On September 27, the PEI Labour Board approved the merger of IBEW Locals 1928 and 1432. We welcome the approximately 200 outside contstruction members from 1432 who will now stand under the 1928 banner. These members work for Maritime Electric, City of Summerside, and University of PEI.
     Other than a change of Local number, we plan to maintain "business-as-usual" for our PEI members as much as possible. We will maintain an office at the union hall in Charlottetown (though it will not be staffed 8 hours a day) and regular unit meetings. Several PEI members will attend shop steward school on October 7 and 8 in Truro. Business Manager Jeff Richardson, who lives in central Nova Scotia, will be over to the Island regularly. He has been taking over many of the responsibilities from past Business Manager, Brother Ray McBride, who is looking forward to finally being able to retire. We would like to thank Ray, and also Marlene in the Local 1432 office, for their many years of service to the Local and their patience during the merger process.
     On the same day, the PEI Labour Board also approved the merger of inside construction members from Local 1432 under the banner of Local 625; that Local's office is also located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
     Note that Maritime Electric negotiations begin the first week in November.

For any members who are working in the construction industry (yours is an "A"-type membership in the IBEW), we have created a Frequently Asked Questions document about monthly dues, and maintaining your union membership status when you are working in another Local's jurisdiction or you are laid off. Download a pdf of the Dues FAQ for "A" Members.

After construction members voted down the tentative agreement reached at the end of August with Emera Utility Services (EUS), the negotiating committees were back at the table last week. The following are highlights of the final offer from EUS:

• 4-year contract
• 2.5% annual wage increase per year on the contract anniversary
• added total employer contribution of $1/hour to employee pension, an increase of $0.25/hour per year 
• per diem language remains the same as current contract (a contract which expires at the end of this month)
• increase in bank time from 45 hours to 90 hours
• payment for travel in line vehicles where there was no provision for compensation before
• boot allowance increase $50 over life of contract

This is the final offer from EUS. If this offer is not approved, conciliation is the next step and everything is back on the table for negotiation. Voting takes place on Wednesday, September 25th at the New Glasgow Holiday Inn from 3pm to 5pm. Votes will be held the same day for members working for EUS in Ontario and Newfoundland. Voting will also take place at the union office in Bayer's Lake on Friday September 27th from 9am to 5pm.

Five unionized workers received layoff notice at Nova Scotia Power this week, effective November 10th. These employees from NSP's Resource Management Centre participate in scheduling and dispatching crews in the field. The layoffs support NSP's ongoing initiative to trim the workforce and cut labour costs at NSP. On May 13th, 2013, NSP closed its Sydney-based fleet maintenance garage, resulting in the loss of five mechanics. On August 18th, 2013, four maintenance positions from the Tufts Cove generating station in Dartmouth were eliminated. There have also been a number of terminations in NSP's non-unionized workforce. 

Nova Scotia is now in a provincial election campaign. This is an opportunity to let your local candidates know what issues are important to you and to find out which party best represents your interests. Local 1928 has sent a survey to each of the political party leaders asking them to state their position on three issues: 1) the protection of negotiated benefits like defined benefit pension plans, 2) the maintenance of jobs (and ultimately customer service levels) at the provincial power utility, particularly in rural areas, and 3) maintaining the responsibility of Nova Scotia Power through provincial electrical regulations to inspect (and thus ensure safe) industrial, commercial, and residential wiring installations.
During an election campaign, candidates are obligated to respond to these kind of surveys---we will let you know what we discover about each of the political party leaders on these issues.