Union Files Petition With State Against Con Ed

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. — As Con Edison’s lockout of union workers continues in the midst of a heat wave, Local 1-2 Utility Workers Union of America filed a petition Wednesday with the New York State Public Service Commission stating that the utility company is unable to sustain services to the public with its smaller work force.

Con Ed locked 8,500 union workers out of the company and recruited 5,000 of its managers to take over duties in the company’s service areas of Westchester and the five boroughs after the union’s contract expired and talks broke down July 1.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Commission Secretary Jaclyn A. Brilling has asked the company to respond to the union's petition by July 17.

Negotiations on a new contract between Con Edison and the union resumed Thursday morning, after meetings Wednesday made no headway.

Also on Wednesday, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sent a letter to Con Ed CEO Kevin Burke, asking him to end the lockout.

“Con Edison’s decision to unilaterally impose a lockout during a heat wave, after 30 years of no job disruptions, was an escalation of management/labor tensions to an unprecedented degree, placing many New Yorkers’ lives in danger,” her letter states.

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