TVA and America's Building Trades Unions - Partners Driving Performance
From August 23-25, 2011, I had the great pleasure of being a participant in the 5th Annual Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Labor-Management Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference theme, Partners Driving Performance, was a compelling reminder of the value proposition that America's Building Trades Unions today offer to construction owners and contractors across the nation. Further, the successful TVA/Building Trades partnership is an illuminating case study that showcases the value and utility of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) to ensure quality and safe construction outcomes, while also meeting "on time, on budget" results.
TVA is a corporation owned by the U.S. government, and it provides electricity for 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states at prices significantly below the national average. TVA, which receives no taxpayer money, also provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists utilities and state and local governments with economic development.
While TVA’s historical mission has not changed, the environment in which TVA does business continues to evolve. Facing challenging economic conditions, tougher new environmental standards, the need to modernize its generating fleet and changing customer needs, TVA recognized a need to refine its strategic vision for the future.
In August 2010, the TVA board of directors adopted a renewed vision that will help TVA lead the Tennessee Valley region and the nation toward a cleaner and more secure energy future, relying more on nuclear power and energy efficiency and less on coal.
And they will do it all with a 100% unionized workforce, and by utilizing project agreements at every turn for their maintenance and capital construction needs.
TVA has invested $5.3 billion already to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide at its coal plants about 90 percent from their peak levels. In 2011, TVA announced plans to idle 2,700 megawatts of its oldest and least-efficient coal plants and review other units. TVA is more than offsetting this idled capacity by expanding its fleet of cleaner natural-gas fired combustion turbines and increasing its investment in nuclear power.
Through the use of a project labor agreement, TVA is on time and on budget to complete Unit 2 at its Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, which will add 1,150 megawatts of power to TVA’s generating portfolio when this unit begins commercial operation in 2012.
And just prior to the Labor Management Conference in Nashville, the TVA board of directors authorized completion (again, under a project labor agreement) of one unit at TVA's Bellefonte Nuclear Plant near Hollywood in northeastern Alabama. When it begins commercial operation by 2020, the 1,260 megawatt reactor will be the largest in TVA's nuclear fleet, capable of meeting the electricity needs of 750,000 homes at less cost than most energy alternatives.
Through the utilization of the skilled craft professionals associated with the Tennessee Valley Trades and Labor Council, the TVA power system continues to operate with an unprecedented level of dependability, achieving 99.999 percent reliability every year since 1999.
Perhaps most importantly, TVA electricity costs less than most electricity produced around the nation. For residents in the TVA region, the average cost in 2009 of one kilowatt-hour—the amount of electricity it takes to burn ten 100-watt light bulbs for one hour—was 9.7 cents, while the national average was 11.6 cents. This fact alone should help put to rest, once and for all, the claims that project labor agreements are costly, wasteful, and inefficient!
These types of results have been the norm throughout the 60-year relationship between TVA and the Tennessee Valley Trades and Labor Council. Perhaps that is why a 5-year extension of a PLA with the Tennessee Valley Authority was approved earlier this year for the construction and maintenance work on TVA's extensive energy generation network. The PLA extension will cover between 12.5 and 15 million man-hours of work annually over the course of this agreement.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has used Project Labor Agreements on its construction projects for nearly 19 years. In the nearly 200 million person hours of work on Tennessee Valley Authority construction projects using PLAs, there have been no formal strikes or any organized work stoppages. The rate of injuries on these projects has also been significantly reduced.
The Tennessee Valley Authority remains one of the most important, and enduring partnerships that America’s Building Trades Unions enjoy. For over 60 years, we have partnered with TVA to service its construction and maintenance needs, which, in turn, has created thousands of jobs - paying middle class wages and benefits - for skilled craft professionals in this region.
And it bears repeating: our partnership has kept utility rates low to benefit all residents of the valley. It is a relationship that has endured the tests of time, and our unions are dedicated to its continued success.
Our track record speaks for itself. And that record is premised upon the development of the safest, most highly skilled and productive workforce found anywhere in the world. Numerous studies have shown that a highly skilled and productive workforce can actually reduce construction costs over the long haul. And when you compare our joint labor-management training programs to our competitors’ programs (or lack thereof), there is no comparison:
· Joint labor-management apprenticeship programs are more successful in recruiting workers of color and women…and we are expanding these efforts across the country.
· The vast majority of all apprentices in the U.S. are enrolled in joint labor-management training programs.
· Apprentices in join labor-management programs complete their apprentice and journeyman training at much higher rates than workers enrolled in other programs.
· Joint labor-management apprenticeship programs turn out skilled journey-level workers with the knowledge to perform all aspects of the trade not just specific tasks.
· The completion rates for women, military veterans and disabled apprentices from joint labor-management programs are double that of the non-union sector.
· Joint labor-management programs have much higher retention rates, while other programs are fraught with drop-outs.
· Our skilled craft apprenticeship programs are part of an unsurpassed training infrastructure throughout North America that is the envy of all industries.
In any business or organization…especially one like ours…personal relationships form the backbone of everything we do. If we cannot cultivate friendships and reliable partnerships with the people for whom we work, then we are truly going to have a tough time in re-capturing market share for our signatory contractors.
Likewise, if we cannot…through our performance, attitudes and actions…inspire a high level of loyalty among the members we represent and the customers for whom we serve, then we are doomed to a future of irrelevancy and eventual non-existence.
Fortunately, examples such as TVA are fast becoming the norm. And through these types of cooperative efforts and partnerships, America's Building Trades Unions are doing all that we can to effectively and consistently demonstrate VALUE ON DISPLAY...EVERY DAY.