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The memo, among other things, suggests contractors should replace union workers on certain jobs at Progress Energy Florida.
By LOUIS HAU, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2003
A leaked internal memo at Progress Energy Florida Inc., suggesting changes in work assignments and arbitration procedures, has stirred up alarm inside the company's union.
The memo, which suggests ways to cut labor costs and includes provocative observations about union-management relations at the St. Petersburg utility, was made public by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. An IBEW local posted the memo on its Web site Monday night.
The IBEW represents 2,100 of the St. Petersburg utility's 4,500 employees. The memo's release comes after the company and the union narrowly averted a strike by reaching an agreement on a three-year contract in December.
The memo was sent by e-mail Feb. 3 to Progress supervisors by Michael Williams, senior vice president of power generation at Progress Energy Inc., the utility's Raleigh, N.C., parent.
"I am tired of being called a liar, thief and robber baron by the union leadership but suspect they will never change," Williams said in the memo. "Their rhetoric just keeps people on edge and doesn't help solve real issues. Be that as it may, I do want our relationship with the union and our employees to improve."
Williams said the new labor pact shouldn't stand in the way of making needed changes in how Progress facilities are operated.
"We will not deliberately violate provisions in the agreement," he said. "We negotiated and signed it so we will honor it. However, I also expect us to operate our facilities in a standard manner regardless of union representation so if changes in the agreement or in past practices need to be made then let's get to work on changing them."
Among the proposed changes, Williams said unionized employees should be replaced by contractors or employees at Progress' wholesale power unit to perform "low value work" such as barge cleaning and ash truck loading. He also said the company should adopt a plan to eliminate temporary workers, who are paid on the same pay scale as unionized workers minus benefits.
The company's grievance and arbitration process "must be changed" to avoid wasting time on "meetings that often times deal with frivolous issues," Williams said. In addition, Progress' safety record in Florida "needs improvement," particularly at its Crystal River and Bartow power plants and in its roving system maintenance crews, he said.
Williams also noted the company's combustion-turbine group "had more accidents than usual and the (emergency control center) had two switching errors." He stressed "working safe is a condition of employment and if you cannot or will not work safe you cannot work here."
Acknowledging the need for facility upgrades, Williams said"many of our facilities in Florida are old and perhaps even ugly," urging that they be kept clean until improvements can be made.
"There is no excuse for filth and poor housekeeping," he said, adding, "We may be ugly but there is no excuse for not being clean, neat and orderly."
W.O. "Butch" Enyard, business manager of IBEW System Council U-8 in Dunnellon, said the memo "just confirmed my suspicions ... about how they view our operation and how they wanted to replace us all along."
Enyard said paying temporary workers the same wage as unionized employees helps protect union jobs. The IBEW fears expanding the use of lower-paid contractors, who are more widely used by the utility's non-unionized sibling company Progress Energy Carolinas, could be the first step toward abolishing union jobs, Enyard said.
"He's telling them to be inventive in the interpretation of the (labor) agreement," he said. "That's going to create more grievances and more arbitration."
Enyard also expressed reservations about Williams' comments on worker safety, arguing one reason why employees in the Carolinas had a lower reported accident rate than in Florida was because in a non-union shop "if you have a couple of those, they're going to fire your butt."
Progress spokesman Aaron Perlut declined to comment on the memo's specific proposals.
"We are trying to operate a very professional, safe and high performing environment here and we'll continue to tweak our business model to ensure that that happens," he said, arguing "Mike's intention was to get his team thinking about how to accomplish these goals."
Perlut said good union-management relations are important.
"We fully respect and appreciate the role of the union and value the role that it plays for IBEW employees," he said. "In the memo, our goal is to improve our relationship with the union."
-- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3404