Here we are entering what most people feel is the best part of the year, especially in New England. With the business we are in, anticipated thoughts of system reliability run “hand in hand” with the summer months approaching. At NSTAR we all witnessed, experienced and worked through some disastrous summers in 2000 and 2001. Recent years, through combined efforts including a highly skilled workforce a concentrated concern focused on maintenance, upgrades, and repairs has changed our most recent years’ performance. We know that story, we know the cause, hopefully we have learned from it, and we can move on.

There still lingers a question of reliability and it has no seasonal ties whatsoever. This has lingered just as long but is far less tangible of a fix. It is our workforce, more specific it is their knowledge and experience that remains at risk, the risk of being “LOST”. It is the past, present and future workforce throughout the whole utility industry, generation, distribution and/or transmission through out the country facing this dilemma. In February I attended a conference in Washington D.C. titled “Take Back The Power” sponsored by consumer, labor, public power and industry organizations. The conference focused on the shortcomings “deregulation” has brought through out the industry. One of the main topics presented by James Hunter, Utilities Director, IBEW, was “Deregulation’s Effect on Labor and Reliability”. Mr. Hunter’s presentation included a demonstration showing the age demographics common throughout our nation’s utility industry. Ironically, just to show you how in-tune some of our members are, the study from which Mr. Hunter was quoting was forwarded to the hall a few weeks later containing an in-depth analysis of the current situation. I thank you for that.

Let me go back to layman’s terms, mainly because it works best for me! Think back, and not that far, a number of “early outs” were offered and we saw a number of our members, friends and mentors walk out the door with retirement incentives. As great as that was for them, our problem started with them not being replaced. I can vividly remember our labor forefathers speaking of this and how it will come back to haunt us. I speak as a baby boomer now because we are the next wave of retirees, eligible within the next five years. We are lucky enough to have been mentored through whatever position we held by most of those I just mentioned that have gone before us. The gap here isn’t so much the numbers anymore, we are seeing some if not most of that being corrected with a recent surge at the hiring gate. The gap remains the time span needed to safely and properly transfer the knowledge, skill and work experience associated with these highly skilled positions from one work-generation to the next. Even now, and I applaud the effort, but the current hiring process/plan at NSTAR is hindered by the time and training process needed to perform our jobs safely and efficiently.

This by no means has gone without notice to this Local. It is in fact this dilemma that stirred and initiated the partnership between Bunker Hill Community College, the Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 and NSTAR for a course of study geared to help fill current and forecasted need for lineman positions. This Local continues to explore, initiate and/or duplicate programs like Bunker Hill’s in an effort to identify, maintain and close forthcoming gaps for positions held by our represented members.

Determined to protect and maintain our safe, benefited, well paying positions this Local continues with its foresight and efforts currently focused in utility design and engineering looking to associate with the proper schools of study. Other initiatives have been discussed and include partnerships developed with vocational focused high schools down to the development of our own training facilities.

I would like to wish all our members an enjoyable, safe summer and vacation season.