April 21, 2005
Mr. Jim Anderson
President
Local Union 600, IUU
Utility Workers Union of America
810 Brighton Street
Newport, Kentucky 41071
Re: East Meter
Reading
Dear Mr. Anderson:
During the 2005 contract
negotiations, representatives of the Company and the Union discussed the use of
part-time Cinergy East Meter Readers.
The parties thoroughly
discussed the Company’s utilization of part-time employees to supplement the
Meter-Reading work force. While plans to utilize technology such as Automated
Meter Reading on a wide spread basis are still on the horizon, it is almost
certain some form of AMR technology will be utilized in the near future that
will reduce the need for meter readers to perform manual meter reading and field
data collection.
The company will continue to
use part-time Meter Readers in the current manner and under the following
conditions:
1.
The meter reading
work force will receive any base wage percentage increases applicable to the
rest of the clerical workforce.
2.
The starting wage
rate for part-time meter readers will continue to be $12.00/hour. The minimum
wage rate for new full-time meter readers will continue to be $14.00 per hour.
These minimum wage rates will not be increased by negotiated base wage
increases.
3.
All part-time
Meter Readers will be entitled to part-time employee benefits for employees
working 20-31 hour per week, unless their regular schedule is less than 20 hours
per week and in that case they will receive the benefits appropriate to that
category, if any.
4.
Part-time Meter
Readers will not receive any overtime assignments unless the available full-time
Meter Readers at that headquarters have been asked to participate in such
overtime.
5.
Part-time Meter
Readers will receive the appropriate compensation for overtime when they work in
excess of 8-hours in a day or any other regularly scheduled shift that is longer
than 8 hours.
6.
Any future
full-time openings in division offices will be first offered to voluntary
transfers of current qualified full-time Meter Readers. Regular employees who
accept may be required to work overtime, regardless of the employee’s age.
7.
All Meter Readers
will be trained as appropriate. Only volunteer union members would be utilized
to train part-time Meter Readers in the field. If no one volunteers,
supervision will conduct the training in the field.
8.
In order to meet
the meter-reading workload, the Company will have the option of adding either
full-time or part-time employees to the meter-reading work force.
9.
Part-time Meter
Readers will be held accountable to the same performance standards as the
regular meter reading work force. Additionally, supervision must maintain the
right to evaluate and change the number of meters on each route.
10.
New full-time
Meter Readers and part-time Meter Readers will be eligible for $0.25 merit
increases every six months, until their wage rates equal their maximum wage
rates.
By proceeding in this manner,
the future impact on regular full-time East Meter Readers will be minimized.
Very truly yours,
John E. Polley
General Manager
Labor Relations
