Talk about Bartlett

[remowil55]

So true SloGlo, i have had this problem recurring ever since the child support thing at Turkey Point. If Bartlett has the same payroll manager that they had say 3 years ago,then this woman holds one powerful and long grudge.And Eric i know you have a foot in the door of Bartlett,but like i have said before this is a payroll problem not a recruiting one. This is what you have a payroll manager for. I know that your dept has enough to do without having to solve issues like this. But in the future, if i still have one with Bartlett,{been told that ice is getting thin} i will get in touch with you and maybe this thing can be laid to rest, i hold no grudges against anyone at Bartlett. I have to laugh about it now, me with twin daughters 8 years old, i shoot myself.Remo

[nickthestick]

Remo,
For someone who started in 1990, it seems you have made some bad choices for jobs based on money@the time.
You should have been focused on getting your time, and worry about money later. Then maybe you wouldn't be whining, and crabbing about every little thing

[nickthestick]

Melrose,
You hit the nail on the head, it just appears that no plant, or company is good enough.
Funny, how when I was on the road, I didn't have those same problems, and Bartlett
always treated me beyond fair. I had no major complaints....so it was on topic. I just didn''t
finish my thought

[remowil55]

I can tell Nick hasen't been on the road in a while, more he should smell some or what he is shoveling out. You and Melrose don't even know me. I guess your another one of them that would work for the wrong pay cause your a good ole boy. And i have focused on what i have wanted to do. Why did you get off the road, couldn't hang? Remo

[Camella Black]

It seems to me that Bartlett is like the popular cheerleader in school, some want to be her friend and others just can't seem to stand her and they don't want anyone else to be her friend either so they start these rumors about her or pick apart every little things she does.

Has my family had problems with Bartlett? Sure we have, they are our employers and everybody knows that some time or another you are going to run into a snag with WHOM EVER you work with, it wouldn't matter if it was Jesus himself.

I have had my husbands check delivered late, and I have complained; but it got here. He has had problems with payroll, but it was fixed. Sure there has been unfair decisions made concerning various items, but the wheels of progress and a few phone calls and it was straightened out.

This is life, life on the road, life as a contractor. It was the same with PSESI, IRM, NUMANCO, etc and it will be the same with whoever the next big one is down the road.

Would I like to see change, sure I would but don’t believe that just Bartlett can make them happen, its going to take something or someone bigger; but for now we have a job and it could be worse, far worse.

[remowil55]

Never Said Bartlett wasn't a good company, you can stay busy with them. They have there problem areas, who doesn't. I know a lot of people who had trouble with ARC, they were the first company that i work for and i was treated very well. I will get my small problem worked out, if i can't i know that there are other companies out there. Just look at the job section on this site. nuff said!! Remo

[Melrose]

I apologize, just that Remo's such an easy target.  Bartlett employee and all, they correct issues when they make mistakes, never had problems with the office, just the field managers.
thanks for the warning Mike

[remowil55]

This is for Scott in Plymouth: THANKS. Remo

[union LB]

Has any one seen that Bartlett has aquired the new decon contract for Lasalle, Byron, Quad Cities and Dresden (but not Braidwood)?  Whats up with that?  Its a year around job.  If anyone can think back to when Brooks tried this, it didn't turn out well at all.  Now they have a union.  A company called GCA has it right now.  They have been fighting with the trades and house.   I feel sorry for the nice Bartlett RP Techs that we have worked past outages with, but i bet the name carnie is a better name than the new one.  All trades will stick together on this.

[Already Gone]

I don't mean to be too critical, but what are you trying to say?  I can't figure it out.
Please use capitalization, punctuation.
I'm not saying that you have to be Hemingway, but make a little effort at least.

[union LB]

There is a group called GCA, they have a poor union to back them.  Exelon has awarded the new contract to Bartlett for the Decontamination during outages, and year round.   When its not outage time, the decon is performed by union labor, not just a union that was put togather so they could work there but a union that works for its members.

[Already Gone]

You're making it a little easier, but you have a way to go.  Am I to understand that you are upset that Bartlett decon techs will be doing work that you consider to be yours?  If these people choose to work non-union for a small fraction of the money that you get paid for the same work, isn't that their choice to make?
Do us all a favor and take your complaint to someone who can actually do something about it.  Maybe you should try to organize the Bartlett deconners.  Maybe you should get your BA to look into this, but we aren't going to give it a lot of thought here.  This isn't our fight.  Exelon can award its contracts as they see fit.  If it doesn't work out, they'll change it.  But if it does, there's nothing we can do to budge them from this website.
Seriously, check out that punctuation and grammar thing.  Nobody is going to read what you write if you don't at least try.

[RRhoads]

yeah..i have to agree...I am a union person myself, but that whole f-uped BS that goes on at all those ex Com-ed plants is the main reason i never went there!
If you don't like it, take it elsewhere!
I doubt you'll get much sympathy here.

[Rennhack]

I don't mean to be too critical, but what are you trying to say?  I can't figure it out - my 10 year old can write a better paragraph than this.
How about showing some respect for those of us you are trying to persuade and use capitalization, punctuation, and coherent sentences?
I'm not saying that you have to be Hemingway, but make a little effort at least.

Troy,

Attacking a persons writing ability is rude, off topic, and not acceptable in this forum.

If you choose to encourage people to write better, you must do it in a MORE professional manner.

[PWHoppe]

I really don't think this has anything to do with Bartlett. It really is Exelon that you have the beef with. Bartlett is only supplying the labor that they are being requested to supply. It would seem to me that the company (Exelon) is, for whatever reason, unhappy with the service provided by the union contract decon personnel. I have no idea what that is all about, but I would suspect that the issues involve more than just pay rates. There is probably some benefit issues as well involved, bottom line, it is probably cheaper to sign up the Bartlett decon folks than to use the union decon folks. Whether this is right or wrong is not for me to say. In todays world of deregulation it is merely a fact of life. I guess that whoever does the contracts for the union deconners may want to revisit the scale they are charging.

Just my opinion I could be wrong.

[vikingfan]

this will most likely end up being good for bartlett and good for the decon techs. bartlett will be able to supply experienced decon techs year round. and exelon will benefit from their experience. the decon techs that get chosen for these positions will get the benefit ofhaving year round employment. like hoppe said im sure it has to do more with pay rates and possibly getting a better product from the personnel supplied then the personnel involved that the union supplied. since i have no inside knowledge of this situation im sure they will be limited benefits for the bartlett decon techs. The bartlett techs will most likely endure a transition period where they migth meet some resistance to them taking over and whom to contact with supply issues and personnel issues that might arise. And whom their point of contacts for various issues might be.

[Already Gone]

Troy,

Attacking a persons writing ability is rude, off topic, and not acceptable in this forum.

If you choose to encourage people to write better, you must do it in a MORE professional manner.

Thanks for the edit, Mike.  I didn't feel that I was attacking the ability as much as the effort.  Lots of newbies come here and post items that look like cell phone text messages.  I was just trying to encourage the poster to make his point in a more reader-friendly style so that people would actually bother to read it.

Back to the issue.  I am aware that Union Laborers in that geographical area make almost $30/hour not counting benefits.  The total package for them is almost $50 per hour.  Bartlett's non-union deconners make about half of that.  I'm guessing that they won't do much better even with a union.  On the other hand, they will do better than they would without any union at all.  If, however, they get greedy and start pricing themselves out of a job, they'll be the next group to cry foul just as you are now, LB.

I believe that every working person has the right to earn the best wage he can get.  I also believe that they have the right to bargain for their wages and benefits as a group.  But, I also believe that there is a limit to the amount of money that each job is worth.  The majority of deconning is housekeeping, emptying trash containers, and mopping floors.  This is a minimum wage job outside of nukes.  Inside the fence, the additional ability required to do decon work is worth a lot more than that, but not $50.  If the union workers lost the work, it is simply a matter of being able to get the same quality of work for a lot less money.

If the work was going to non-union people, I could see the problem.  But the fact that it is going to union members (just not YOUR union) leaves you without an argument.  How would union laborers feel if all their work was being lost to carpenters or teamsters just because they claimed that your union wasn't as good as theirs?  If you succeed in this attempt to discredit this union, then it would be fair for them to do it to you.

[PWHoppe]

If the work was going to non-union people, I could see the problem.  But the fact that it is going to union members (just not YOUR union) leaves you without an argument.  How would union laborers feel if all their work was being lost to carpenters or teamsters just because they claimed that your union wasn't as good as theirs?  If you succeed in this attempt to discredit this union, then it would be fair for them to do it to you.

I guess that I misunderstood the entire gist of the original post. Maybe because it wasn't written as clearly as it could have been I understood LB to be saying that the Bartlett deconners were non-union, but your saying that they are indeed a union. If that is the fact then I would have to agree with you Troy and say there is really no gripe here. It is purely a case of one union instead of another. So what is the issue LB are you upset because it is not your union? That seems a little narrow minded don't you think? Live and let live my brother, give these guys a shot at the contract, and see how it goes... just my opinion, I could be wrong

[RRhoads]

That seems a little narrow minded don't you think? Live and let live my brother, give these guys a shot at the contract, and see how it goes... just my opinion, I could be wrong

Narrow minded is prob. the norm for the F-I-P's!

[SloGlo]

sounds like iffen yer wanting to go to work at da comed site, ya gotta call bartlett.  welcome to the nuclear service industry.  last time i worked fer bartlett services (union company, bin around fer a long time) they were paying competitive wages 'n covering da union dues.  granted, dis wuz fer outage work, not operational staff augmentation.  but, it wuzzant dat bada deal.  obviously, your b.a. wazzant able to git the contract signed, so eye yam guessing that a strike action is off the table.  sew, iffen yer good at deconning, 'n want to work there, it wood appeer there's only one thing to due, call bartlett.  oh, yeah, you can always go on the road as a traveler, huh?

[Already Gone]

I guess that I misunderstood the entire gist of the original post. Maybe because it wasn't written as clearly as it could have been I understood LB to be saying that the Bartlett deconners were non-union, but your saying that they are indeed a union. If that is the fact then I would have to agree with you Troy and say there is really no gripe here. It is purely a case of one union instead of another. So what is the issue LB are you upset because it is not your union? That seems a little narrow minded don't you think? Live and let live my brother, give these guys a shot at the contract, and see how it goes... just my opinion, I could be wrong

I don't know for sure whether the Bartlett deconners will be union or not.  All I know is that the original poster was griping about some other union being not as good as his in the same sentence as the news about Bartlett getting the work.  I may have misinterpreted that too.  It isn't a good policy to bash another union.  By the same logic, it isn't a good policy to blame another union for losing work that your union lost to them.  The only way for union labor (including all trades) to win this kind of argument is to provide well-trained people who are worth the extra cost.  In my opinion, certain trades are definitely worth the added expense when you factor in the training that they get and the quality of work that they perform.  But there is a limit on how much additional cost is justified - especially at a job that is relatively non-skilled.  As an example: let's say that union painters can be proven to do a much better job than their non-union counterparts.  They would be better positioned to demand a higher payscale for their work.  But, union gum scrapers are about the same as non-union gum scrapers at more than twice the cost.  Who are you going to hire to clean under your theater seats?  This whole discussion is a lot like the painters complaining that the non-union gum scrapers are taking their work and blaming the gum scrapers union for losing it.  Frankly, it does not take a skilled painter to scrape gum from under a table or chair.  Any claim that they have to the work is purely a territorial thing that has nothing at all to do with providing better quality.  If you want $50/hr to scrape gum or mop floors, you are very likely to lose that work to someone who will do it just as well for $20.  

[lowlrc]

  I would just tell the Bartlett deconners to be careful. Those union laborers can be thugs. Quite a few years ago at Dresden they smashed out the windows of an Hp’s truck. Because they claimed he was doing “their work”.  Needless to say the tension was extremely high between the techs and laborers, a few laborers ended up getting fired because of threats made to techs, the NRC got involved, Com-Ed lawyers got involved . We (techs) were told by the NRC to be attentive when driving home and so on. It was a bit scary for a while.  So watch yourself deconners.  By the way LB calling us Carnies never bothered anyone.

[Rennhack]

Thanks for the edit, Mike.  I didn't feel that I was attacking the ability as much as the effort.  Lots of newbies come here and post items that look like cell phone text messages.  I was just trying to encourage the poster to make his point in a more reader-friendly style so that people would actually bother to read it.

I never disagree with your message Troy, as we seem to share the same mind.  It's just that some times we need to be a little more understanding of others abilities in relation to our own.  I agree that the guys message was worse than sloglo's, hell I even edited HIS message, to try to make sense out of it.  I'm not sure I got it right, as it was that bad.

We do need to encourage people with abilities that are less than our own to use the site.  The increased communication is good for everyone.  I just don't want the guy to stop using the site because he was berated, and told that he was inferior to your 10 yr old (regardless if its true or not).  That helps no one.  If the message hurts your brain that badly (as sloglo's does mine), just ignore it.  That’s what I typically do.


Union LB:  Please try to respect the other forum members as well, and try your best to use proper punctuation and grammar in your messages.  Your message is indeed lost because your ability to use proper grammar makes your message VERY confusing.  Try shorter sentences.  It also discredits you, as your message makes you look uneducated.  Take 5 more min, re-read, and edit your messages.  You will be surprised at the results.

[Dave Warren]

For those of you who have never worked in this confusing system, known as Communist Edison, or now as Exelon, the issues will always be there. It doesn't matter whether you are union or not.

The permanent people at all 6 plants, or I should say 5 plus Zion Station, all have the same attitude. You are not one of them, and you are an outsider. You will be treated like a leper, and you will be called a Carnie, whether its to your face or not. These folks feel that you are undereducated, looking for a quick buck, and not up to their standards. Especially the ones that have been to college, which is usually either Purdue or U of I in Champaign.

If you think that this sytem will ever change, you are very optimistic or you just try to see the good in people. There are a few at each site that you can trust, but when it comes down to it, they will always stick with their brothers at the IBEW hall, not you.

Even the RadCon Managers, who are not part of the union, will side with the brothers, even if they know you are right. They would rather keep the local cult happy, than worry about a Bartlett HP or Deconner who is leaving, as soon as the carnival (outage) is over.

I lived it from 1987 until 1990, with a month or two off the entire time. I saw people's cars get trashed, people get in fights off-site and on-site, lies were made up about people, and just a general hate toward us road techs. Don't think for one minute that it will ever change.

Just one man's opinion....

[Eric_Bartlett]

Hey all - this will be a Union gig - as soon as I have all the facts I will post them, hopefully that will be in the next 2 weeks - have fun creating your conspiracy theories until then. 

Eric Bartlett