Con Ed Union Negotiations Break Down, Workers Go Home

Contract negotiations between power giant Consolidated Edison and its unionized workers broke down early Sunday, prompting what union officials called a lockout of its 8,000 workers.
Con Ed Union Negotiations Break Down, Workers Go Home
Technicians with Con Edison work on restoring power along Skillman Avenue July 24, 2006 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
7/1/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="size-large wp-image-1785436" title="Technicians with Con Edison work on restoring power" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/71510434.jpg" alt="Technicians with Con Edison work on restoring power" width="590" height="402"/></a>
Technicians with Con Edison work on restoring power

NEW YORK—Contract negotiations between power giant Consolidated Edison and its unionized workers broke down early Sunday, prompting what union officials called a lockout of its 8,000 workers.

Con Edison said it has deployed 5,000 management personnel to fill field positions, but the company still closed walk-in centers and suspended meter readings.

The contract expired midnight Saturday. Negotiations between Con Edison and Utility Workers of America Local 1–2 stretched for more than 10 days, ending Sunday morning amid a heat wave and ahead of a heat advisory for New York City Sunday afternoon. The issues discussed during the negotiations included pensions, health care, and wages.

Con Edison said it had wanted a two-week extension of the current contract to buy time for the negotiations, with assurance that the union would not strike without notice. The union did not agree to the offer. Con Edison said the extension offer remains on the table, once the union agrees employees would be welcomed back.

The company said it also offered to continue negotiations if both sides agreed to give each other seven days of advance notice of a strike or work stoppage, but the union also rejected the offer.

“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 in a statement.

The union workers said they would be willing to work without a contract to keep the company running, and that the system is vulnerable without the workers. The union holds that it was Con Edison that cut off talks, kicking out union negotiators at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

The union said the locked out workers are now eligible for immediate unemployment benefits.

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