| NEW YORK, July 17-- A massive turn out of several thousand from at least a dozen different unions in support of Local 1-2 of UWUA, now in the third week of a lock-out--not a strike--by Con Edison who serves 3.2 million customers in New York and Westchester, The 8500 locked out employees have been replaced by 5000 managers and --in a highly provocative move by the company--out-of-state workers from Alabama, Virginia and Tennessee. Union members and supporters assembled at 4 Irving Place in front of the Con Edison HQ and marched north to 17th Street before turning west to the North Plaza of Union Square, a historic site for labor rallies. Occupy signs and banners were very much in evidence as were many familiar faces from Zuccotti actions. Mike Langford president of AFL-CIO led the round of rousing speeches from union leaders, to chants of "We Are One"building up to the finale by Harry Farrell, president of UWUA who is leading the negotiating team with management. This video excerpt features, among others, Chris Shelton, VP. CWA, District 1, whose own Verizon workers are still without a contract. "We cannot let you lose," Shelton declaimed, because if you lose, all working people lose." Filmed by Liza Béar, Squaring Off, lizajbear@gmail.com | Views: 1 0 ratings |
