Brothers and Sisters of Local 18007,
I am writing as Business Manager of Gas Workers Union Local 18007 and as an Executive Board member of the Utility Workers Union of America to bring to light the serious inadequacies in People’s Gas leadership of the Pipeline Retirement Program. What we are witnessing is not isolated friction. It is a pattern of mismanagement that puts safety, efficiency, and our members’ ability to do the work correctly at risk.
Our members are not allowed to make their own appointments. Crews are left waiting hours for afternoon appointments that should have been scheduled properly. Supervisors routinely fail to line up carpenters in advance, leaving our people unable to perform the work efficiently. There are not enough cutoff crews to keep pace with the transfers so the work can be completed safely and on schedule. Safety is clearly not People’s Gas’s number-one priority.
Resources are being starved from the PRP because of internal struggles among senior leadership. Shops are being told to “slow down.” There is no overtime authorized to catch customers coming home. Local 18007 is repeatedly left waiting on Miller to finish running the new service before we can complete the transfer. Seasoned Local 18007 members—the actual subject-matter experts—are micromanaged by supervisors who have never turned a wrench.
Most critically, we are seeing neighborhoods where new sidewalks and new sod have already been laid with no cutoff performed. Sound familiar? Mismanagement and unnecessary spending are exactly what shut this program down before. People’s Gas is heading down the same path again.
Repeated conversations with the President and Vice President have fallen on deaf ears. Apparently, they know better. This is not a sprint; it is a marathon. The contractors promise the world until the money runs out—then they come back to Local 18007 to keep Chicago safe.
Stand strong. Do not trust past management employees who left to work for the contractors. They will do anything to protect their own retirement and will not hesitate to undercut the people still doing the work.
All of this stems from contractors retraining already-employed pipefitters to go inside the house, offering ten dollars over scale to knowingly work outside of their jurisdiction. Greed is the governing factor—not safety, not efficiency, and not respect for the craft or the agreement. People’s Gas may be doing this so they can claim to the ICC that they are “trying everything” to meet a ridiculous timeline that they themselves dragged their feet on for two years.
We will not be silent while safety is compromised and our jurisdiction is eroded. Local 18007 has always been the backbone that keeps this work safe and done right. We will continue to be.
In solidarity,
Sean Gaurige
Business Manager
Gas Workers Union Local 18007
Executive Board Member, UWUA
