Local 340 Scholarship Winners Announced
Local 340 President Ian Brown presented $1,000 checks to the three winners of the 2008 Dick Musenbrock Memorial 340 Scholarship Program. The three winners (selected by random draw from a pool of eligible Local 340 participants) were: Jennifer Justin, daughter of brother Dan Justin; Ryan Vinzant, son of Paul Vinzant; and Nicholas Stevens, son of Scott Stevens.
The 340 scholarship program is named in honor of deceased 340 brother Dick Musenbrock, who was a polular and respected Home Care employee and dedicated 340 union official. Three $1,000 scholarships are presented annually.
Local 340 Votes to Accept Pension Changes
Local 340 members voted at a special general membership meeting on September 3 to accept the changes to our pension proposed by the company. CenterPoint executives from Houston and Minneapolis attended this meeting at the union hall and offered a presentation relating to the why, what, and how of the pension modifications. A vote was taken after the presentation.
A Little Service Dept. History
- By the late 1890s the first gas range sale by the company occurred. Agree to pay for 20,000 cubic feet of gas in advance and receive a free gas range – 1,400 new ranges were sold and installed by the company.
- In 1916 the company installed the first gas furnace in the home of Dr. Alfred Owre, the Dean of the School of Dentristry. It cost Dr. Owre $400 a year to heat his home. By the 1930s the annual cost to heat the average home in Minneapolis was down to $100 a year.
- Natural gas first came to Minneapolis via pipeline in 1934 and was mixed with manufactured gas from the company’s Works facility. Roughly 500 company employees worked to adapt 118,000 customer appliances to this mixed gas.
- During the 1930s the company developed a group of specially trained service technicians to provide 24 hour service for Electrolux gas refrigerators. The company viewed the gas refrigerator as a load builder. These Electrolux gas refrigerators carried a lifetime service guarantee.
- Company installation of gas appliances grew rapidly between 1935 and 1940 because of the many home conversions from coal to gas and the increasing number of new homes being built.
- Starting salary in the Appliance Service Department was $89 a month for a 44 hour work week in the 1940s.
- Two-way radios were first installed in company service vehicles in 1945.
- By November of 1947 straight natural gas with NO manufactured gas added became the base fuel for our company. 225 employees worked six 10 hour days a week for six months to convert the 370,000 appliances.
- In 1982 the Appliance Service Department was restructured with much anxiety. The Service Plus Program was then introduced and soon became a huge success.
Two Proposed Amendments to Bylaws
Two proposed amendments to the Local 340 bylaws will be voted on at the November 19, 2008 general membership meeting. Each amendment will become a part of the bylaws if a simple majority at the November 19th meeting vote in favor of the amendment(s).
- Amendment Change #1: The travel expense paid to those attending the general membership’ or an executive board’ meetings will increase from $10.00 to $20.00. NOTE: THIS AMENDMENT WAS ACCEPTED
- Amendment Change #2: The starting time for the general membership’ and the executive board’ meetings would change from 7:30 p.m. to 6:00 P.m. NOTE: THIS AMENDMENT WAS REJECTED
100% of 340 Members Taking Recent Fitter’s Test Pass
All six Local 340 members who partici-pated in the City of Minneapolis fitter’s program, and met all of the course requirements, passed the program’s culminating fitter’s test. Hats off to Local 340 brothers Paul Bakke and Mark Varney who again did an excellent job as instructors for this successful program.
Meet More Grievance & Negotiating Members
KENDALL GROENEWOLD
This is Kendall’s first time on the Grievance and Negotiating Committee, although he has been a steward representing Home Care department for over ten years. Born and raised in the SW corner of the state in Worthington, Brother Groenewold ventured to Mankato after high school to further his education. He then made his way to the Twin Cities after a brief stint in Waseca working for a plumbing concern, where he initially took on a job maintaining 480 apartments. He then spent two years with a Heating and Air Conditioning company before joining Minnegasco in 1990 in the Home Care department where he has remained since.
Initially Kendall was encouraged to get involved in the union by then neighbor Ian Brown. As he became a regular at union meetings union officials Tom Veldhouse and Dick Musenbrock took it one step further and persuaded Kendall to run for union steward, emphasizing to him that the union needed some younger representatives. Kendall is an avid hunter, fisherman, and golfer. However, Brother Groenewold has let snowmobiling go to the wayside as he happily devotes more time to his family, which includes his wife and two children.
MIKE HARTEL
Brother Hartel graduated from Columbia Heights H.S. in 1970 and spent the next four years in a variety of jobs. He had a photography business, did some community theatre, performed at a dinner theatre in Landfall, and worked for the Chimera Theatre in St. Paul as theatre photographer and publicist. In 1974 Mike hooked up with the Air Force for a four year stint. He was sent to Altus, Okla-homa where he was trained and then worked as an air traffic controller. In 1978 Mr. Hartel enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Mike was able to work summers at Minnegasco as his Dad was employed in Customer Service. By 1980 Mike decided to seek full time employ-ment with the company and was hired. He worked his way through a variety of helper jobs (including helper on the last 340 Large Main Crew) until he moved to Meter Installation where he remains.
Mike has been a steward since 1991, has been on the 3 person union finance committee since 1989 and has been on the Grievance and Negotiation Committee through 3 prior contract negotiations. In his spare time Brother Hartel likes to golf and collect sheet music and just completed his 8th year on the Columbia Heights charter commission.
BRUCE HEMINGER
Bruce was as he puts it “a Minneapolis boy from day one” graduating from Roosevelt High School. After a two year hitch in the army Bruce tried his hand at a number of jobs and was not quite sure where he was headed until he hitched on with Minne-gasco in 1978 in the Customer Service Department. Brother Heminger’s first work location was the unique Northeast Warehouse at 1144 Fillmore NE., and except for temporary transfers to the street for a couple of summers, has remained at “home” in Home Care since 1978. Since 1998 Mr. Heminger has been a Master in Home Care, and has also been an instructor for HVAC classes on a volunteer basis.
Early on in his career Bruce ran into a little trouble with the com-pany and was greatly assisted by the union and in particular Charles McCoy. Seeking to return the favor, Bruce decided to become involved in the union. He has been union steward since the early 1990s, has been on the union finance committee for over ten years, and was on the Grievance and Negotiation Committee once before. Bruce is kept busy in his spare time occasionally hunting or fishing and enjoying his time with his wife and 3 children.
Another Successful HVAC Course Taught by Masters
Again this year Local 340, in conjunction with the company, sponsored a series of night classes for appliance techs seeking to become HVAC Techs. These night classes, which consisted of 60 hours of classroom and hands on training, were conducted on the employees own time. Local 340 President Ian Brown wishes to sincerely thank dedicated 340 brothers Tim Boettcher, Jon Van Steenbergen, and Bruce Heminger who again helped instruct these classes voluntarily while off the clock.
A Little Street History
- Company street crews installed the first gas main at Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis near the Mississippi River in 1870. This main carried manufactured gas for the company’s 192 customers to illuminate their newly installed gas lamps. (Cost of installation = $15). These gas lights replaced the smelly and messy kerosene lamps. The first gas flowed through the Nicolet main on November 22, 1870.
- In 1891 the Minneapolis Gas Light Company had 104 miles of main and 3,900 gas light customers. The mains were made of yellow pine logs and were lined with tar. The pine logs were roughly 10 feet long and 13 inches in diameter. All of the gas traveling through the mains was manufactured from coal at our “gas works” plant located near our current River Building. There were periodic drips located on the wooden mains where oil and contaminants were drained. The manufactured gas produced these unwanted contaminants.
- In the 1920s a street “trencher” was developed to dig trenches for gas mains. Employees operated the trencher 16 hours a day in temperatures as low as -19 degrees with up to a foot of frost on the ground. It operated until 11:00 p.m. at night with few complaints from residents as they desired that gas be hooked up to their homes and were more than willing to put up with the noise. The “trencher” itself was a weird looking, very long contraption with wheels in front that looked like “army tank wheels” and large wheels with spokes in the back. It took many men to operate the “trencher” and had lights to function at night.
- In 1931 the “Berguson Hush House” was developed by the street. A street crew was laying main near the Swedish Hospital and wanted to avoid disturbing the patients. A portable house was placed over the paving to be removed, enclosing the noisy equipment and its operators. One wonders the effect this had on the long term hearing of these employees as this was before hearing protection was employed. A note: Swedish Hospital was quite anxious to be hooked up to gas – they cooked 37,000 meals monthly & cooking the meals with gas would be cheaper and easier.
- In 1935 street crews for the company piped gas lines to the Ford Plant in St. Paul, Fort Snelling, and the Minnesota Soldiers Home.
- In 1953 demand for natural gas continued to grow. Local 340 street crews laid over 97 miles of main with more than a million feet of trenches dug and filled. (Ten thousand services were installed that year).
- Local 340 crews laid the first plastic main in 1962. This dramatic new material was reeled off a giant spool directly into the ground as the ground was plowed.
Local 340 & Company Looking at Creating New Combination Work Positions
Local 340 is working toward the possible creation of two new work positions under the jurisdiction of our union. Although talks with the company are still in their preliminary stages, the goal would be to get more work back “in house” instead of contracted out. The new positions would likely be titled “Collector/Meter Investigator” and “C&M Helper/Meter Investigator”.
Two GasWorker Old-Timers, Their Story
Below are two short biographies of gasworkers from the early years of our company. Although Andrew Saltness was never a union member, this was only because there was never a union in existence at our company during his years of his employment. Severin Swanson did become a member of the forerunner of Local 340 – in 1937 when our union was first recognized by the company.
ANDREW SALTNESS
Mr. Saltness was one of the first Minneapolis Gas Light Company employees. He came to Minneapolis from Norway in 1875 and began working for the company in 1877 (the company was founded in 1870). Andrew drove a one-horse wagon along the Minneapolis streets pumping drips from mains. Drips were the accumulation of water and light oils condensed from the manufactured gas which would cause pipeline stoppages or a drop in pressure (the early gas mains were made of wood).
After a few years Saltness’ horse went blind, but the horse knew the route so well that he continued to do the route without his vision. Andrew Saltness became a fitter in 1882 and later a street foreman, the job from which he retired.
SEVERIN SWANSON
In 1886 Mr. Swanson began his employment with the Minneapolis Gas Light Company as a laborer in the street department. It was all manual labor with a pick and shovel in those days. Later he was promoted to fitter and in 1898 he was promoted to foreman in the street department. During his 50th year with the company, in 1937, he joined our union, as this was the year the company officially recognized our union. Five years later in 1941 he retired after nearly 55 years of continuous service with the company.