Bob Wise, a member of IBEW Local 824 and a BZT1 wants to advise our members that April is National Donate Life Month.

People can register for donation or edit and update their registration at www.donatelifeflorida.org.  Many thanks for yourgenerous assistance.

We are planning to celebrate our Local Union's 50th Anniversary on the evening of June 22, 2013.  The location has not been designated as of today and more info will follow.  Please RSVP if you will attend this event by Friday, February 8th, 2013.  There will be guest speakers and a history of our local union from the inception date of February 1st, 1963 through 2013.  This is a member + 1 event and tickets will be $15 per person and will include dinner and dancing.

More details will follow, but we need to get an estimate of how many members will attend to finalize all the remaining details.

Please RSVP to admin [at] ibew824 [dot] org

In Solidarity,

Robert

Join us for our Celebration on June 22, 2013, located at the Sheraton East Hotel (10221 Princess Palm Ave. Tampa, Fl 33610)

Reception is from 6-7pm with a cash bar.  Dinner and dancing following the reception.  Tickets will be $15 per guest.

RSVP no later than Thursday, April 4th at 5pm at admin [at] ibew824 [dot] org.

Several months ago, our members donated over $200 at a General Meeting to assist IBEW sisters and brothers affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Below is a letter from International President Hill:

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

It has been a little over three months since Superstorm Sandy devastated the Northeast region of the United States.  In addition, the area has been hit with severe winter storms.  The International has been working diligently to identify IBEW members that are in need of assistance due to the destruction of their homes.  Over 700 of our union sisters and brothers have been verified to be in need of relief.  Unfortunately, the number continues to grow.

Now that we have a better summation of our members with hardship, we again are asking for donations to the IBEW Unity Fund.  If you have not already done so, we ask you to consider making a contribution from your local union.

Please make all checks payable to the IBEW Unity Fund, indicating "Hurricane Sandy Disaster Fund" in the memo portion.  Individual members may also contribute to the fund, either by check or electronically.  A link has been set up on the IBEW website to accept donations from individuals under the Super Sandy Relief Fund to make a donation by credit card.

Thank you in advance for standing together with our union family in their time of need.

With best wishes, I am

Fraternally yours,

Edwin D. Hill
International President

Verizon Florida is currently conducting a trial on the new Voice-Link service in Eastern Division.  Below is a play-by-play from John Glye, who participated in the training class and also performed a ride-along on one of the orders:

I was out of the office on 2/14/2013 to attend the rollout in Eastern Division for the Voice Link training @ the Lakeland yard. Training took about 1 hour.

Here are some of the Highlights from the training and some details on the service.

Only Chronic, voice only, copper customers are considered for Voice Link. This service does not support any Data activity.  This service can not be used for Fax, Modem, Alarms, etc. This unit must be mounted inside.

Customer calls the EVRC to report an issue with copper service, IVR will identify chronic customer and route them to a special que.

If the customer qualifies for Voice Link, they will have two options:

            If the customer accepts, a migration order will be created.

            If the customer refuses, the rep will create a traditional copper ticket.

Field techs (CZTII) will see a Voice Link indicator on their job tickets with the following menu options to complete the tickets.

             Voice Link Activation

            Voice Link Replacement

            LNP Association

            Update Location

            Facility Info.

The actual device is approx. 8 inches tall and has the following connections:

            2 RJ 11 ports

            Antenna

            Voice Message indicator

            Signal strength indicator

            Power Button

            Power Port

After the class, I went out with two of the Bartow CZT II's to watch them install the service. The install time was approx. 45 minutes; here is a summary of the install.

            Disconnected the copper drop @ NID

            Determined the best location for the device. This is determined by signal strength.

            Activated the unit and test.

            Mounted the device and "backlight the house IW's

            Educated the customer.

The customer told us upon arrival that she always has static and the rain on Thursday only made it worse. After activating the Voice Link she placed a call and said it sounded great compared to her traditional dial tone.

In Solidarity,

John Glye

Late yesterday evening the Union was notified of the 1st quarter surplus for 2013.  Among the several classifications deemed to have surplus conditions, only 1 classification will be involuntary.  The SST group in Tampa (Business Sales Support Representative, wage schedule C-1) will be closing the office and all 25 employees will either elect to take the ISP offer, or enter the bumping procedure.  All other classifications are voluntary.

The ISP election period will open on February 22nd and will close on March 7th, 2013.  The last day worked for those that elect to leave the Company will be March 23rd.

Click the links below to view the classifications affected by yesterday's announcement:

     

NACTEL’s programs are specifically designed by the industry for careers in telecommunications, and created for working adults who need flexibility. Now is the time to fast track your education and career.

NACTEL has what you’re looking for:

Single courses --- Certificates --- Associate’s degrees

Bachelor’s degrees --- Master’s degree

In these areas:

Telecom --- Mobile Technology --- Networking --

Video Technologies --- Wireless Networking

Emerging Technologies

Decide your next step:

http://www.nactel.org/ibew/programs.html

As a member of NACTEL partner IBEW, you’re eligible for a tuition discount.

Register today:
http://www.nactel.org/ibew/programs.html

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Fred Lauper, the IBEW 824 Captain for our team this year and also to all the members and their families for participating in this year's Tampa Bay Heartwalk.