Emergencies and power problems will be the top priority for Con Edison while the utility company keeps its union workers locked out.
Con Ed has 348,000 customer accounts in Westchester, according to Con Ed spokesman Alan Drury.
Negotiations between Con Ed and the union turned confrontational over the weekend. Talks broke down around midnight Saturday, as the contract expired.
Reports say the union was willing to keep working without a contract but not willing to extend the contract for two weeks or to promise 7-day notice before a strike. At 1 a.m. Sunday the company instituted a lock-out of 8,500 union members and called in managers and management retirees.
On its website, Con Ed offers a summary and a video about what customers need to know during the work stoppage. The priority: emergencies and power problems. Bills may reflect estimated use; pay online or by mail. Customer phone lines will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
According to an article this morning in The Gothamist:
"...the union warns that if there's any serious problems, the managers won't be able to handle it.
"They have placed their customers and the public at great peril," union spokesman John Melia tells the Daily News. "These men and women don’t have the knowledge or the expertise or the capability to keep the system operating long term. These guys don’t know how to go down into flaming manholes." Not to be outdone, union president Harry Farrell told the Times, "What they said last night to the people of New York was, ‘Drop dead.' They’re asking retired supervisors to climb poles and work in manholes and stuff — I just don’t see it happening." For now, Con Ed is suspending meter reading and shutting walk-in centers.
Con Ed workers haven't gone on strike since the summer of 1983; at that time there were 16,500 members working at the utility, and the Times reports that the strike lasted nine weeks, with one major incident affecting service. The two sides are currently at odds over pension benefits. Workers' current contract has expired, and while workers were willing to continue working without a contract during negotiations, Con Ed officials had demanded an agreement from the union not to strike without seven days' notice.
The union rejected that, and negotiations broke down around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Throughout yesterday there were a number of small-scale power outages, but Con Ed's spokesman says there were below average for a typical day in July."
According to the Con Ed website, the utility company had been preparing for a work stoppage for months.
"The company said it appreciated the hard work of its union employees, but that it must work to achieve a contract that is fair and equitable for both employees and customers. Con Edison said its negotiators have presented numerous proposals to the union leadership to address long-term wage and benefit issues, in an effort to meet the needs of employees while respecting the cost concerns of customers," the company press release stated.
Pensions appear to be at the forefront of the dispute.
With continuing hot weather, Con Ed asks customers to conserve energy and offers these tips.
They were on strike for two weeks when their union accepted a deal like the one Con Ed offered. They are still working under an extension almost a year later. The union has come out publicly stating that they regret accepting those terms because they do not have leverage at the bargaining table. They have advised other unions not to accept terms like that unless they want to see their employees left in limbo like the Verizon workers are. Also, Con Edison ended the meeting on Sunday. Union negotiators were happy to continue working toward a new deal when management told them to "take it or leave it". Take it or leave it is not negotiating in good faith. It is a threat. Also, Con Ed has been spending a lot of money advertising that their management can handle the jobs the union workers do without a problem. Then why do they actually need the 7 days notice. There was no 7 days notice when they locked the employees out. Lastly, the union workers at Con Edison are highly trained. Their jobs are inherently dangerous. What may appear to be guys "standing around a manhole" are actually safety requirements from Con Ed itself. If the guys didn't follow such precautions the company gives them a 20 day suspension. Management employees are not ready to do what the workers do and they know it. I only hope more management employees do not get hurt trying to do union jobs.
Most retirees my husband knows actually do retire. They did their time and are now enjoying the fruits of their labor. The ones who have started businesses are family run mom & pop type businesses that would have no need for the services provided by a union. To be honest most people we know that have "returned to work" are doing jobs like teaching where they are once again in a union job. If you know of a retiree who is evading taxes or hiring illegals, please report them to the authorities. I have no sympathy for anyone who engages in these practices. We have friends who are management and union. All are suffering. It is just the CEO's and their cronies who are making out in this deal. Lower management doesn't want to be back in the streets. Many of them are former union employees who went to management because they didn't want to continue doing dangerous back-breaking work after 25 or 30 years. This needs to end soon for the good of all involved.
1a) Wouldn't it make sense that if they reduce the pension across the board and include executives? 2) The CEO's 2011 compensation was 11 million (30% higher than in 2009 ($7.9 million) & almost 3 times 2008 ($3.75 million). How many people have tripled their salary in the last 3 years? 3) Con Ed asked for a 7 day notice to strike.Their last strike was in 1983. They would not sign and were locked out. Wasn’t that punitive? These items effect the customer: 1) Con Ed’s profit last year-$1 billion. 2) Less than 5% of each customer’s bill pays for this union's salaries-( this equals less than $10 of a $200 bill. 3) In 1983 they had 16.5K lineman, now they have 8.5K linemen. 1 to 2 linemen die each year on the job. Con Ed replaced the linemen with 5K workers. Some have not performed the job in 20 years. Has Con Ed updated their infrastructure in the last 19 years or reduced their service area to warrant almost a 50% reduction in linemen? The overarching question is Where is the Public Service Commission? Why aren’t they doing anything? Why is Con Ed getting rate increases year after year when they are posting record profits? All I am saying is that Con Ed needs to be fair and treat all of their employees the same.