John Glye

Brothers & Sisters:

The trend of requiring FNFT's and CZT II's continues in Tampa. Most of the FNFT's on loan in Eastern to different work groups are being brought back due to FIOS activity increasing, or they have reached the end of their 180 temp. Work assignment. Eastern CZT II's are also being required even after canvassing for volunteers from other work groups. This is of course due to the recent bad weather we've experienced. Work activity associated with the School Board FIOS project in Polk and Hillsborough County is keeping Cable Splicer's busy as well. This splicing work should continue till the beginning of August. 

EVRC schedules are horrible. I've spoke with Aaron several times this month about issues specific to the schedules/tours. He did inform me that after July, they would stop the FSC training until further notice. This is partially due to the decreased interest in the training. He needs approx. 25-30 employees to schedule classes, but only has approx. 14 employees asking to go at this time.

In the NDC we had an issue with the Overtime rosters not being up to date, but management is now working with the Union Stewards to update the roster with the correct amount of hours.

BZT's continue to stay busy with Transfers. The "Spinco" transfers have finally finished, but now they have several groups moving from both 301 and the Temple Terrace complex to the West Side C.O. Unfortunately due to asbestos at the West Side location, the APC group will have to relocate to Temple Terrace while the asbestos is removed. Then after the removal, everyone will begin to relocate to West Side.

Hope everyone remembers we are in bargaining, and to check the website for updates.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers & Sisters:

Tampa continues to stay busy, especially for the FNFT's, Cable Splicer's, and anyone else working on the School Board Fiber project. Eastern activity for FNFT's remain slow. Work Order activity in Eastern has picked up, but we do have a lot of FNFT's on loan to Construction so it doesn't seem as busy as Tampa.

EVRC continues to train employees for the FSC. This is creating scheduling issues, so please plan ahead for Floaters, Vacations, etc. It will probably get worse before it gets better during the summer due to storm activity and the amount of employees taking Vacation.

BZT I's are staying busy with PBX transfers throughout the area, especially in Tampa. We also have some BZT I's going on loan to the C.O.'s for the LET project.

Temple Terrace will see more work groups leave in the next couple of months, but it's mostly quiet right now.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers & Sisters:

April arrived with cold, heat, and lots of Pollen! It was a horrible month for outside techs since it was in 40's at the beginning of the month, and near 90 at the end. Summer is almost here…hopefully all of our Union Safety advocates are getting with their managers to schedule training on dealing with the heat this summer. We want everyone to know the dangers/signs of heat exhaustion, etc. so please schedule training as soon as possible. Danny Alfonso and I met with Joe Lombrana and Kwame Trotman on the overtime issues and in most areas it's improving. The big issues continue to be; asking for tentative overtime and making sure that the refused overtime is put on the rosters.

EVRC Reps. still continue to have scheduling issues due to the FSC training. It will hopefully improve in the next 4-6 weeks according to the Manager. Robert and I met with Aaron over the issue with one of the "trainers" for the FSC. The meeting was productive and Aaron agreed to allow the employees who were not properly trained in the night class to retake the class beginning on May 3, 2010.

NDC is still using members from the RCMAC on temporary work assignments. I had a meeting scheduled with Mr. Welford, but it was canceled at that the last minute. Hope to have a meeting soon to discuss what the permanent plans are for both of these work groups.

Cable Splicers continue to stay busy, especially with the Hillsborough County School Board project. This project should keep us busy through the next couple of months. We also had several large cable cuts in Tampa this month, which created a lot of overtime for some of our Cable Splicers. I met with Misty Wise last month to try and get the damaged cables brought back to the CZT II's, but we agreed to disagree and moved the grievance on to the next step.

FNFT's in Eastern are still reporting limited order activity. We still have techs on loan to Construction doing TAC work. In Tampa, things are busier. In fact, the company has offered some overtime on lay days in both the North and the South.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers & Sisters:

March is behind us, and hopefully it took some of that cold weather with it. We had a lot of rain due to the cold fronts and that led to a lot of overtime for the CZT II's in both Eastern and Tampa. We had several areas in Eastern that were required without the local managers running the list to find volunteers in other work groups. This was addressed with the Director for the area, hopefully that will correct the problem.

EVRC continues to have issues with scheduling; this of course is due to the members training for the FSC. Please try to plan ahead as much as possible if you need additional time off.

NDC is still using members from the RCMAC on temporary work assignments. Robert and I met with the Acom at the beginning of March on schedules and to see what the plan is for a permanent fix for both of these work groups.  We plan on meeting again at the beginning of April. Hope to have more information to report on after that meeting.

BZT's continue to have problems with other work groups performing their work. Robert and I met with the Director this week to address these concerns; he is going to look into what he can do to fix these issues. Also, the overtime roster for the BZT's in Tampa has been corrected as of April 1st, 2010.

Cable Splicer's in Tampa found out this month that the company has signed an agreement with Hillsborough County Schools to place FIOS at each school in the County. This will create some much needed work for this group. In fact the company is bringing Splicer's in from both Eastern and Coastal to help out with the project.

FNFT's continue to struggle for work in Eastern; Tampa is business as usual on most days. In Eastern, techs are going on loan to do TAC work due to the low volume of work, so this will help out over the next month.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers & Sisters:

What a month February was! The Sell One Investigations claimed more employees, both craft and management. Rumor has it, it's finally over. There have been multiple changes to the new Sell One More program, so please make sure you are up to date with the 2010 changes.

EVRC Reps are in the process of training for the FSC. As of today, a total of 36 reps have gone through the 13 day "boot camp". Out of that, 32 have successfully passed both the written and the structured interview. I feel that having an employee who talks with our "copper" customers every day is just as qualified without an interview to talk with our "fios" customers as well. We will be grieving each and every failure of the structured interview.

In Temple Terrace, Our dispatchers were asked to help support California which had one winter storm after another leaving 1000's of customers out of service. It appears as of today that the NDC will be moved later this year to Westside. Most of the other departments will be relocating to downtown Tampa.

We still have approximately18 Splicer's on loan to West Virginia. It looks like they will be extended to the end of April. I've received calls from members wanting to go out of state to work, but at this time the company hasn't approached the Union about adding any more out of state work.

FIOS activity has leveled off in all areas. Eastern is extremely low on activity compared to the Tampa area. It looks like the company is going to place some FNFT's on monthly TAC work. This would help out with the lack of FIOS activity, and help fix some of the copper plant before summer arrives.

We continue to meet with the company in regards to the Overtime Rosters. In some areas we can see measurable improvements, but in others…we have some work to do. The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday; hopefully we can identify and correct some of the remaining issues.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers & Sisters:

New Year, more problems and issues! It's been a trying month as we have been very busy with trying to meet with everyone outside to discuss to new procedures for overtime. This should help with the equalization. If you have any problems in your area, please call your Rep. for assistance. We have also gone through several rounds of bumping due to the sale of PubCom.

EVRC has started training for the FSC; classes started in the beginning of January and will continue through out the year. Due to all of the classes, flexibility is very limited, so plan ahead if possible.

Temple Terrace has been busy lately. A lot of overtime the last two weeks for the Dispatchers who have been helping California Dispatchers with the high trouble volume they are experiencing due to recent storms.

Cable Splicers out of the Eastern Division were offered again to return to West Virginia. At this time, the company hasn't offered to send any more techs from the other Divisions.

FNFT's were busy this month, hopefully that continues to build through the first quarter. In fact, most of the Tampa Division has been working a minimum of six days a week.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers  & Sisters:

December was a month to try and get caught up on outstanding grievances. Laura spent a great deal of time going through the files, and pulling out old grievances for each of the Reps. So far, I've settled or withdrawn well over 100 outstanding grievances in December. I still have a lot to go through, and hope to resolve many more in January.

EVRC has started offering training for the FSC; classes will be starting in the beginning of January. Also, 10 reps went on loan over to the Ecommerce Center.

Temple Terrace had employees in the Network Provisioning group relocated to Telecom Parkway. They are the only group that has actually left the building. Still hearing rumors that the company is still looking at relocating employees to the 301 complex and downtown Tampa, but nothing has been confirmed.

Cable Splicers on loan to West Virginia were brought back the week of Christmas, and what a disaster!!! Management decided they needed to leave right before a blizzard hit the area…lets just say it made for an interesting trip. Luckily, no one was injured, and the company did the right thing and paid the employees who were stuck in hotels through out the area on Saturday.

FNFT's were busy this month, hopefully than continues into next year. It appears that the negotiation between Time Warner and Fox is creating more order activity for FIOS, and that has helped out a lot during the last two weeks of the year.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers and Sisters:

October was a busy month for outside plant.  We had technicians from both the FNFT and Cable Splicer classification offered temporary work assignments in West Virginia.  This was due the fact that a large amount of employees in the West Virginia area decided to retire due to the pending sale with Frontier Communications.  So far, most of the technicians are reporting that the assignment is going well.

EVRC is combing the offline work group with the online group. Management has informed the Union that they will be doing some training with the employees who are interested in working some of the "offline work".

Members at Temple Terrace were notified on Oct. 23, 2009 that the property had been "officially" sold, but leased back for approx. 13 months. Hearing rumors that the some departments could be moving as early as December 4th.  Some departments are hearing that the will be moved over to Telecom Park.

We planned to have an Inside Plant Joint Safety meeting on October 21, 2009, but Kevin Cantero, Verizon’s Safety Director, was ill so we had to cancel.  Looks like it will be rescheduled for January.

BZT I’s throughout the company are being offered temporary assignments in the Central Office.  Central Office technicians are being told this is due to BZT I not having enough work…NOT TRUE!!! We have plenty of work for the BZT's.  The problem is that the company continues to give their work to the Customer Engineers and VSSI techs.

I attended an IBEW Safety Caucus in Orlando on October 22, 2009. Most Unions are reporting the same issues…work is slow. Hopefully the New Year will be brighter than this year was. The good news was that OSHA is planning on hiring up to 1,000 new field inspectors. They are also promising to really crack down on corporations who violate the OSHA laws.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.

Brothers and Sisters:

September brought all of the FNFT's working out of state back home.  At the time the decision was made to bring them back, Florida was busy with FIOS activity.  Things change quickly in our industry.  September was a slow month, and October appears to be even worse. We do have some techs on loan from the Coast and Eastern in Tampa working FIOS but that is about to end.  After October 9, 2009 no one should be working out of area due to the layoff within the Tampa FNFT's.  If you know of anyone working out of area, please contact the hall immediately.

CMG is also reporting the last couple of weeks have been some of the slowest they have ever witnessed.  It seems as if all of the work has just disappeared.

EVRC has been business as usual, and hopefully we are getting closer to the center becoming 24/7.

Temple Terrace seems to be in a holding pattern…everyone is anxious to know when and where they will be moving to, now that the building has been sold.

Cable Splicer's are not happy with working fluid, and the fact that they have to rotate into Saturday coverage.  Hopefully next year will bring us more work in placing fiber, we are waiting for the numbers on how many homes they plan the pass in 2010.

The CZTII's biggest issue right now is the creation of the new Circuit Repair Group and waiting to see when and how the company plans on back filling the empty positions left in the CZT work group.

I had my first joint Safety Meeting with the company on September 16, 2009 and the next one for is scheduled for October 21, 2009. The big issue in safety right now is injuries related to strains.  Lets all do our part to make sure that we are working in a safe manner each and every day.

If you have any questions regarding anything in this report, please contact me at the Union Hall.

In Solidarity,

John Glye Jr.