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Petition for Appropriate Design Tool (AutoCAD)
"Business Transformation" at PG&E is causing nearly unbearable stress for employees in Estimating and Mapping. Probably the most frustrating part of BT is the pending elimination of AutoCAD as a drafting and design tool. The new tools, LDPro and TDS Sketch, do NOT replace the functionality of AutoCAD. AutoCAD is an industry standard, it is taught in all types of technical training programs, and has been successfully used at PG&E and many other utilities, other companies and government agencies for years. Keeping it active will help PG&E hire and retain quality staff. If the company takes AutoCAD away, we will not be able to perform our work in a professional manner.
PG&E Senior Management has been deaf and blind to the voices of employees. Our union leadership has raised this issue over and over, but management refuses to make a commitment. While management has the right to mismanage the utility, the employees and our union also have the right to speak up for common sense and be heard. If Senior Management allows AutoCAD to be removed from estimators and ADE's, our ability to design jobs will be fatally compromised, and our customers both internal and external will suffer the results.
This petition is not about wages or hours, it is about our professional status. We are design and engineering professionals, and we demand the proper tools to do the job that we trained for. Our work is important to our customers, our communities and to the California economy. We call on PG&E to listen to reason and help us preserve the integrity of the design which supports gas and electric distribution.
DO NOT USE YOUR WORK EMAIL TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PETITION. Only non-PG&E emails should be used.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Keep AutoCAD for estimating!
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I call on you to retain AutoCAD as a design/drafting tool for all Estimators and ADEs in the PG&E system.
The new tools, LDPro and TDS Sketch, do NOT replace the functionality of AutoCAD. AutoCAD is an industry standard, it is taught in all types of technical training programs, and has been successfully used at PG&E and many other utilities, other companies and government agencies for years. Keeping it active will help PG&E hire and retain quality staff.
If the company takes AutoCAD away, we will not be able to perform our work in a professional manner. Retaining AutoCAD would be a very important morale and confidence booster to the hundreds of estimators and ADE's currently suffering through the implementation of inadequate tools.
Our work is important to our customers, our communities and to the California economy. We call on PG&E to listen to reason and help us preserve the integrity of the design which supports gas and electric distribution.
Signed by:
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Campaign Launched:
November 27, 2007
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PG&E embarked on Business Transformation purportedly to move the Company towards being the “Number One Utility in the United States”. This was to be achieved by the implementation of new tools and processes to streamline how the Company does business in regards to Estimating and other lines of business. As part of that effort, a new Graphic Work Design tool, LD-Pro in conjunction with TDS Sketch, was identified to replace the existing deisgn tools. Until recently all Estimators and ADEs used JET, JET-Plus, Sherpa and AutoCAD to cost, design and draft estimates.
The rollout of the new tools has not been as successful as it needed to be in order to keep up with the work volume. Training for these new tools was woefully inadequate despite our members’ best efforts to understand and teach members how to utilize them. It has also become clear that in terms of drafting and communicating designs, the TDS Sketch product is not a suitable tool to replace the functionality of AutoCAD. In addition; there has been no change in operational needs to justify the removal of adequate computer aided drafting tools. Our members need an adequate drafting tool in order to continue to do their jobs in a professional manner.
Currently the bulk of Estimating work making its way through the dysfunctional new systems is being done on the Legacy systems (including AutoCAD) that the Company has not yet eliminated. If the time comes where we are forced solely to use TDS Sketch and hand drawings to communicate designs to construction and external customers, we will be facing a crisis of a larger magnitude. We will be forced to put forth substandard work that will compromise PG&E’s ability to deliver safe and reliable gas and electricity to its customers.
AutoCAD is an industry standard. It is the tool that we have the most training and experience on. New hires are most likely going to have some training and/or experience using it. Our external clients and customers use it to communicate with us and their customers.
All of our members at PG&E, working together in Solidarity, need to secure a commitment from the Company to provide, at a minimum, AutoCAD as a drafting tool in conjunction with the new newly released design and costing tools for all Estimators and ADEs in the PG&E system.
In the spirit of partnership, we as a Union need to voice our concerns and identify what we need to make this company a success. To quote the 93-7 Letter of Agreement on the inside cover of your ESC Union Contract:
“Pacific Gas and Electric Company and ESC Local 20 reaffirm their commitment to work together in a collaborative manner to address issues critical to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s ability to compete now and in the future, and to promote profitability for Pacific Gas Electric Company, and employment and income security for Pacific Gas and Electric Company employees. It is our mutual best interest – the company’s, the union’s, and the employee’s – to ensure Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s success.”
Our message to all of our members is this:
Keep hammering away at the new tools and procedures. Continue to do your best to push work through the system. Help voice your common concern by signing this petition to put the Company on notice of what is needed for Estimating to succeed.
We are, and will continue to be – Proud Union Professionals
* DO NOT USE YOUR WORK EMAIL TO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS PETITION. Only non-PG&E emails should be used.
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