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Best of Utility Industry, June 12, 2001 The IBEW is a willing partner to preserve the best ideals of the utility industry in a time of restructuring and rapid change, but will resist efforts to gut training and adequate staffing that threaten reliability.
This was the IBEW's message delivered to the Edison Electric Institute's Labor-Management Conference on June 12, 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland. Senior Executive Assistant Vincent A. O'Reilly spoke before the conference representing International President Edwin D. Hill and International Secretary-Treasurer Jerry J. O'Connor. O'Reilly urged the labor-relations and human resource executives in attendance to work with the IBEW to ensure that adequate staffing levels are maintained so that utilities can continue to provide the level of service that had been the hallmark of the industry prior to deregulation. He noted that the cost pressures brought on by restructuring have squeezed many training programs at utilities, a trend that will haunt companies in the future if it is not addressed immediately. "Have we really come so far in this industry only to destroy our good work?" he asked the audience. O'Reilly also decried attempts by several companies to create a "virtual utility" whereby they reduce staffing to skeletal level and contract for most services, saying that this was the worst manifestation of the mindset taking hold in the industry. O'Reilly said that a cooperative approach to preserve high quality service is the better path to take. "If we can agree that our mutual goal is the continuation of a vibrant, effective utility industry, then we can move forward. We can take steps together to ensure that a highly skilled work force and a commitment to quality service to consumers are goals worth working toward," O'Reilly concluded. ( For full text of speech, click here. )
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