New York City's utility company locked out 8,500 workers during a summer heat wave in a bid to attack pensions and health care. Members marched, chanted, and cheered on pickets as the union questioned replacements' safety training.
Picket lines around New York City were dotted with umbrellas as utility workers sought shade from 97-degree temperatures as they marched, chanted, and cheered into their second week of a lockout.
Con Edison, the company that provides electricity for the city, locked workers out July 1 in an attempt to force Utility Workers Local 1-2 to convert the pension plan into a 401k that members say will pay out less when they retire.
Management is also demanding increased health care co-payments and offering little or no wage or cost-of-living increase.
Gwendolyn Young, an office assistant in the company’s law department, doesn’t believe Con Ed needs to make cuts. “I’m aware other companies are taking a loss,” she said, “but Con Edison can’t sing that song.”
The union reports that CEO Kevin Burke makes $4,800 per hour. He took home $11 million last year, as Con Ed recorded $1 billion in net income.
Con Edison said it had evicted 8,500 union utility workers from their jobs as a preemptive move, to head off a strike that would disrupt service to customers. The union said members would not agree to limit their right to strike as negotiations stalled. Con Edison dispatched 5,000 managerial employees to take their jobs.
Local 1-2 is emphasizing that locked-out utility workers are highly skilled and trained to ensure safety and quality service. They said Con Edison is risking replacement workers’ safety to pursue a destructive agenda. Already two managers have been sent to the hospital after injuries on the job, including one who received burns to his face.
The union questioned the training that replacement workers receive, noting that some are coming straight from desk jobs. A representative for the local said that burn injuries indicate that basic safety precautions aren’t being followed.
Reports of sporadic local service interruptions continued through last week, and the company has halted most meter reading and construction projects. The AFL-CIO state federation is asking consumers to tell New York’s public utility commission to investigate unsafe conditions for the replacement workers and pressuring politicians to weigh on the workers’ behalf.
WHERE’S THE A.C.? UWUA members on the picket lines described surprise and dismay that their employer would shut them out during a blistering heat wave, when demand for electricity is highest and company resources are strained.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said Frank Rodriguez, a steward and 36-year senior technician, on the line at Con Ed’s Manhattan headquarters.
Workers are eligible for unemployment benefits and even food stamps, but Con Ed cut off their health insurance. Some complained their last week of pay has been withheld.
The union was in negotiations Friday with management and mediators, but officials reported no progress.
As younger members with fewer than 10 years on the job, customer service reps Monica Figueroa and Latonya Lamert are upset with the hard line on concessions. They were attracted to working at the utility because of the benefits, particularly the pension.
“There’s no sense of mediation,” Lamert said. “We take care of the city well. They didn’t give it back to us.”
Sensing that unions are on the defensive, employers seeking to press a hard line at contract time are using lockouts more frequently. Bloomberg BNA, a business journal, reported that the ratio of lockouts to strikes was 1:10 in 2010-11, greater than 2000-2009 (1:18) and 1990-1999 (1:25).
Labor attorney Bob Schwartz argues that a lockout can be better for a union’s bargaining position than a strike, because members can collect unemployment benefits, gain the public’s sympathy by pointing out that the employer is refusing to let them work, and wield the threat of huge back-pay awards if the employer is found to have committed unfair labor practices during the lockout.
The union is pursuing ULPs, while the company is seeking an injunction to limit picketing.
In recent lockouts, many unions have had to accept serious concessions to get members back to work. UWUA Local 1-2 members are well aware of the brutal contract fights that have taken place around the country. Activists are trying to keep spirits up and keep their fellow members on the picket lines in sweltering July heat. Their popular “Burke is a jerk” chant rings through the streets.
The union estimated that more than 4,000 people came to the central picket last Thursday, led by supporters from other unions, including teachers, postal workers, transit workers, and communication workers.
“You couldn’t walk,” said Monica Figueroa, about the crowd at Con Ed headquarters. Her co-worker agreed. “It’s a good feeling,” said Lamert: “We’re not out here by ourselves.”
Though the link is only tentative, a copy of the article/letter in reference is below.
LETTERS Considering the 'Commanding Haidts' of Our Society Regarding Holman Jenkins's "The Weekend Interview with Jonathan Haidt" (June 30): The attempt to classify people as conservative or liberal is folly since we are always both, depending on the issue at hand. If we use the classical definitions, the conservatives supported the status quo of power and the liberals argued for laws and values that would justify their grab for equal power, or more, if possible. Thus the liberal was for free markets that allowed for class mobility and the conservative was for protectionism and security for the poor in exchange for political support.
Today, from an economic perspective, the liberal left are the old conservatives. They stand for authority and against free, competitive markets. Everything they tax and regulate slyly protects the prevailing status quo of wealth and power. They want to provide the masses with succor in exchange for support rather than an unencumbered liberty that would strike real fear into the upper class, the fear of competition. Despite the labels worn, those in power always act conservatively.
Every human is conservative in regard to what he has and liberal in regard to what he wants. This requires self-reflection and observation, the truth of which is found in action, not talk. Thomas Sowell's "Conflict of Visions" was about talk, not action. It doesn't take a genius to understand that clever people like liberty, and the dull equality, and that the ideologies people claim to possess are always hypothetical, just as the wealth they advocate for others is rarely their own.
Freedom?
ReplyDeleteNew York’s Locked-Out Utility Workers Try to Beat the Heat
Samantha Winslow | July 9, 2012
New York City's utility company locked out 8,500 workers during a summer heat wave in a bid to attack pensions and health care. Members marched, chanted, and cheered on pickets as the union questioned replacements' safety training.
Picket lines around New York City were dotted with umbrellas as utility workers sought shade from 97-degree temperatures as they marched, chanted, and cheered into their second week of a lockout.
Con Edison, the company that provides electricity for the city, locked workers out July 1 in an attempt to force Utility Workers Local 1-2 to convert the pension plan into a 401k that members say will pay out less when they retire.
Management is also demanding increased health care co-payments and offering little or no wage or cost-of-living increase.
Gwendolyn Young, an office assistant in the company’s law department, doesn’t believe Con Ed needs to make cuts. “I’m aware other companies are taking a loss,” she said, “but Con Edison can’t sing that song.”
The union reports that CEO Kevin Burke makes $4,800 per hour. He took home $11 million last year, as Con Ed recorded $1 billion in net income.
Con Edison said it had evicted 8,500 union utility workers from their jobs as a preemptive move, to head off a strike that would disrupt service to customers. The union said members would not agree to limit their right to strike as negotiations stalled. Con Edison dispatched 5,000 managerial employees to take their jobs.
Local 1-2 is emphasizing that locked-out utility workers are highly skilled and trained to ensure safety and quality service. They said Con Edison is risking replacement workers’ safety to pursue a destructive agenda. Already two managers have been sent to the hospital after injuries on the job, including one who received burns to his face.
The union questioned the training that replacement workers receive, noting that some are coming straight from desk jobs. A representative for the local said that burn injuries indicate that basic safety precautions aren’t being followed.
Reports of sporadic local service interruptions continued through last week, and the company has halted most meter reading and construction projects. The AFL-CIO state federation is asking consumers to tell New York’s public utility commission to investigate unsafe conditions for the replacement workers and pressuring politicians to weigh on the workers’ behalf.
WHERE’S THE A.C.?
ReplyDeleteUWUA members on the picket lines described surprise and dismay that their employer would shut them out during a blistering heat wave, when demand for electricity is highest and company resources are strained.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said Frank Rodriguez, a steward and 36-year senior technician, on the line at Con Ed’s Manhattan headquarters.
Workers are eligible for unemployment benefits and even food stamps, but Con Ed cut off their health insurance. Some complained their last week of pay has been withheld.
The union was in negotiations Friday with management and mediators, but officials reported no progress.
As younger members with fewer than 10 years on the job, customer service reps Monica Figueroa and Latonya Lamert are upset with the hard line on concessions. They were attracted to working at the utility because of the benefits, particularly the pension.
“There’s no sense of mediation,” Lamert said. “We take care of the city well. They didn’t give it back to us.”
Sensing that unions are on the defensive, employers seeking to press a hard line at contract time are using lockouts more frequently. Bloomberg BNA, a business journal, reported that the ratio of lockouts to strikes was 1:10 in 2010-11, greater than 2000-2009 (1:18) and 1990-1999 (1:25).
Labor attorney Bob Schwartz argues that a lockout can be better for a union’s bargaining position than a strike, because members can collect unemployment benefits, gain the public’s sympathy by pointing out that the employer is refusing to let them work, and wield the threat of huge back-pay awards if the employer is found to have committed unfair labor practices during the lockout.
The union is pursuing ULPs, while the company is seeking an injunction to limit picketing.
In recent lockouts, many unions have had to accept serious concessions to get members back to work. UWUA Local 1-2 members are well aware of the brutal contract fights that have taken place around the country. Activists are trying to keep spirits up and keep their fellow members on the picket lines in sweltering July heat. Their popular “Burke is a jerk” chant rings through the streets.
The union estimated that more than 4,000 people came to the central picket last Thursday, led by supporters from other unions, including teachers, postal workers, transit workers, and communication workers.
“You couldn’t walk,” said Monica Figueroa, about the crowd at Con Ed headquarters. Her co-worker agreed. “It’s a good feeling,” said Lamert: “We’re not out here by ourselves.”
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deletehttp://online.wsj.com/public/page/letters.html
ReplyDeleteThough the link is only tentative, a copy of the article/letter in reference is below.
LETTERS
Considering the 'Commanding Haidts' of Our Society
Regarding Holman Jenkins's "The Weekend Interview with Jonathan Haidt" (June 30): The attempt to classify people as conservative or liberal is folly since we are always both, depending on the issue at hand. If we use the classical definitions, the conservatives supported the status quo of power and the liberals argued for laws and values that would justify their grab for equal power, or more, if possible. Thus the liberal was for free markets that allowed for class mobility and the conservative was for protectionism and security for the poor in exchange for political support.
Today, from an economic perspective, the liberal left are the old conservatives. They stand for authority and against free, competitive markets. Everything they tax and regulate slyly protects the prevailing status quo of wealth and power. They want to provide the masses with succor in exchange for support rather than an unencumbered liberty that would strike real fear into the upper class, the fear of competition. Despite the labels worn, those in power always act conservatively.
Every human is conservative in regard to what he has and liberal in regard to what he wants. This requires self-reflection and observation, the truth of which is found in action, not talk. Thomas Sowell's "Conflict of Visions" was about talk, not action. It doesn't take a genius to understand that clever people like liberty, and the dull equality, and that the ideologies people claim to possess are always hypothetical, just as the wealth they advocate for others is rarely their own.
John Sullivan
Youngstown, Ohio