Union: MUD execs overestimate savings

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110907/NEWS01/709079916#union-mud-execs-overestimate-savings

By Nancy Gaarder
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Photo: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20110907&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=709079916&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275
Doug Boynton, part of an MUD crew working on infrastructure improvements on Frederick Street near 58th Street early last month, puts the finishing touches on a gas line . The crew was replacing the old cast-iron natural gas mains.


The Metropolitan Utilities District's management has overestimated to the board the savings the district would achieve by outsourcing millions of dollars in natural gas main replacement, the district's union said Tuesday.

Tom Riley, president and business manager for the union, said MUD's plan would allow private contractors to install mains to a lower standard, and as a result at a lower cost, than it requires of its own crews.

"My concern is the safety issue. Nobody knows the pipe in the ground in Omaha like us," said Riley, an MUD main crewman.

About 560 of MUD's 840 employees are represented by Local 1521 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The district is in the process of replacing about 500 miles of natural gas mains at a potential cost of nearly $500 million. The work is expected to take decades and is being done because the cast iron mains are deteriorating and pose a risk of explosion.

Currently, MUD uses private contractors for water main replacement, but allows only its workers to lay natural gas mains.

FULL story at link.