All the army would be offering this time would be bodies to go door to door. I've said that what neighbours do.
Hydro and the ice storm
- Thread starter dirkd101
- Start date
Submariner, I'm generally puzzled by "call out the Army, call out the National Guard." It makes perfect sense if you have a Combat Engineering Company/Brigade/Regiment based where there is a problem but calling out a Field Artillery Battery doesn't do a whole lot besides providing trucks and/or tracked vehicles and a group of more or less willing backs.
I agree that "call out the Army, call out the National Guard." is not a required response.
However,
However,
sometimes "willing grunts" are the most needed during times like this past ice storm.
I paid $1400 to torpedo a new copper water service to my house, the City paid something like the same (presumably) for the other half of the distance from the street. And all that is premised on lines that have to be down 6 or so feet to eliminate freezing danger. Running the new plastic gas-lines that can be shallower never even appeared on my bill. Why would burying hydro lines under my lawn be so much costlier?
Really Keebler?
I'm not ungrateful and if you want to see an asshole, look in the mirror.
I'm just pointing out the CEO, for making his people look like selfless individuals. Nobody forced them to miss Christmas and I am not begrudging them their pay either. For them , it's a huge pay day in the end and they know it. Their time was needed, but let's not exaggerate their sacrifice.
There are a lot of people who make this sacrifice to be with friends and family every year. Among them, our armed forces, ambulance personnel, police, fire, hospital staff, including doctors and nurses. Many of these people work these types of holidays year after year and they are paid straight time or slightly better than that.
Happy New Year.
I agree with your initial point about the Toronto Hydro CEO, but the behaviour of which you comment was not limited to him. It seemed to me that at least half of every press conference conference held by Wynn, Ford, various department heads, etc was taken up how great their performance was. Give me us some actual facts and we will determine how monumental their effort was.
Regarding your other comments, just as you ask not to exaggerate their sacrifice, don't exaggerate their compensation either. Quadruple overtime? Depending on timing etc, the O/T would range from time and half to double time and half. Still pretty good, but not quadruple.
Also, please recognize the difference between being normally scheduled to work on Christmas and being asked to cancel your time off to come in to work. If you in a 24/7 operation then you expect to get scheduled to work many of the statutory holidays in a year and that is accepted as part of the nature of the job. This is true not only for the doctors, nurses, ambulance, armed forces folks that you mention but hydro workers and other public service workers fall into this category too. If you have been scheduled to work Christmas Day for 3 of the last 4 years and you have this Christmas scheduled off and then get asked to give up your Christmas, it is a sacrifice, no matter what your job. I agree it is not a supreme sacrifice and compensation is there, but it can often piss off family and friends when you finally have time off for a special occasion and then get called in.
You are correct that nobody has forced them to come in to work, but believe it or not (and I know for many that this will be impossible to believe and even laughable), some folks out there still come in for unscheduled work on overtime not solely because of the cash but also due to a sense of duty. Not only that, there will also be those who will be happy to be called in not just for the cash but to get the hell away from the visiting in-laws.
Happy New Year.
There are people on the hydro crews that are dedicated and sacrificed their holidays so that others can have power, then there are others that take advantage of a bad situation.
Ice is not the only thing that can bring trees down. A few years ago there was a wind storm. I got home at about 5:45 to find that the whole street had no power due to a branch falling on to a power line. There was a hydro truck parked down the street from my place. There neighbors told me that these guys were standing outside their truck since 4:00PM. I took my bicycle and to get cold cuts and passed them coming and going. After I had something to eat I went on my summer evening bike ride. When I got back it was about 8:00PM. All of the sudden they got busy and started to fix the downed line. I can only guess that these guys were waiting for the magic 4 hours to pass so that they can get a double bump up in pay for that shift. These guys finished in the dark. I am guessing they get paid till they clock in at the shop.
Some hydro crews take advantage of the situation when they can get away with it.
Submariner, thank-you, you make some very good points. I am trivializing what many a hydro crew has done to spark debate about what the CEO said and I couldn't agree with you more about the politicos, who have really done nothing, but consult as to what has happened and what is being done.
I hear the price tag is somewhere in the ball park of $1 million a day and probably going to be over $14 million in the end for Toronto hydro's price tag. The talk is how much other levels of government are going to kick in or are Toronto hydro customers footing the whole bill.
This doesn't include the tree crews and how much that is going to cost as well.
I hear the price tag is somewhere in the ball park of $1 million a day and probably going to be over $14 million in the end for Toronto hydro's price tag. The talk is how much other levels of government are going to kick in or are Toronto hydro customers footing the whole bill.
This doesn't include the tree crews and how much that is going to cost as well.
Apparently, it will cost $75million and 8 weeks to clean up the fallen trees mess. When politicians say $75million, it probably means that the real cost will be $150million or higher. I hope that private tree owners pay for the cost of the clean up out of their own pockets. You own a tree, you bear the responsibilities and liabilities of properly maintaining it.
Absolutely correct.
And to make it even more idiotic, Toronto Hydro had put a plan in place in the early to mid 90s to bury every single hydro wire in the City of Toronto, however, it was abandoned due to cost cutting.
No doubt this happens and it happens more often than we would like. I don't know what the union contract is like for Toronto Hydro lineman, but I know their counterparts at Hydro One get a minimum four overtime payment when they are called out, no matter how long the it takes to resolve the problem. Now, in fairness, sometimes there is a reason for workers to be sitting idle before they can begin work. A lineman is a hazardous profession with workplace fatalities occurring every year. If a line crew arrives at a downed power line, work protection for the crew is usually done by someone else, located somewhere else. Not only does the fallen power line need to be de-energized, but neighbouring zones may also need to be taken out to ensure that the power line is not energized while the lineman is working with it. So just because they may not look busy at the site does not mean that the repair is not in some phase of proceeding. Oh shit ... who am I kidding. How many hydro workers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Four ... one to replace the bulb and three to sleep in the truck outside.
The City of Toronto is a strange entity indeed. Although the tree may be on your property, you may have wanted to remove it for years, but they won't allow such things and have by-laws which make trimming or removing a head ache of red tape and costs the home owner just to apply to be told you are not allowed to do anything.
https://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=143559
I wonder if the 100's of thousands of people who lost power, had their cars and/or properties damaged are grateful for Toronto's tree policy?
Likely not, un;less they're among tbe few to have noticed how much cooler—and needing less AC—treed neighbourhoods are. Likewise if they failed to connect healthy growing trees withe the concept of absorbing storm-water in healthy soil rather than having it gush up their basement drains.
My power was out for almost five days, the last of the big maples on our block and all its predecessors we lost this century will be missed for a many decades to come, while we suffer without their contribution to our pleasant life.
And cars are declining assets anyway. They drive just as well with dented roofs.
In addition, ask any roofer who will tell you that shade will extend the life of your asphalt singles by several years compared to those with sun exposure.
Yeah but now Daddy can come with 4 extra PS4 and plenty of games, instead of 1 PS4.
