Watts Bar

[diliigaf]

               Tigger,
  I was wondering,what was the petition about???

[foreverajr]

In all honesty, when I heard about the petition I warned the juniors I knew not to sign it.  There are better ways to go about getting what you want without drawing a line in the sand.  That being said, those juniors that signed on to work this particular outage agreed and confirmed for 6 12's.  I know that during an outage, things change, hours change, and you need to be flexible (which usually means working additional hours).  But for management to want them to work on their "day off" while letting them accrue only 70 hours (what they could have made in a normal 6 day work week), well, it's enough to make anyone mad.  I thought it was against Watts Bars tech specs to work 7 days a week anyway.

I'm curious, Tigger, how long have you been in the biz?

[vikingfan]

not sure how things work at watts bar, but I know at other plants the refuel techs ect work a 7-10's schedule. maybe other craft workers do the same.

[PWHoppe]

not sure how things work at watts bar, but I know at other plants the refuel techs ect work a 7-10's schedule. maybe other craft workers do the same.

We have talked about this at length on another thread see this:

http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,6448.0.html

[Dream Tar Heel]

I thought it was against Watts Bars tech specs to work 7 days a week anyway.

Actually, it says you cant work >72 hours in any 7 consecutive days, hence they know exactly what they are doing.

[idrum4food]

Actually the NRC is holding TVA to the hours worked in a 7 day period. In the past TVA has gotten away with it as being emergent work. However the NRC argues that if it's a "planned" outage, then how can it be emergent work? As dream tarheel mentioned - ya can't work >72 hrs. in any consecutive 7 day period - unless it's emergent work such as a forced outage. Workers are allowed to work in excess of the above mentioned but not without exemption paperwork signed by the department head.

[tigger]

Someone asked how long I have been in the business.... since 2000. Not as long as most on here.
The petition was about working 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. I didn't see what was written on it, as I was already plant side.
As for being promised 6 12's, I think Jimmy Orr pointed out the small print, that all hours are subject to change.
We have a lot of first time Juniors here, that have an opportunity to learn a great deal and get in a lot of Jr time.
The point I was trying to get across in my last post was be happy you have a job. There are many people out there that would love to be able to make the kind of money that every one in this business make. Just think... you could be saying... would you like fries with that? and earning minimum wage.

[ageoldtech]

You are correct, TIGGER

[jrad]

Just to add a few things that weren't mentioned.  I think it is wrong that when we confirmed for this job we were told 6 - 12's, and it was conveniently left out that there is a $250 cap on travel in, with no travel out.  Oh yeah, and there is no holiday pay for Labor Day and Thanksgiving.  So after finding out all of these things we were then informed that we would be working 7 - 10's.   Yes, a petition was made and signed.  The petition was not an ultimatum, it simply stated that we would appreciate it if TVA would honor what we had been told, which was 6-12's.  Most of us in this business depend on our work in the spring and fall for most of our income.  As far as Tigger saying we should be happy we have a job:  not all of us had to come here, we made the choice from what we had been told.  It sounds as if you are one of the few that have been here for quite some time, and have been making money a while.  Not all of us are of the chosen few to be brought in early.  I want to be clear in that I understand you have to be flexible, but I think we were all mislead when we confirmed for this job.

[Dream Tar Heel]

Oh yeah, and there is no holiday pay for Labor Day and Thanksgiving. 

Yea Yea Yea!

It's been that way for sometime now, so if you are gonna stay in this business, and make your future outage selections of places you have never been before, maybe the lesson learned here is to ask questions before you commit.

Not Bartlett's fault if you didnt ask, that's how they do business, for sometime now.

And yes, they should honor what they did tell you when you confirmed. I agree with you there, just like if you signed that petition saying you would leave if you didnt get 6-12's, you didnt get it......................but your still there.

No wonder Bartlett and anyone else thinks they can do what they want when it comes to your money, their word doesnt have to be any better than yours.

[jrad]

Just to be clear, the petition was not an ultimatum.  It never stated that we would leave, it was actually a pretty polite request to honor what we had been told. 

I agree that it is a lesson learned in that questions must be asked.  As I am sure you know though answers aren't always forthcoming.

It all goes back to the age old saying "Live and Learn"

[RRhoads]

jeesh!
where is your site coordinator in all this hoo-ha???
i remember being a Jr in in the early 90's at the "beaver trap".....actually everyone but SG techs worked 7-10's for like 7 or 8 weeks then laid off.
Looking back it wasn't too bad but we always seemed to be fat w/ techs!
we actually had 3 overlapping shifts! WOW!
anyway that was then.....your outage will be over in soon & some folks will have had an education!
Get your time in & then you can be a little more choosy as to where you go.
you not loooking for Hrs worked..your looking for outage duration.

[Melrose]

Wow... 5hundy a month.  For one room that ya can't get laid in, and a bathroom full of stank from aother TVA worker, and I thought all the good deals were gone.

[CountryHeavenTN]

Vacany Filled - Thank you for your interest.

Some people enjoy the finer things in life.

www.countryheaventn.com

[RAD-GHOST]

Sure is Quiet!  Latest word is, Twelve Techs have bailed for bigger and better opportunities, about one a day!  It will be interesting to see what happens in the first week of October.  One can only guess?

RG     

[Dream Tar Heel]

Gag Order in effect.

Rumor is that Atlantic is ready to come in and staff back to full capacity.

[RADBASTARD]

And TVA doen't pay travel out either.
The will be hurting for techs at that rate?
God their cheap

[nukedog]

Back in 1999 we wrote a similar letter to get us more money and the site coordinator blew a fuse, but two days later we got a $4/hr raise. All TVA knows is hard ball and if you can't play the game then stand on the sidelines and watch.

I have a buddy at Browns Ferry they also getting treated the same way. But they stay and put up with it. I say your own fault.

[Dream Tar Heel]

And TVA doen't pay travel out either.
The will be hurting for techs at that rate?
God their cheap

How can you say they are "Cheap"?

They dont pay travel out and they still staff their outage, sounds like an awesome business decision. No Holidays, 10 hour shifts for jrs, no travel out and mix all that with lots of confusion for 1st timers..............and they still staff, people are still there!

"Brilliant I tell you, Brilliant!"

[foreverajr]

As far as their staffing goes.....I heard that too many techs had left and another group was coming in to do the backup staffing.  Just what I heard.  Also, Juniors aren't on 10 hour shifts anymore.  I believe that they are required to work their 10, but have been asked to work 12s and some have been asked to work their day off. 

Thats definitely brilliance.

[starving_dog]

So how goes the outage?  Any idea how the schedule performance is going?

[Rennhack]

Those guys at Watts Bar ROCK!

Check out this picture they just sent in:

http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/displayimage.php?&pos=-5507

[Fermione]

That's great. 

[starving_dog]

Not exactly Alara, but cool.

[TN-Man]

We kept waiting to see what "art" would show up on these generators, after Snoopy was on SQNs SG. The first three were clean and we thought the "any one caught would be terminated" threat worked, but the last SG to leave had all the Sponge Bob Square Pants characters and the Nukeworker.com guy. Never under estimate a nuke worker. ALARA??!! It was a matter of Nuke worker pride!!!!  Outage on schedule.