PeterWK's Periodical

ConEdison Puts New York's Power at Risk During Heat Wave with Lockout of Workers

Photo Credit: John Knefel

As the summer heat seared New York City, tensions between the city’s major electricity company and its union reached a boiling point over the weekend. By Monday, a meltdown in the talks over pensions and benefits left thousands of Consolidated Edison utility workers suddenly frozen out of their jobs. The lockout, a classic anti-union tactic, had paralyzed both the negotiations and the livelihoods of some 8500 union members. But that afternoon, scores of locked out workers assembled outside ConEd headquarters near Manhattan’s Union Square to show they would keep the heat on their boss.

Mario, a 55-year old worker at ConEd’s East River Generating Station, wasn’t shocked by the lockout. “It’s corporate America. A lot of greed, a lot of arrogance,” he said. “Blame the unions, blame the workers, take their benefits away, and just keep increasing their bonuses.”

As of Monday, ConEd was operating on an emergency staff, with about 5,000 “managers” replacing the locked-out workers. The company promised to maintain “essential operations,” though fears of electricity breakdowns loomed large as scorching heat blanketed ConEd’s millions of customers across the five boroughs and Westchester. There were no catastrophes immediately following the lockout, according to local news reports, but outages hit some neighborhoods, and a substation fire in Brooklyn injured a manager.

Read the rest here: http://www.alternet.org/story/156145/conedison_puts_new_york%27s_power_at_risk_during_heat_wave_with_lockout_of_workers?akid=9038.207153.GvXf1M&rd=1&t=2

Con Ed locks out union workers as talks break down

Locking out your employees as a hit wave hits NY? The bosses don’t even care about their customers! (big surprise right?)

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Consolidated Edison utility workers in New York City in an undated photo. (WCBS)

Last Updated 2:30 p.m. ET

(AP) NEW YORK - Consolidated Edison closed walk-in centers, suspended meter readings and limited work on major construction projects in New York on Sunday after contract talks between the utility and its unionized workers broke down in the middle of a wave of extremely hot weather.

Negotiations stopped just before 2 a.m. Sunday, a couple of hours after the existing contract expired. The impasse came as New York braced for more high temperatures that will increase demand for air conditioning among the utility’s 3.2 million customers.

On Sunday morning, police set up barricades in front of Con Ed’s headquarters near Manhattan’s Union Square. Only two workers stood there, but they said more were expected as they awaken and learn about the lockout.

“This is crazy! There’s a heat wave,” said David Palomino, a facility mechanic who rushed to headquarters after finishing his early shift to find out what was coming next.

“The fight has escalated” between the two sides, Palomino said, explaining that workers fear losing chunks of their pensions and benefits.

Temperatures were expected to reach into the 90s Sunday, with a heat advisory for the afternoon, and be in the high 80s and lower 90s in coming days.

The extreme weather also included vicious storms from Indiana to New Jersey and south to Virginia that killed at least 13 people and left 3 million without power. Most of the damage came in the mid-Atlantic region, and only scattered outages across Con Ed’s service area in New York were reported as of Sunday morning. Con Ed said it is keeping a close watch on its system and has trained managers working on essential operations.

Mid-Atlantic power outages could last days
At least 13 deaths blamed on eastern U.S. storms
Storms knock out power to 2M in eastern U.S.
232 Amtrak riders board buses after being stranded

The 8,500 unionized workers told the company they’d be willing to work without a contract to keep the power company running, said John Melia, spokesman for Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America.

“We did everything to avert this action,” he said. “We recognize that New York City is sweltering right now. … We recognize we have a responsibility to the people of New York City and Westchester County,” the suburban county north of the city.

Con Ed said it had wanted a two-week extension of the current contract while negotiations continued, with assurance that the union would not strike without notice. The company said it offered such an extension, signing an agreement to that effect, but that the union didn’t sign it. Con Ed said if the union agreed to the extension, employees would be welcomed back.

Negotiations lasted just over 10 days over a range of issues, including pensions, heath care and wages.

“This is very unfortunate. Both sides are very far part,” Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said.

Melia said the union negotiators were kicked out of the room in what he called a “union-busting tactic.”

“This is not a labor issue,” he said. “This is a corporate monopoly.”

Report From a Member in NYC’s Mayor’s Office: They Want to Shut Down the Protests Before a New Bailout of the Bankers

From the WordPress Blog, The Activists:

Posted November 23rd

I work in the New York Mayor’s office and the other day I overheard a shocking conversation, between two top staff members. The conversation was about the question of the protests.

Here’s a summary of what I overheard: there were orders from the highest levels of the US government for a coordinated shut down of protests across the country. The reason for this order is the need for a new bank bailout. The fear of all officials that the announcement of a new bank bailout was going to bring more people to the streets. Thus, officials were told to preempt any such large congregations by cranking up violence against protestors.

I was shocked of course and disappointed in the government and the system that we live in. Once again, this proves whose side the government is on, and whose interests they’re interested in protecting.

Office Worker

Party Member #5493