The National UWUA hosted the third national Power for America Training Conference October 18-20, and the participation of members of the Michigan State Utility Workers Council ensured the Conference's success.  The Council had members presenting in various safety and job-specific areas as detailed below.

The UWUA National Women’s Caucus delivered a panel discussion titled “Women in Non-Traditional Jobs - Women in Power”.  This session was the highlight of the Conference and was the most well-attended breakout session. 

The MSUWC was very well represented by the following panel participants: 

  Jodi Duffield - Gas Lines Worker, Lansing, Local 123

  Jessi Trierweiler - Electric Line Worker In Charge, West Kent, Local 107

 Kristen Baldwin - EIRP Gas Fuser, Wixom, Local 105

The Safety Culture Team did a fantastic job of presenting four sessions of “Safety at Work - Changing the Culture”, an interactive presentation that highlighted the safety journey of the membership of the MSUWC and Consumers Energy.

Presenters included:

Nate Waters - Groveland, Local 105

Dan Pfeffer - Campbell, Local 388

Doug Hill - Alma, Local 129

Also supporting the presentation were Dean Smith - Local 124, Steve Sienko - Local 104, and Greg Ball - Local 144, from the SCT.

The Union Safety Representatives presented four sessions of “Roadside Safety & Jobsite Signage”, demonstrating the need for union leadership in compliance with all safety rules.  The Safety Representatives also had an extensive Q&A session at the end of their presentations, where they described their roles and how they worked with Corporate Safety to help improve safety performance with Consumers Energy.  Presenters included:

Ben McCrumb - Electric Safety Representative

Jeff Jazdzyk - Generation Safety Representative

Les Wutka - Single Worker Safety Representative

Also supporting was Electric Safety Representative Jon Jordan (pictured on the right).

Call Center & Customer Service had a combination presentation and panel discussion including Melissa Bateman, West Kent, Local 107 and Brooke Lauber, Alma, Local 129.  This was Melissa and Brooke’s second presentation before a national audience in the span of four weeks, having just presented at the Inter-Union Gas Conference at the end of September.  Melissa and Brooke do such a good job and are so well-received that they have presented at no fewer than four National Conferences over the last four years, and once again proved their leadership and commitment to improving customer service.

Two members, Kristen Baldwin - EIRP, Wixom, Local 105 and Andrew Villareal - EIRP, Wixom, Local 105 were on the big stage for the “Benefits of the UWUA Power for America Training Trust Fund” presentation.  Kristen and Andrew were involved in a panel discussion in front of 550 attendees, describing their experience in P4A training, and for Andrew, the UWUA Military Assistance Program.  Both, although nervous, did a great job and were sought out by attendees after the presentation. 

Kristen Baldwin - EIRP, Wixom, Local 105

Andrew Villareal - EIRP, Wixom, Local 105 (pictured on the left)

All presenters did the MSUWC proud and represented not only a significant portion of the agenda but the best of the presentations.  Throughout the presentations, it was shown that the work of the MSUWC and its membership is very progressive and a model many others aspire to realized.  Click here for more detailed pictures.