Brunswick

[Mike McFarlin]

Or live on the island like Gilligan.

[dsass]

Just wanted to add that I have been going to Brunswick for the last few outages, and I like the way we are treated.  People there are always nice, your treated just like a house person, and the ice cream was great too!!!!  I'm going back for the next outage, and unless things get really bad like they did years ago, I consider this one of the outages I do ever year.

Deb

[vikingfan]

     i can say that both times i was at brunswick I was treated very good. was there in 92 when the start up source was cut up..oops lots of alpha !! and returned again in the spring 2005. I was assigned to the refuel floor and we had a feast it seemed like at least once a week plus the vast amount of ice cream that JJ makes sure is available to all who want some. Overall great people and nice plant to work at, and staying on the beach for a reasonable amount is pretty nice too !!

[nukewood]

The pay is still too low, and I will complain about it but probably show up for the next outage . The staff is great to work with and after a Winter in Idaho Falls, Oak Island is a dream, even in March. Save me some chocolate, J.J.

[JessJen]

next visit I want to request some of the ben and jerrys ice cream bars....Ill put extra in the donations bucket!

[Old HP]

Brunswick has gone through the cycles of change, very bad (1970's) then improved in the 1990's. It has recently lost some of the better supervisors so the environment at the plant may be changing again. The weekend meals for the HPs stopped 3 outages ago and now the ice cream is a thing of the past as well. The pay rates for Progress Energy have not made any progress and are now on par with Duke Power at the VERY low end of the scale. Yet the utility wonders why the percentage of returnees is so low.
The plant still has a number of good people and the area is nice, however when it comes down to $$ and sense it is getting tougher to return when there are so many other plants that pay better.

[jjordan]

Times are changing, we hope to be union before the next outage. I haven't bought Ice Cream for a while. I took a beating for over 6 years, with no assistance from management! They have been buying a little bit here and there. Wonder if it has anything to do with the IBEW? Naw, it couldn't be. Just a coincedence! I don't know how this will affect your pay, I've been telling them how low it's been since I was a contractor, they never listened. They're listening now! We have excellent techs here but we can't do it alone. We need ya'll, and I see fewer and fewer returnees. Guess they have to learn the hard way. Sorry about that. I'm doing all I can. It's still a pretty good place though.
JJ

[Mike McFarlin]

Hang in there JJ, things will get better, they have to.

[jjordan]

Spanky,
I hope you're comming to our outage this spring! I hope a lot of our friends will be comming! I'm not one to just hang. If I don't like something, I try to change it. Check out the www.pgnunion.com site, it's new and we'll improve it daily. Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions. I'm open for some constuctive criticisim.
Thanks,
JJ

[retired nuke]

JJ
Website looks good - wish ours was as good here at VY. Good luck organizing in the Carolinas...

J Ewell
VY - Local 300

[Mike_Koehler]

JJ,

Wish I could see your website....... Tried to go to it from the link and got directed to a "this website doesn't exist page" !! You know the pages that say "you nitwit, what are you really looking for?" I'll try again later.

[jjordan]

Thanks everyone for the comments and best wishes! Mike try the link again. I just did and it works for me. We are going to try to do a lot to it this weekend. It's painfull, because I've never done this before, and I don't have time to lear, so I'm just gonna wing it!

[rocknrollrick]

Hey Double J,

Just thought I would say hey I missed last outage was at Fermi but I'm hoping to return to do Brunswick and Robinson.  Hopefully you can remember who this is was on night shift 2 years ago. Well hope you have a great holiday season look forward to seeind you sometime in late February

[jjordan]

Rick, I remember! It's not quite the same here, hope that won't change your mind. I'm real dissapointed in the numbers I see here. I remember when mike first started the poll we were real solid. I see we are somewhere about mediocre at best. That's a sorry state of affair for a plant that is in an awsome location. I hope it wasn't anything I've done.
JJ

[Mike_Koehler]

Must have been the computer Nazi's at work...... got home and all was ok.....

[temery]

thanks

[jjordan]

Well, here we go again! We are ramping up for our spring outage. It's starting March 3rd, goal is 26 days. We already have some contractors on site. First time we brought them in this early. We need them, because the rest of the craft are all over the plant like an army of ants. This week we are having cycle trainig for about 8 of our house people.The Bartlett techs are gonna earn their keep this week. We are still waiting for the NLRB to make a decision on when we will vote, and if we are to include Harris and Robinson. The IBEW attornies don't think they will be included, neither do I. They shouldn't be, but they have a right to form a union of their own. I hope they do also. The NRLB have had the briefs, which is the last step in the hearing process since Nov. 30. That's almost 2 months. We should hear any day now. Hopefully the election will happen before the Robinson outage so everyone will be able to vote. we are supposed to be fully staffed, but it's early yet, some will probably change their minds. See ya'll when you get here!
JJ

[fonz94]

Well the news is not good for the IBEW.  Progress Energy won this round, and will keep on winning if we do not get together as one.  We need to all unite.  This includes all generation plants and transmission workers.  Then Progress Energy will have to deal with us.  This is not a knock out blow!!!

[Mike_Koehler]

What happened that is not good news?

Mike

[jjordan]

Mike, the NLRB ruled in favor of the company. they have determined that Brunswick is not an appropriate bargining unit. We will have to vote as a fleet.Time for Harris and Robinson to step up to the plate. This is just a momentary setback. They are maniding their manners and playing it real straight for now. I don't know if everyone saw it, but Southern and Progress couldn't agree to terms on a merger agreement that remeber they said wasn't happening. They probably wanted too much. They've picked the carcass clean, not much meat left. We've got problems, and southern knows it. They're just now starting to do some much needed repairs and maintenence here. It should be a very interesting outage here.
JJ

[rlbinc]

If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all.
Having worked for PGN, I'll say nothing at all.

[jjordan]

If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all.
Having worked for PGN, I'll say nothing at all.

I used to post all positive things, but that was when it was positive here. I can't do it now, things have changed. I tend to call a spade a spade, with very little sugar coating. I also seem to stay in trouble. I wonder why?
JJ

[rlbinc]

By all means, stay positive.
Never let an employer or a job make you less than happy.
There are plenty of opportunities out there.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

Knowing JJ he'd probably rather improve the place than abandon it. 

[jjordan]

If you're so unhappy at Brunswick, why don't you leave?

Because nothing is forever, and I remember how it was. We have the best group of techs ever assembled under one roof. The rest of the bunch(OPS, Maint, I&C, etc.) Are just as good, and we all get along. We are working to remedy the situation.We will prevail. This was just a little speed bump, not the end of the road.
JJ