9,000 Con Edison workers threaten strike

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/06/25/2008-06-25_con_edison_workers_threaten_strike.html

BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Wednesday, June 25th 2008, 9:09 PM

Nine thousand Con Edison workers are threatening to walk off the job early Sunday morning after contract talks with the utility stalled, their union says.

"We're miles and miles apart," said Joe Flaherty, spokesman for the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, which represents electric, gas and steam workers in all boroughs except Staten Island, as well as Westchester County.

Flaherty said Con Ed is refusing to budge on wages and medical costs, as well as a proposal that workers who retire while on workers' compensation have to repay benefits from their pensions.

"It's basically the Nancy Reagan school of negotiations - 'Just say no,'" he said. "It seems to us that they want to initiate a walkout."

Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin declined to discuss the status of the talks, but said utility managers are prepared to handle a strike.

"We plan for any contingencies - strike-related, too," he said. "More than half of our management is up from the ranks themselves."

The last contract talks four years ago were resolved right on the deadline and ratified by 55% of workers. Con Ed workers last went on strike in 1983, walking out for nine weeks that included a three-day blackout confined to a small midtown area.

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