Following many complaints from wire watchers who worked on August’s major storm event, IBEW 15 contacted ComEd to discuss how to improve the handling of wire watchers’ needs. These discussions have continued, with both sides offering suggestions on ways to address the many concerns raised by wire watchers and the issues they face in the field when they are stuck guarding downed wires by themselves.
Proactively monitoring employees’ hours worked, increasing the number of employees available to relieve wire watchers, as well as the possibility of including additional titles to the wire watching process have been some of the options that have been discussed. IBEW 15 and the Company are committed to improving the process and hope to have some advancements formalized in early 2021. We will communicate any changes and improvements as they become official.