I'm new to this board, so I hope this posting is in the right spot. I met with JJ out in Vegas and I work for the IBEW as a rep and have since 99. Prior to that, I worked at FCS as an HP and President of the Local. Did ten years there after nine as a road tech.
I believe that Unions are an advantage for the workers, admittedly I'm biased by my positions/experience, but they are only as strong as the constituent members want them to be. I helped negotiate the master agreement that the Utility Techs use to travel workers under the USA (Utility Services Alliance) Agreement. It does standardize the per diem rates by using the CONUS rates that the Feds approve and the IRS allows as the maiximum unreciepted rates. It doesn't standardize the pay rates, because in this agreement, most of the workers are already covered under contracts at their home Utilties/Locals. It did clarify what was used as selection and refusal process for workers, but did not get into the economics since that had already been covered.
I could envision a Contract Tech agreement that covers P.D. by using CONUS rates and has varying pay based on the cost of living in the area of the plant. Perhaps, based on the negotiated rates of current RP Techs IF the plant is already Union. It would be a reasonable starting point that is quite defendable based on bargainning history at the plant. The trick might be in the beni's. I won't pretend to know what anyone has as their concerns, but I remember when I was on the road, the carrying of Health Insurance during layoffs was one of my major concerns. (I was much younger then and didn't have any concerns about retirement). I believe that by bargaining as group, there is a better chance of succeeding at getting some type of bank for insurance that could be available during "non-outage seasons". Perhaps, it would be possible to include this group under the plan that the IBEW administers.
I don't know what all the questions are, so I certainly don't have the answers. However, if there are questions I can address, I will try and add to this debate.
CJ King