Con Ed

Con Edison Lockout Ends: Tentative Agreement Reached on 4 Year Contract;

Submitted by Squaring Off on Sun, 07/29/2012 - 10:01
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NEW YORK, July 27th 2012--Utitlity workers of Local 1-2, UWUA, report to work for the 7am shift at Con Edison HQ, 4 Irving place. after being locked out since July 1. On Thursday , after months of fruitless negotiations over renewal of their 4-year contract, Governor Cuomo looked at the weather forecast and intervened. The potential damage to the grid and outages that might be caused by a major storm were apparently enough to force both sides to resolve their differences. Talks took place in Cuomo's Manhattan offices.

Con Ed Lockout Ends: Miracle of the Storm

Submitted by Squaring Off on Sat, 07/28/2012 - 16:37
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NEW YORK, July 27--Ending a 26-day lockout of 8500 employees, initiated on July 1 by Con Edison with no advance notice, members of Local 1-2 report to their 7am shift following an agreement reached yesterday between management and union leaders. With the threat of a major storm or even a derecho hitting New York City, the two sides who had failed to reach agreement on major contract issues in months of negotiations were brought together by Governor Andrew Cuomo in his Manhattan office and not allowed to leave until they reached a deal. Without knowing exactly what transpired in the conference room, it seems that the safety of New Yorkers and the integrity of the grid were placed above either side's interests.

Labor Rally In Support of Con Ed Lockout Draws Thousands From Other Unions

Submitted by Squaring Off on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 16:11

 

Con Ed Engages in Surface Bargaining; Union Square Labor Rally Draws Thousands

By Liza Béar

 

NEW YORK, JULY 19. 2012--It’s been a busy week for the locked out Con Ed workers, with 24/7 rotating protests at the 4 Irving Place picket line and uptown in front of CEO Kevin Burke’s 455 East 86th Manhattan residence, culminating in a formidable and vociferous show of support from several thousand members of at least a dozen other unions in a solidarity labor rally at Union Square.

Creative handmade cardboard signs now proliferate in addition to the glossy official Union red printed mainstays.

According to Gary Magliari, a UWUA Local 1-2 shop steward interviewed at the picket line, the lock out was due not to failed negotiations, as Con Ed claims, but was a deliberate act, a strategic move that was planned years in advance of the union's contract running out on July 1. Stripping away union benefits, says Magliari, is part of Con Ed's move towards needed consolidation prior to selling the company, to make it more attractive to a buyer without a freighted 4-year union contract. http://youtu.be/1jptOdNQZ0c

“What is going in their meetings is an endless barrage of pie charts, statistics and power point presentations that describe Con Edison’s new world order…” said Magliari quoting a source close to the talks. ” It is absolutely surreal.”

On Saturday July 14 at 6:30pm  Local 1-2 texted an announcement  from its president Harry Farrell that medical benefits had been reinstated  retroactively for all 8500 locked out Con Ed employees.  This is their only concession so far.

But pressure to end the lock-out , believed by the union to be the largest in US history,  and to provide a fair contract is mounting both from the labor movement and public officials.