Con Edison Workers Threaten Strike

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The utility Consolidated Edison and the union representing 9,000 of its employees are nowhere near a new contract agreement, a spokesman for the union said yesterday, adding that it seemed the company was trying to provoke a labor dispute.

“There’s literally scores of issues that remain unaddressed” as the Saturday midnight deadline gets closer, Joe Flaherty, a spokesman for the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, which represents workers in Westchester County and all the city’s boroughs except Staten Island, said.

“It looks to us that it’s a stonewall effort” to force the workers into a strike, he said.

The union members work with Con Ed’s steam, gas, and electric systems, and part of their jobs includes making repairs. They voted earlier this month to authorize a strike.

Con Ed said yesterday it looked forward to “productive discussions” with the union leadership.

“We are currently in negotiations, and we expect to reach a successful conclusion,” it said in a statement.

Mr. Flaherty said that among the main issues are how many years it takes for employees in certain jobs to get to top salary scale, how much workers are expected to contribute toward medical care, and what kind of retirement plan employees have.

He said a mediator had been brought in to try to help the two sides come up with a solution. The talks are in around-the-clock mode and are taking place in a hotel in New Jersey.

It’s not the first time that contract talks between Con Ed and its union have been difficult. Previous contract negotiations have gone down to the wire. The workers last went on strike in 1983.


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