Energy Minister Jack Keir praises the IBEW at a major national meeting.

Today I was attending the annual meeting of the Canadian Nuclear Association. It's a pretty big deal, with well over 800 delegates from all aspects of the nuclear industry, not only from Canada but from around the world.

NB Energy Minister Jack Keir was one of the featured speakers, and I was very interested in what he had to say. There's a lot going on in the New Brunswick energy sector and he is the key decision maker, with a tremendous influence over our workplaces, so it's a good idea to know what he's saying!

In my experience Jack has always been a strong advocate of the IBEW and NB Power, going right back to the first time I met him, at the launch of the International Powerline Project. He has agreat understanding of the energy sector, and the role we play in it.

In his presentation today, he started out by describing his vision of New Brunswick as a world class Energy Hub, suppling all of the north eastern section of North America, and he went on to describe some of the major projects that are going on, or are planned. Not bad stuff, but a fairly standard speech for a political leader.

But then he switched focus to the Point Lepreau project, and specifically some of the challanges we have been facing with the schedule. He did stress how important it was to do a good job on this project, but he made a major point of praising the IBEW workers at Point Lepreau for their committment, and he also praised the Building Trades unions who are helping us. He explained to the 800 delegates that the delays have been caused in a large part due to the complexity of the work, some of it being done for the first time, and not because of any productivity or labour issues with the workers. He then made a point of recognizing that I was in the room, attending these meetings, and said that he knew that "the IBEW is 100% committed to the success of the project."

He then went further, saying "The IBEW workers at Point Lepreau are doing a great job, with safety as the top priority. In fact they recently surpassed 2.5 million hours worked without a lost time accident. Once again, I want to thank IBEW Businss Manager Ross Galbraith and NB Power's Vice President of nuclear, Gaetan Thomas for their committment to this project."

Later on he once again praised everyone working at NB Power while responding to a question asked about the business model for a potential second unit at Point Lepreau. He explained that the current plan is for the private sector to build and own it, with NB Power and its employees running it. He made a point of saying he was proud of our track record in nuclear, and that he considered us as one of the best nuclear companys in the world and "why wouldn't you want the best in the world to run it?"

It was really gratifying, and much appreciated, to see such strong statements from our Energy Minister -- after all, he wasn't playing to a local crowd of voters, he was in front of a bunch of strangers, and his obvious pride in New Brunswick, our capabilities, and most all, the professionalism of the IBEW, came through loud and clear.

One thing he also highlighted though, was how important this project is for the people of New Brunswick -- we must do everything we can do safely to avoid cost over-runs and excessive delays.

I am in total agreement with him -- as important as this project is to New Brunswick, it may be even more important to the IBEW. Our ability to sucessfully negotiate our next contract, and the liklihood of a second unit at Point Lepreau are strongly dependent on how well we do on this project.

We've all been working hard on the Point Lepreau refurbishment, and we need to keep our focus and continually look for ways to maintain the schedule, and recover time if possible. It's about always working smarter, working safely, and living up to the values of the IBEW "Code of Excellence" -- the best workers, the highest productivity, and the highest quality of work.

(Photo, left to right: Ross Galbraith, New Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir)

Joint Labour - Management meetings

Local 37 members participate in a number of local joint labour management (LM) meetings throughout our membership. In addition, I and my staff also participate in a number of bi-monthly joint LM meetings with senior leaders in many of the NB Power companies, and we also have a "High Level" LM meeting on a regular basis with the NB Power Vice Presidents.

These joint Labour Management meetings are all about being proactive in dealing with issues. Why wait until a small problem "blows up" into a big problem? These meetings allow us to discuss items of mutual concern in a non-adversarial forum. It also encourages communication and hopefully a better understanding of each other's role. Labour Management meetings are not a substitute for the grievance procedure or contract negotiations, but can contribute to making both more effective.

Not all of our locations do have Labour Management committees, but in the locations that do, I think they demonstrate that we are responsible, constructive and able to discuss issues in a proactive fashion.

If you have a LM committee in your work location, I encourage you to participate by discussing issues with the committee members, or even by volunteering to help out or to join the committee. If your location doesn't have a regular Labour Management meeting, or other means of raising issues in a proactive fashion, and you think that one would be helpful, why not give the union office a call? We'll see if we can get something going.

(Photo, left to right: Shop Steward Gaetan Cormier and Assistant Business Manager Gary Munn discuss an issue at the NB Power Generation Labour Management meeting)

A message from some Union friends in Argentina

I recently received the following e-mail from Don Dickson, a Shop Steward and the Unit Chairperson from Point Lepreau:

"Ross -- A message from our Argentina friends, who visited in the fall 2007, and looked into our JHSC structure and safety culture. Good news… Argentina established a joint Commission of Health, Safety and Environment this past summer.

Consequently, nuclear workers under a Branch of the Union of Metallurgical have “improvement of our work conditions with the active participation and the exercise of our rights.” This message goes on to recognize and extend thanks to Canadian Union leadership for our cooperation.

We should be proud that we played a supporting role to help improve worker’s safety and rights for those less fortunate to live and work here!"

The rest of this story is that in late 2006 we were contacted by a representative of the Argentine Ministry of Labour, who wanted to facilitate dialogue between Canadian unions representing nuclear workers and the U.O.M. -- the metalworkers union in Argentina, which represents a large number of their nuclear workers. They were interested in the things we were doing in Health and Safety because they have a CANDU 6 nucler plant (the same model as Point Lepreau) in Argentina. Consequently, in 2007 six representatives of the UOM visited Ontario union leaders and then New Brunswick, where we had arranged avisit to AECL and Point Lepreau.

The union members of the U.O.M. were very impressed with our safety programs, both nuclear and conventional safety, and the way the IBEW and NB Power worked together on safety. They told me that they felt they were many years behind us when it came to the way that unions and employers could work together on safety, and they were going to use the examples they had seen here in Canada to push for better partnerships and safety programs at their workplaces in Argentina.

As a result, it was really heart warming to also receive an e-mail from one of their representatives, Javier Sanchez, who wrote to me to say:

"I do not want to stop standing out that the obtained objective of union and working leaders of the UOM was complemented with the great cooperation of the Canadian unions, and the contribution of knowledge and solidarity of its workers and leaders who received us so genteelly in our mission of study accomplished in the month of October 2007 to that great country.

From the Argentine Republic and in the name of the workers of CONUAR-FAE I send you a warm greeting."

It's great to be able to lend our experiences and share information with other working people around the world. It's also a good reminder that we should be proud of, and value, the gains we've achieved that others are still fighting for.

A lot of smoke, but not much fire....

Late last week, a controversy involving NB Power erupted in the media. It turns out that during the previous week, some of the senior executive drafted a letter in support of David Hay. Their letter also contained descriptions of the highlights that have occurred at NB Power while he's been CEO.

The problem began when they also asked workers to sign the letter. When members of the media, and some politicians learned of this, they suggested that workers must have been intimidated and coerced into signing the letter.

Frankly, all of this caught me by surprise, because except for one member who called Assistant Business Manager Gary Munn to let us know there was some kind of letter going around in support of Mr. Hay (and the member who called didn’t seem upset by it), no one had called or e-mailed me or the union office with any complaints.

As unlikely as I thought it was, I was still deeply concerned and upset by the suggestion that our IBEW members might have been coerced or threatened for any reason, so I investigated further by speaking directly to a number of Local 37 Executive Board members and shop stewards to ask what happened, and to find out if they had received any complaints from members. I also spoke to all of the IBEW Local 37 staff to make 100% sure about whether or not we had received any calls or e-mails about this (we didn’t).

The bottom line is none of those E-Board members or stewards felt any threats or coercion took place. None of them thought there was anything particularly note worthy or unusual about it at the time – interestingly, two people told me the same thing - that it was no different than passing around a birthday card for signatures.

In fact, when I contacted one Steward and told him I was calling because the media was reporting that workers were intimidated, and I wanted to know what had happened in his location, he said, and I quote: “That’s BS! I signed the letter myself – It seemed like they were just trying to give the guy a boost because he’s been getting hammered lately – I think he’s doing a good job. There was no pressure to sign it, some did and some didn’t. It was no big deal.”

So, the long and short of it is, I haven’t been able to find any examples of members who felt they were intimidated or coerced.

But although it doesn’t look like there was an issue last week, I do want everyone reading this to know one thing – if there ever is a case of where you feel intimidation, or if you ever feel threatened, or uncomfortable about something, I want you to know that you should talk to your shop steward, or call our union office, or me, right away. We will always stand up for our members rights, and help them resolve issues.

You can count on that.

Wondering why I wrote the opinion piece that appeared in local newspapers this past week?

Recently, the Times and Transcript and the Telegraph Journal each published an opinion piece I wrote that was meant to address some of the criticism that NB Power generally, and David Hay specifically, have been receiving lately.

My decision to weigh in on this was based on several reasons.

First of all, I've received a lot of feedback from members who feel that David Hay is doing a good job, and that he is approachable and open. In addition, I have personally found him to be interested and supportive of issues raised by IBEW, and also supportive of items that are important to IBEW members (safety, wellness, good labour relations, etc.).

To be completely honest, I'm also concerned that his current contract expires soon, and should he leave or be replaced, we may end up with someone who won't do as good a job running the company and who may not so open minded or supportive of our issues – therefore I think it is in our interest to show some support.

Another reason is that frankly, I'm fed up with people taking cheap shots at NB Power and the people associated with it. These cheap shots reflect poorly on every one of us, and I for one, don't take that very well.