Con-Ed Attacks Pensions With Lockout, Utility Workers Say It's Union Busting

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1732485

7/3/2012

By Doug Cunningham

[John Melia]: “They want to reduce our health benefits. They don’t really want to talk about a wage increase. They want everything. You know what they want? They wanna be the lords and they wanna have their workers be the peasants.”

Utility Workers of America Local 1-2’s John Melia. Con-Ed has locked out 8,500 union workers in New York City in the midst of a dangerous heat wave. Con-Ed is trying to destroy defined-benefit pensions by phasing them out. That’s the biggest sticking point in the labor negotiations. And Melia says it’s an effort to bust the Utility Workers Union in New York City.

[John Melia 2]: “That is the big sticking point, especially when you contrast it to the chairman and CEO Kevin Burke, who has an $18 million pension balance , not to mention the millions he has in Con-Ed stock. That $18 million is his pension fund, that’s cash. He just signed a deal for $25 million in May to continue being a union buster. For the utility bill people in New York receive every month form Con-Ed – for their heat and the light – only five percent of that cost comes from their labor costs, the members of Local 1-2.”

The Utility Workers union is concerned about the safety of the people of New York City and Westchester while Con-Ed locks out utility workers during this heat wave. Local 1-2 President Harry Farrell says Con-Ed CEO Kevin Burke’s attitude is “the public be damned” and he’s acting like a 19th century robber baron. The union and Con-Ed are scheduled to talk on Thursday. Melia said the public can help the workers get a fair contract by calling Con-Ed and demanding that it negotiate fairly.

[John Melia 3]: “When is the madness gonna stop. When are you gonna treat your workers with dignity? When are we going to be able to be assured of reliable service at all times?”

[BeyondGeography]

1. They're putting managers in manholes and one got his face burnt today

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ed-manager-filling-locked-worker-labor-dispute-burned-manhole-explosion-article-1.1107883

[ProfessionalLeftist]

2. "he’s acting like a 19th century robber baron"

That says it all. No limit to greed.

EDIT:

The first comment following the article is a real gem. Ignorant jerk.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

3. Member of SEIU 1199NW here

It's time for all Unions to band together and call for a general strike in support of the Con-Ed workers.

[cstanleytech]

4. Well can they afford the benefits package? I mean are they able to make payroll and or pay vendors?

After all its one thing if a company is in trouble and cutting the benefits for a time is the only way to save it (though if they cut benefits then the pay, perks and benefits executives get when they leave should be cut to) its another thing if its being done if the company isnt in financial trouble.

[Omaha Steve]

7. 60.5 cent dividend, stock last closed at 62.57

Dividend info: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61493&p=irol-dividends

Stock price: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61493&p=irol-stockQuote

They aren't hurting for $ in any way, shape, or form!

[cstanleytech]

8. A dividend cant tell us if they can afford the benefits though nor can the stocks value though it

is an indicator that they probably arent losing money.
The union should push for an independent auditor be allowed to come in and review it if they havent already and go from there.

[Omaha Steve]

10. Con Edison Reports 2012 First Quarter Earnings

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61493&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1691584&highlight=

Con Edison Reports 2012 First Quarter Earnings

NEW YORK, NY, May 03, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --Consolidated Edison, Inc. (Con Edison) (NYSE: ED) today reported first quarter earnings of $277 million or $0.95 a share compared with $311 million or $1.07 a share in 2011. Earnings from ongoing operations, which exclude the net mark-to-market effects of the competitive energy businesses, were $295 million or $1.01 a share compared with $289 million or $0.99 a share in 2011.

"First quarter results were in line with expectations," said Con Edison's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Burke. "Our field operations benefited from a milder than normal winter, while providing the reliability our customers expect and deserve. We have continued to promote energy efficiency programs and oil-to-gas conversions, both of which will serve to save customers money while improving the area's air quality and environment."

The following table is a reconciliation of Con Edison's reported earnings per share to earnings per share from ongoing operations and reported net income to earnings from ongoing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011.


Net Income for
Common Stock
Earnings (Millions of
per Share Dollars)
------------------ ------------------
2012 2011 2012 2011
-------- -------- -------- --------
Reported earnings per share and net
income for common stock - GAAP basis
(basic) $ 0.95 $ 1.07 $ 277 $ 311
Less: Net mark-to-market effects of
competitive energy businesses (0.06) 0.08 (18) 22
-------- -------- -------- --------
Ongoing operations $ 1.01 $ 0.99 $ 295 $ 289
======== ======== ======== ========

And they continue to raise the dividend: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61493&p=irol-dividends

Investor Relations
Dividend History

Con Edison has increased dividends for 38 consecutive years.

[cstanleytech]

11. So thats after the pay into the benefit funds or before?

Last edited Thu Jul 5, 2012, 03:14 PM - Edit history (2)

If after it looks like they can afford it I want to say but what are the projections for the future in regards to the benefits?
What I mean (and my apologies for not being able to write more clearly) is that in the end are the benefits funded and can they be sustained without bankrupting the company?

[Omaha Steve]

12. earnings per share and net

This is AFTER all expenses of the company are paid. The pension fund is not pay as you go. There is an account that both the company and employees pay into.

Evey CEO for major corporations have a contract with the board of directors. Bonus structure, fringe package, pay, etc. EVERYTHING is spelled out.

Why can't the Con Ed workers have a reasonable contract since the company is making great profits?

OS

[cstanleytech]

13. Thanks. Sounds like pure greed then on the part of the corporation in which

case the union needs to tell them where to shove it.

[madrchsod]

5. so he`s is going to hire scab labor...

well good luck with that buddy. the bill payers hate paying what they have to pay now so just wait when they find there rates will not come down and the repair service will be almost non existent.

[freshwest]

6. I was involved in a strike for the same reasons in the early eighties.

Last edited Thu Jul 5, 2012, 04:56 AM - Edit history (1)

This has not stopped since Ronnie Raygun, the great leap backward, may he... Okay, back to the OP.

We struck, and our the company was very management heavy to begin with. I don't know about this one, but I suspect they have a lot of white collar workers and some blue collar who are willing to scab. They will put the really onerous jobs off, do them slowly.

The lack of service? They don't care, and will spin it with the coporate media to get the public to believe their outage is due to the strike, pitting them against the union.

Because a lot of outages even in bad weather, are due to corporations refusing to maintain and replace their existing plant. They wait until there's an emergency so they can write it off. They knew the plant was vulnerable but put it off for decades to keep their profits high instead of thinking of the public.

After the strike is resolves, the scabs in our case, were given easier jobs than more of the union people. One would think that the company would then provide OT to get the plant restored quickly. No, they didn't, to punish the union members who'd lost money during the strike. And to further blame the union for the work being slow.

They don't care about the workers or the public, only profits. Which is why they should be nationalized to keep their focus right. Union members often do not have much to show for strikes, they have been only keeping their heads above water since Reagan.

In our case, we maintained a slight COLA, kept our benefits but got no wage increase. Naturally, it being a RTW state, we had to keep on representing the scabs in their grievances that followed later. They really thought their status would be maintained by managers but they just didn't make it that far.

I find myself having mixed feelings now about unions fighting for retirement benefits. It is important but I still feel it is a losing battle. My union negotiated every thing including all benefits. We worked under those benefits and recieved less money a contractor would have for the work. They didn't do the same quality work but they got their money up front.

And after all these years of negotiated benefits, we are now being told by the benefit adminstrators which are to be paid by the corporation, that our pension may not be coming at all, because the corporation is not making as much profit as it once did, which isn't a revelation to any of us not making as much as we once did. Now we are left holding a 'guaranteed' 'defined benefit' 'certificate' in our personal portfolio for years and it's not worth the paper it was printed on.

So, did we sell ourselves out? What does labor need to change in their current negotiations, when the management fails to act honorably, having gotten our labor for less, based on a promise they are not going to keep? The corporation isn't going out of business, just not making the percentage it once did. What now, other than just suck it up.

I wish I had the right words to tell these folks the best way to get the promises kept that they are fighting for today. But never forget, they are promises, only.

[John Robinson]

9. How to let the government respond

How the government pension and social welfare to deal with, so big gap

[reposter]

14. How New York Labor Can Beat the Con Edison Corporation

Con Edison is a billion dollar power company in New York that is waging war against its workforce. In doing so millions of other people are at risk of facing power outages during a heat wave. In order to force concessions on the union – Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 1-2 – the company has brought in 5,000 managers to do the work of the 8,000 workers. The workers are 'locked out' of their jobs until they are forced to make concessions for the sake of the company's profits. For the union to win - and it can - it must change tactics, and quickly.

A lockout to prevent a strike?

Con Ed placed a message up on its website saying that it was trying to offer the union every chance to keep working while the discussions continue, but because the union leadership would not agree to a 7-day strike notification, Con Ed was forced to lock the workers out.

There are obvious flaws in the Con Ed statement. Why would you lock out a workforce to prevent them from striking if you are truly concerned about service interruptions? The lockout was triggered over disagreements between the union and Con Ed regarding the company's request for a 7-day strike notification.

This was clearly a weak excuse to cover the fact that Con Ed was preparing a replacement force all along. Con Ed's messaging was an attempt to garner sympathy from the community so as not to appear like strike breakers. In all actuality, Con Ed went on the offensive, using physical force -the lockout - to demoralize the workforce into accepting the company's attack on their health care and pensions.

The work that is being done now is by people from the ranks of management with inferior skills who have not had the experience needed to properly run the complex electrical networks. Already there have been reports of supervisor injuries and power outages in the short time that the Con Ed lockout has taken place.

Con Ed has been forced to significantly curtail many of the services it delivers right in the middle of a heat wave that is devastating New York City among other areas along the East Coast.

The heat waves and power outages affect all workers who have a direct stake that this battle is not won by those seeking to profit from something so obviously in the public interest as energy. This is further reason why this struggle cannot be isolated and made to sound like a "typical labor issue.”

Strategy and Tactics

The fact that Con Ed had the gumption to pull off the lockout is another desperate cry for Labor to abandon the treadmill bargaining timelines and more importantly the predictable ineffective tactics permitted by the National Labor Relations Board that seem to have been designed to benefit the employers the most.

Contract bargaining usually has tight rules around when bargaining begins and ends and this has been in place for well over 70 years. Unions have become accustomed to tailoring their bargaining policy around these timelines and tactics. This makes bargaining largely predictable, which mostly benefits the employer.

The union had been telegraphing to the media and through online reports its intent to possibly strike. This tactic was being used during a time in which Con Ed was planning to defeat such a strike. The predictability of the union's strategy was exploited by Con Ed, which took the bold initiative by locking out the workforce.

The union is now on the defensive; its strategy is limited to calling for federal mediation to end the lockout. This strategy is suicidal for the workers, who are now forced to watch as management is escorted into the building to break their resistance and implement health care reductions and put a 401(k) scheme in place of their defined pensions.

The union's strategy currently doesn't rely on the strength of the union membership and puts the union's fate into the hands of a federal government agency that has proven itself to be as anti-union as its predecessor.

The union instead should mobilize the New York City area Labor Movement and wider community allies to overcome the power exerted by the company.

This can be done by calling on the entire New York Labor Movement - as well as the broader community - to form a mass picket line of thousands to prevent the company's managers from entering and running the company.

Nothing short of this kind of bold action can overcome the determined strategy of the company; this is a struggle that cannot be won by the workers pleading to the government. The company is forcing the issue to their benefit; only an organized force in the workers direction can overcome this.

By simply making their intentions known that they intend to form a mass picket line, the union would win leverage; the union will have inspired the community by waging a serious fightback against corporate power, while striking fear into the heart of the company.

If different unions and community groups vow to join the mass picket, the company will continue to lose ground. As momentum is built for the action, the company may decide to give in before the mass picketing even comes into existence.

If the company refused to budge in the face of a mass picket, the union could win further community support by relieving fears of service disruption, by demanding to be allowed to run the company during the mass picket to ensure New Yorkers delivery of the full complement of needed electrical services. If the company were to continue to refuse, the workers could use the picket line strength to enter the facilities, with the intention of running the company operations themselves, in the interests of the community.

Such a struggle would obviously bring up discussions about the problems of having giant corporations running energy corporations for profit in the same way that the Enron disaster did where Enron manipulated prices to gouge the public and boost their profits. To this extent the demand would emerge to make Con Ed a public utility so that energy could be run in the public's interest, not for the profit of the company’s owners.

As of the time of this report, bargaining is set to continue on Thursday, July 5th, which may or may not bring an end to the standoff.

Workers everywhere must learn from the Con Ed struggle and realize that militant, organized force is the only thing to overcome the force of management and the government that represents their interests, the interests of the 1% first and foremost.

As usual the AFL-CIO has abdicated organizing any meaningful solidarity support, as they are too busy immersing themselves in the electoral season. Solidarity statements are meaningless without solidarity actions.

For more info email at: [email protected]

Resources for this article

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video/7460458-union-workers-protest-con-ed-lock-out/

http://www.coned.com/customer-info/page2.asp

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ed-manager-filling-locked-worker-labor-dispute-burned-manhole-explosion-article-1.1107883

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2012/06/28/strike-looms-during-heat-wave-for-con-ed-workers/

[Omaha Steve]

15. Welcome to the DU and the Labor Group

Great post!

OS