June 29, 2008
Con Ed, Union Talks Extended Another 72 Hours
Con Ed and the union representing 9,000 members agreed to extend their contract negotiations for another three days, after Governor David Paterson intervened late yesterday.
The governor's spokesman Errol Cockfield said Paterson "expressed his concern that there should be no disruption in services and asked them to agree to a...cooling-off period. The governor suggested this time would allow tempers to subside and then both parties could return to the bargaining table in a more measured and rational manner." Yeah - the last thing Paterson wants is a strike, even if he's recovering from cataract surgery.
The union, Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America which represents the majority of Con Ed's workforce, wants a better package of wages, health care benefits and pensions and was insulted by Con Ed's only offer in a week and a half--a 0.5% raise for the first year, followed by 1% in later years. Union spokesman Joe Flaherty said, "We hope Con Ed will come to its senses and start bargaining in good faith in the interest of the good people of New York City and Westchester County, who would be inconvenienced."
And while Con Ed has previously said its management was ready to work if workers went on strike (pointing out managers had come from up from the ranks, too), Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said, "It's not a matter of if [a contract is worked out] but when."
The old contract runs out at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. The last strike was in 1983.
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A "cooling off period.." that's rich considering the number of window a/c units north of 96th St. that are going to be impacted by a strike.
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get ready for a nice hike in electric rates because of this, just like tax rates because of gov't labor unions. unfortunately those of us who pay these taxes and rates have no choices in these matters and simply have to pay for inadequate, non merit based work. costa are skyrocketing everywhere and people are losing jobs yet these guys want larger pensions and more pay?!
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costs are skyrocketing everywhere and people are losing jobs yet these guys want larger pensions and more pay?!
there's just a huge and growing disconnect between what's going on in a lot of the private sector versus the public sector...
In most private sector jobs, you get a slightly better salary, but that is eaten away by higher health care insurance costs. Plus you don't get a retirement benefit, you just get to contribute whatever you can to a 401K, which frequently fail to meet the rosy projections of 7+% year over year gains used by financial analysts -- indeed, a lot of people end up LOSING money in 401ks.
Meanwhile, we see unionized and public sector jobs where there is almost full job security, pensions, etc. On the government side, those salaries are paid for by the taxes of the very citizens these workers frequently shit upon. Which is not entirely relevant to the Con Ed workers, but let's face it.
Most of us aren't very happy with Con Ed-- higher rates, random electric shocks killing pets, steam pipe explosions, blackouts almost every year... and now the workers are complaining that they're deal isn't sweet enough. I'm not saying that a pay increase above the 1% a year offered isn't warranted- I don't know that.
But every day we are being subjected to reports of how housing is crashing, jobs are fleeing the U.S., banks are laying people off left and right, taxes are insufficient to cover all of the existing entitlements, costs of everything are increasing as the value of the dollar is decreasing. On top of that, Social Security and Medicare present almost unfathomable shortfalls -- literally trillions of dollars -- looming on the financial horizon.
I don't know if things are truly as bad as all the negative economic reporting seems to indicate, but it sure seems like we are trapped in a downward financial spiral. Are we on the brink of a depression? How did everything get so screwed up? "George W. Bush" is a quick and easy answer, but our situation goes a lot deeper than the current occupant of the White House. We have a vast system of elected and unelected officials, Democrats and Republicans alike, who are paid by our tax dollars to manage things, who have been playing a variety of shell games and ponzi schemes with our taxes for decades, and the charade is not going to last forever. Tax increases are almost certainly necessary, but those increases can't be squandered on more handout programs, instead need to fix the very real problems that already exist. Sadly, it doesn't seem like any government organization is capable of responsibly holding the keys to our big collective piggybank. Anyway, my thoughts have wandered far afield of the potential ConEd strike, sorry for that.
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Oh no, now Queens might lose power for a week!