are part of the same company.  the problem we had there is that nuke was a small part of the union so we never got much. all of our concerns never made it to the table. however, the union can stop the problem that management will always have of trying to do what ever it takes to get the job done.  with a contract you are bound by agreements. you have to look at it from that perspective..

[jjordan]

At the present they are trying to organize all Progress Energy employees.

[TENN-1]

The RP Technicians at Cook just voted to organize under the IBEW monogram. So far it's been pretty transparent, but then we don't have a contract yet either. The positive vote for the union was not a landslide and it passed on the third attempt in recent years. The reasons for or against are as individual as the people who voted. There was no one big reason. That being said, we are paid very well for what we do and most technicians did not vote based on greed but instead on application and fairness. We also had a history with our Maintenance Department. After a many years of struggling with management, they voted for the IBEW, and although all problems have not been solved, they seem satisfied on most issues.  It is not an easy decision but can be done without animosity and grief. Good Luck with either path you choose.

[SloGlo]

never bin in a union, but eye werked at quite a few shops that were.  union contracts are as good as the people in the union.   good people, good unions, good contracts.  the inverse holds too.  it all depends on watt the peeple wanna due with their doos.

[RDTroja]

Beer Court pretty much nailed the details on this one (although as a member of MANTG I must have missed the sub-committee meetings on how much to pay employees.) When Constellation (BGE) was being targeted by the IBEW just about all of Beer Court's 18 items came true. The one thing that unions are guaranteed to do is remove any flexibility you have... flexible work schedules and supervisor discretion are usually the first casualities. Based purely on (highly unscientific) observation and personal comparison I have come to the conclusion that unions make things more difficult for both workers and management. Sometimes the benefits are worth the difficulties, depending on how bad or good the circumstances are before the union gets there. I was happy to be in a 'management' position (how the entire IT group was management is still a mystery to me) and not subject to the pressures either from the utility or the union when the vote came up and also not personally responsible for the outcome of the vote (since I was excluded from voting.)

Having worked in multiple union and non-union plants, I think I have seen generally happier people in the non-union plants (also very unscientifically generated data) but there have been exceptions. The people at Kewaunee in 1976 were some of the nicest, friendliest people I ever worked with and they were union. I had to sign a union card and pay dues to work at Clinton, but over the course of the outage I much more than made up for the cost of joining in doubletime pay.

The bottom line is that if you go union the only group GUARANTEED to make a profit off of it is... the union. Whether or not they earn it is up to them and the utility negotiators. Another thing to consider is that a lot of money from union dues goes to support politicians that support the unions, and that may or may not agree with your political opinions. You could help elect people you vote against. Good Luck.

[Atomic_Punk]

My experience with unions has been that the oldest guys with most seniority will be the loudest squawkers who just want to sit on their Spaldings all day while everybody else does all the work. Then, the guys with the least amount of seniority are backbiting each other over the leftvover scraps ( shift preference, crew, vacation, outage lead jobs, etc.)  Things can get ugly pretty fast.

[hamsamich]

I worked at burnswick from 97-00 and  worked at Salem (union) from 00-02.  I liked working bettet at brunswick than Salem.  much of that did have to do with the union, especially poorly run departments and forced overtime problems.  I'd rather work at non-union.  If you'ld like me to elaborate, say the word.

[scrub]

Being a new guy, I'd hate for my pay to be cut back due to my lack of time in rate.  I have heard of this happening at other plants after organizing.  The contract had a new pay scale that dropped pay for newer employees.

We'll see what happens.