Self-managed splicing team works around the clock for ten days straight.A team of eight splicers from Puyallup, Washington, teamed up to splice and complete a cable reroute commonly known as a “Section Throw”. The job was for a new three-story 60,000 square foot $17 million addition to the Mary Bridge Children’s Health center in Tacoma, Washington. All done without management supervision. While the supervisor never appeared on site the splicers worked around the clock in 12-hours shifts. Splicing nearly nineteen thousand pairs of wires which included working in four different live cables that were directly in the path of the new Health Center. The oldest of cables actually was one of the very first cables installed in Tacoma way back in 1908, presumably by the Puget Sound Telephone and Telegraph Company. Each shift required two team of two technicians to tone and tag the old paper insulated conductors then work the live transfer of circuits to the new cables. Engineering had thought that the section throw would take thirty days to complete. In reality the team finished the work in half the time allotted. |
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There were two very challenging parts of the job. First was the 30-day time frame. We had to have the old cables re-routed for the building contractor to continue their work without the cables being temporarily suspended in the basement of the new building. Second was the cable type itself. Paper insulated cable conductors require more delicate care to keep the insulation intact and to keep in dry. That is no easy task in damp cable vaults with our wet spring weather. Incidentally the team worked right through Mother’s Day. The team just kept banging out quality work right along through to the end, never missing a beat. We had one tech that celebrated his first wedding anniversary on the job away from his wife, and one tech had a birthday. As the techs’ wives and mothers were missing their sons and husbands the splicers were hard at work making sure the task at hand was handled and accomplished with minimal defects and no interruption of service. Many thanks go out to the technicians involved in the project. They were Bud Berg, Paul Brown, Dave Curtin, Richard Guthery, Mark Niehaus, Drew Parrott, Troy Rush and Adam Vannoy. These individuals surely stepped up and went above and beyond the call of duty by saving the company costs and performing a great job in minimal time and without any assistance from supervision! This article begs the question “If management doesn’t need to be present, does it really perform a purpose ?” Report From CWA District 7 Conference May 16-18CWA 7804 officers recently attended the District 7 Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. The theme of the conference was “Back to Basics”, as conferees listened to leaders who emphasized the CWA Triangle; Organizing, Community/Political Action, and Representation. The conference was hosted by the Omaha, Nebraska, and Iowa Locals. The Qwest bargaining unit met Saturday afternoon. Vice President John Thompson reported on the status of things going on between Qwest and District 7. Opening session for the whole district was called to order Sunday morning by Annie Hill, Assistant to the CWA District 7 Vice President. Introductions to local leaders took place. We listened to greetings and words of note from Barbara Easterling, Secretary Treasurer of CWA. Other speakers included the Honorable Ben Nelson, Senator of Nebraska, Anne Boyle, Public Service Commissioner of Nebraska, and a video message from the Honorable Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. The message from each of these leaders was clear. The number one job for each of us until the presidential election is to work as hard as we can to do what it takes to remove the current administration from the White House. The future of America is at stake for us, our children and grandchildren. Another four years under this administration will be devastating to workers, the economy, jobs, and the rising cost of health care and the prosperity of America. One only needs to look at how Bush and the Department of Labor are trying to repeal the overtime laws that have been in place for ears. It is clearly evident that this administration is no friend of labor and the working family. He and his administration will do whatever it takes to strip entitlements from us, although his words speak to the opposite. Monday, the delegates attended four separate workshops. They were Organizing, Grievances and Arbitrations, Political/COPE, and Understanding Diversity and Building an Inclusive Labor Organization. Tuesday we heard committee reports from several different committees. We were visited from Governor Tom Vilsak of Iowa. He delivered a very rousing speech and stayed an extra while to take questions. His message stressed the importance of our jobs in the coming months, defeat Bush! The meeting adjourned Tuesday afternoon. A safety conference was held Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning which was represented by our local. Respectfully submitted, Randy Grams, Secretary/Treasurer. JOB SWAPNet Tech I&M Colorado Springs, CO, would like to swap with tech from Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Bremerton metros…..if interested, contact Kimball Ballard on 719-328-0201 after 4:30 PM MDT. Good and Welfare:Service AnniversariesMay: Terry Cupp, 25 years; James Fukuyama, 25; John Hall, 25; David Carrier, 25; Jason Pringle, 5. June: Alan Ferguson, 30; Gary Hunt, 25; Keith McCart, 25; Robert Shannon, 25; Joseph Alonso, 5. Correction from last newsletter; Vic Cissell, 30 not 35 years. I wish to inform the members that these postings coincide with service anniversary awards acknowledged by the employer. They are in 5 year increments. I have been hearing of people who were left out; however, most are not in the five-year cycle...Sec. Treas |
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