PG&E leaves union in the dark over potential site closures

PG&E could potentially be closing several California locations, including three branches on the Central Coast. But a local union is saying they’ve been left in the dark.

There are no definite plans as of right now, but the fact that PG&E has discussed closing locations without talking to affected employees and their union has upset a lot of people.

Thursday, a Facebook group called “PG&E Wives IBEW 1245 Brothers and Sisters” shared several documents that they obtained from a recent meeting showing a proposed draft that would close 43 PG&E locations around California. Three of those would be on the Central Coast, including King City, Santa Cruz, and Salinas. The closures could potentially cost some employees their jobs, but also alter the company’s response time to electrical or gas emergencies with fewer locations open. PG&E and the union have a meeting set up for Friday, Jan 19th, where the union is hoping for answers.

“To listen to their operational thinking. To give input based on the experience of our staff, many of whom started with PG and e four years ago. I would also say that the documents that you have seen with what the thinking of electric and I think Materials department but not yet gas. Gas is a big player. It’s one thing to move electric crews farther from customers, it’s another thing to move gas crews,” said Local IBEW 1245 Business Manager, Tom Dalzell.

PG&E released a statement on the topic saying, in part: “We are conducting this review with customer and public safety at the forefront of our effort and keeping in mind the impact any move could have on employees. In some instances, we may open new offices. In others, we may close some locations. We are early in this process and have not made any final decisions on specific locations.”

Again, these plans are only discussions for now with no definitive decisions having been made. We will update this story after Friday’s meeting or when more information becomes available.