BUSINESS MANAGER REPORT -August 3rd 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

Communication on city, state, and company policies continue to evolve and change daily when dealing with worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The Union continues to battle with the company on how these communications are passed along to the membership. The safety and well being of all our members has always been the Locals top priority - even prior to the pandemic. The company’s top leaders have stated on numerous occasions their appreciation for our members on the front lines while they themselves continue to work from home. The Local has presented multiple proposals to the company during the pandemic in an effort for them to genuinely show appreciation to the membership such as proposals for hazard pay, additional COVID-19 days, the return of COVID-19 days for childcare, N95 masks for all members, additional PTO carry over days, and more flexibility with work schedules and shifts.

The company will begin to enforce new policies regarding COVID-19. The wearing of masks at all times on company property is at the top of their list. If any Member is still unclear on the company's COVID-19 policies see your leader, shop safety consultant, or shop manager immediately for an update.

The Local is working on 38 open grievances. Seven cases have been scheduled for arbitration. Some of the cases are for violation of company policy and procedure, others are for violations of the CBA, there are six termination cases and multiple cases for attendance and vehicle issues.

Local 18007C, our call center, just received their annual union raise and is going into the final year of their collective bargaining agreement. The Executive Board is in preparations for negotiations and will be reaching out to all our call center members in the coming weeks.

All our members continue to provide a quality service to Chicago residents. We get calls daily complimenting the work our members are doing on the front lines. Below are just a few of those calls.

– Inside Leak – tech was "awesome" , found a leak immediately, took care of it, then did some additional searching, wore all his PPE, did social distancing and made the customer feel very comfortable during the visit and after he left as well for doing additional monitoring. She said she was very comfortable especially during these times”

– Turn On – Employee was very professional, Kind, and courteous. Customer felt well enough informed by the employee to where he believed the employee went above and beyond to reassure the customers safety and knowledge of Natural Gas. He checked all appliances to ensure no leaks as well left behind info. Customer believes employee should be recognized

– Inside Leak – Customer states that both employees were professional and courteous. Explained everything in great detail and made her feel safe. She also says that the employees went above and beyond assisting her with the stove. "It was a great time.

– Inside Leak - The customer called in a gas leak for the property, and she was extremely happy and satisfied with the way the employees on the job treated the report of the leak inside. She could not say enough good things about the employees, they were respectful, kind, and professional in everything that they did. They took all of the proper precautions, face masks as well as social distancing, and they did all of the proper checks at the property to make the tenants of the property feel at ease. They also had great communication and interaction with the fire department and police on site as well.

– Inside Leak – Customer was very excited and pleased to inform me on behalf of the experience she had with the employee. She had stated that this was an experience she was very pleased with; to where she had agreed and informed, she was highly satisfied with the visit from the employee. She stated some of the things which made her experience exceptional were, the time frame of arrival being less than what she was informed. The employee was very respectful, professional, kind, and courteous while on site. The employee made the customer feel at ease while informing of all that was going to be done. He was very informative to where she had gained knowledge in regard to natural gas which she was not aware of before. He also took the time to show her where the problem was coming from. He educated her on the part / appliance and was informative enough to where she felt comfortable to know what to explain when the repairman came out for the appliance. She had expressed greatly that an employee like this deserves recognition. He had brought a peace to her during the encounter at a moment such as this.

In closing, the Local has endorsed Political candidates who continue to fight for working families and worker rights. Every member should not vote against their own self-interest. The Local has followed Chicago Federation of Labor endorsements in the local elections and the Utility Workers Union of America endorsements for all national elections.

Strength through Unity

Adrian Dueñas

Business Manager

Local 18007 Gas Workers Union

U.W.U.A. AFL-CIO