Alliance for Workforce Developments Director of Business Services Holly Schirmer presented a two-hour Sexual Harassment Prevention Training to four people of various Modoc County businesses at the Modoc Employment Center on November 3rd, 2010 from 9am to 11am. The interactive training meets the requirements of AB 1825, and each participant received a certificate upon completion of the training.

Holly addressed such topics as what constitutes harassment under the law, recent court cases that impact businesses, and how to prevent, as well as respond to workplace harassment. For more information on upcoming Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. workshops, please visit www.afwdhr.org

 

Ruby Pipeline Project

Vya Mancamp

The Ruby Pipeline Project includes approximately 680 miles of 42-inch natural gas transmission pipeline, beginning in Wyoming going through Utah and Nevada and ending in Malin, Oregon. It will have four compressor stations, one in southwest Wyoming, one in Utah, one near Elko, Nevada, and one in Northwest Nevada. The Vya, Nevada portion of the project is located about 22 miles east of Cedarville, California and about 50 miles east of Alturas, California. Rockford Corporation has contracted 126 miles of the pipeline which goes through this area, and a meter station to interconnect the Ruby Pipeline with Pacific Gas and Electric 42 inch and 36 inch transmission lines in Malin, Oregon.

At the peak of construction, approximately 5,000 construction workers will be involved in installing the Ruby pipeline and constructing its compressor stations and related facilities across the four states. The majority of them will be union members; the following unions are involved in the project along the Nevada corridor.

• Labor International of North America-Local #169 Reno, Nevada-Laborers
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters-Local #533 Reno, Nevada-Teamster Truck Drivers
• International Union of Operating Engineers-Local #3 District 12 Salt Lake City, Utah- Equipment Operators
• Pipeline Local #798 Tulsa, Oklahoma- Welders & Welder Helpers

At Modoc Employment Center we have been referring qualified individuals interested in working for the pipeline to the various unions. Some of the feedback we have heard is that because of another pipeline project that was cancelled most of the workers with experience working on pipeline projects are getting hired ahead of those not as qualified, leaving new union members off the project.

One of the subcontractors for the projects is Direct Grading and Paving. They attended Modoc Employment Center’s annual job fair in March. We kept in contact with them over several months to help them with their hiring needs. They needed to hire 25-30 laborers and equipment operators to do the initial work for the Man Camp in Vya Nevada. They were able to find about 15 individual locally to work on the project. They expected to start the project in April, but because of permits not getting passed they were not able to start until September. Unfortunately some of the workers they had originally hired to work on the job had found other work and they ended up hiring about 7 local individuals.

We have recently been working with Taylors International Services, Inc. who is contracted with the pipeline for the catering, maid, and security service at the Vya Man Camp. So far they have hired about 30 Modoc County residents for these positions, and they expect to hire about 10 more. We have applications available and postings for the positions on our job board.

Local Vendor opportunities:
• K & K Distributing from Alturas, California has contracted with Taylors International for all the food and ice services at the Vya Man Camp. This is a great opportunity for them being that this camp serves over 300 workers.
• Modoc Sanitation has bid their services, but they were notified that a company out of Sparks, Nevada was awarded the bid.
• Larranaga Construction from Alturas has been providing services such as hauling rock, sand, gravel, ect. as needed on the project.
• Goodwin Concrete for Cedarville has also been hauling concrete and sand to the project
• Alturas Tire-Supplying/fixing tires on sight as needed
• Modoc Steel-Supplying materials as needed

The housing for the workers varies. Some of them are living in campers, some in motels, but the majority of them are being housed in Man Camp dwellings built especially for the project. Two Man Camps have been constructed so far. One in Vya, Nevada that will house about 400 and one in Lakeview, Oregon that will house about 350. A 600 space RV campground was also constructed especially for this project in Lakeview, Oregon, and Vya, Nevada will accommodate about 200 RV/campers. Local motels in Cedarville have seen a few workers, most of them being subcontractors, Indian Affair monitors, archeologists, and others that are not staying long term. Surprise Valley Hot Springs in Cedarville, California said they have the occasional workers stay when they bring their wives in for a few days. Cedarville area business such as restaurants and the grocery store have seen some influx of business but not a dramatic increase. Many of the workers come from Lakeview, Oregon on buses and the ones housed in Vya have a 24 hour 7 day a week kitchen, laundry facility, recreational hall, and exercise equipment on site.
Modoc Employment Center and Alliance for Workforce Development, Inc. is committed to continually working with the contractors on this project to employ as many workers as possible, and work with area businesses on vendor opportunities.

For more information on The Ruby Pipeline project visit their website at www.rubypipeline.com

Employees hired by Taylors International

 

Submitted by: Amee Albrecht

 

 

 

Submitted by: Jackie Tillery