CALLING ALL UNION MEMBERS, OWS AND SUPPORTERS OF WORKER RIGHTS
JOIN MEMBERS OF UTILITY WORKERS OF AMERICA
LOCAL 1-2
STARTING THURSDAY, JULY 5TH AT 8:00 AM
PROTEST THE LOCKOUT OF LOCAL 1-2 REPRESENTED
WORKERS BY CON EDISON
CON-ED CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
4
IRVING PLACE IN MANHATTAN
(1 Block from Union Square)
(1 Block from Union Square)
WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME OUT AND SUPPORT OUR
CAUSE
STOP CORPORATE GREED!!
SHOW CON-ED & THE REST OF THE COUNTRY
THAT THE 99%
WILL STAND STRONG AND UNITED!!
WE WILL NOT LET CON-ED BUST OUR UNION OR
DENY
OUR MEMBERS FAIR WAGES
AND BENEFITS.
BRING SIGNS, WHISTLE OR UNION
BANNERS. LET OUR
VOICES BE HEARD!!!
This is 24/7 picket !!!!!!!!!!!!"
Please click HERE to
sign the pledge and leave a comment of your support for the 8,500
Con Ed workers that have now been forced into the street.
We will contact you with more information on how you can stand with the workers of UWUA 1-2 in the coming days and weeks ahead.
Con Ed Locks Out Workers During NYC Heat Wave!
Con Edison, the energy company which provides electricity to 3.2 million households in New
York City and Westchester County to the north, is increasingly running
the risk of power outages, delays in service and even deaths in the
worst heat wave of the year after locking out 8,500 UWUA Local 1-2 represented employees.
The lockout means that Con Ed is refusing to allow union employees to report for work and be available to respond to utility emergencies.
The Union had threatened a strike when the current contract expired in the early morning hours of July 1, but Local 1-2 officials say they offered to keep members working under the terms of the old contract while talks continued.
However, according to an In These Times report, Con Ed demanded that the union promise seven days' notice before declaring a strike. When Local 1-2 refused, the company initiated the lockout.
On Monday, a spokesman for Con Ed told Crain’s New York Business: “In order to protect customers we need a guarantee that there won’t be a sudden work stoppage. We need to run the system safely and reliably and a sudden work stoppage would put that in jeopardy.”
The lockout means that Con Ed is refusing to allow union employees to report for work and be available to respond to utility emergencies.
The Union had threatened a strike when the current contract expired in the early morning hours of July 1, but Local 1-2 officials say they offered to keep members working under the terms of the old contract while talks continued.
However, according to an In These Times report, Con Ed demanded that the union promise seven days' notice before declaring a strike. When Local 1-2 refused, the company initiated the lockout.
On Monday, a spokesman for Con Ed told Crain’s New York Business: “In order to protect customers we need a guarantee that there won’t be a sudden work stoppage. We need to run the system safely and reliably and a sudden work stoppage would put that in jeopardy.”
The reality,
however, is that the company’s attempt to maintain operations with
5,000 management employees is posing a severe threat to both the ability
of the system to function and the managers being plugged into the
locked out workers’ jobs.
One management replacement worker has already been injured, receiving burns on Monday at a job site in Brooklyn.
Con Edison, which saw profits of over a billion dollars last year, is asking
for significant givebacks in the workers’ health plan and the ripping up
of their pension plan, replacing it with a 401(k) dependent on the
vacillations of the stock market, along with salary freezes.
Management also wants to nearly double workers' contributions for
health insurance to $133 a week for a family plan--with co-pays
increasing from $28 to $40. This would basically wipe out the token
raise of $1 an hour being offered.
The company also wants to change sick leave policy. As it is, workers
are "allowed" three sick "frequencies" per year (a frequency is one to
three days off in a row). After the third "frequency," they are written
up. Another frequency results in suspension and denial of raises and
promotions for one year.
The company wants to make even that draconian policy even harsher.
According to Mike, a Con Ed worker on the picket line this week, the
company proposal would "reduce pay while on medical leave to 75 percent
the first week, 65 percent after six weeks, 55 percent after 12 weeks
and termination after 26 weeks."
Elias Claudio, a worker with 25 years of experience at Con Ed, said
about the lockout, “They want to take our pensions, benefits, and have
us not get raises. Con Ed CEO Kevin Burke is getting millions of
dollars already and he does not care about our pensions. Con Ed
President Craig Ivey is behind it; they brought him in from the South,
and he is known for busting unions.
“If we win this it will help
every worker and every union. If we win, Verizon workers will get a
contract. The managers will even benefit because they lost their
pensions, too, and they might be able to get them back.
“If we
lose it will affect workers all over America. Even the cops are
encouraging us because they know if we lose, their benefits will be
under attack.”
Local 1-2 has agreed to resume negotiations with the company on Thursday,July 5. Government mediators will be present
at the negotiations.
We will contact you with more information on how you can stand with the workers of UWUA 1-2 in the coming days and weeks ahead.
2 comments:
You want to reduce pay while employees are on sick leave? That's exactly when they need a higher pay! Shame on you!
CUOMO IN BED WITH CON ED
If you can can Call or Email Cuomo about why there is no intervention from the Governor, Staring today I & all locked out employees collect an unemployment check. That costs the NY State $3.5 million dollars a week & an additional $7million dollars in taxes that will not be deducted a week from our weekly paychecks. That is $10 million dollars a week of lost revenue for NY State. Gov Cuomo has not intervened like prior Governor Paterson did & stopped a lockout from happening on the exact same issues.
Governor Cuomo office by phone (518) 474-8390
gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us
Here is WHY .............
This is why Cuomo is quiet, his right hand man is on Con Ed's Board of Directors. Politics/Corruption as usual.
A Main Cuomo Adviser Runs A Low Profile
Del Giudice Was Mario Cuomo's Chief
Larger
By JACOB GERSHMAN
Michael Del Giudice's name does not appear in the list of dozens of people whom Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo has appointed to his transition committee. And Mr. Cuomo rarely mentions him in public comments.
But aides to the governor-elect say Mr. Del Giudice is one of the few people in Albany whom Mr. Cuomo regularly turns to for advice on running state government. In fact, the 67-year-old Mr. Del Giudice has been serving such a role all the way back to the first Cuomo administration.
"Mike is one of the true wise men of state government who provides invaluable advice and insight to the Governor-elect," Benjamin Lawsky, a top aide to Mr. Cuomo, said via email. "His decades of experience combined with his youthful vigor make him not only a sage advisor to Andrew but also a mentor and friend to many of us."
Even while keeping a low profile, Mr. Del Giudice is a widely admired and deeply connected figure in state politics. He has built a lucrative career within the overlapping arenas of business and government.
On top of his day job—managing private-equity funds that invest in power projects as chairman of Rockland Capital, which he founded—Mr. Del Giudice also serves on the boards of Con-Ed, which is regulated by the state Public Service Commission, and the New York Racing Association. He just completed an 11-year stint on the board ofBarnes & Noble, BKS -6.36% which is headed by a major Cuomo donor, Leonard Riggio.
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo said Mr. Del Giudice has signed a conflict-of-interest agreement and does not advise the governor-elect on energy and horse-racing matters that could conflict with his responsibilities at Con-Ed and NYRA.
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