Union and Con Ed Set to Meet on Thursday

Union leaders and Consolidated Edison have scheduled talks for Thursday to see if a solution can be reached following failed contract talks and a lockout on Sunday.

Unionized workers have been picketing in the wake of a break down in negotiations. A union spokesman said Harry Farrell, president of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America, on Monday will call for federal mediators to intervene to get talks started again.

Both sides said there are many issues on which they have not reached agreement.

Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said the utility gave the union the option of extending the current contract while negotiations were ongoing.

"We offered to the union extend it another two weeks with the assurance that we'd have adequate notice if they decided to have a strike," he said. "They refused to make that agreement, so we had to take the action that we did."

Union spokesman John Melia said the unions have a problem with that.

"Do you know what that does?" Melia asked, referring to the offer, "That takes away the union's ability at the bargaining table, because you cannot strike during a contract extension."

Melia said the workers he represents are willing to work to keep the power company running.

"Our men and women would return to work and work without a contract," he said, "But there was no way they would give up the little leverage they had to negotiate a fair contract."

Negotiations stopped just before 2 a.m. Sunday, a couple of hours after the existing contract expired. The impasse came as New York braced for more high temperatures that will increase demand for air conditioning among the utility's 3.2 million customers.

There were about 200 outages overnight, nearly all of which were resolved by morning, Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert said Monday. He said management personnel were standing by, ready to address any problems.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also said the city was checking to make sure the electric grid stays up. “So far we’ve not had any problems. There’s always routine things that go out and we do seem to be getting a little break here with the humidity. But we’re watching it and we’ll make sure that things are fine.”

Con Ed closed walk-in centers, suspended meter readings and limited work on major construction projects in New York after the talks broke down and workers were locked out.

Ken Margulies, with Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said lock outs have become a more common tactic because companies are seeking more labor concessions more often. He said it's a way for managers to flip the script. "The unions and their members used to say if we don't get some increasing benefits or changes we want by a certain date, then we'll go on strike. The managers just flipped it on them," he explained.

Outside Con Edison's headquarters near Union Square on Monday, about 100 union workers are picketing.

Salvatore Guercio, who's on the executive board of Local 1-2, said Con Ed is seeking to squeeze too much from healthcare and pensions.

"They refused to negotiate in good faith." he said. "They wanted us to give them the two-week extension because of the heat wave. We said, 'No, you want us to do that take a lot of stuff off the table.' and they refused to do that."

Guercio said one manager suffered minor burns at a substation in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, early Monday.

"They sending them out to take care of manhole covers and substations. They cannot handle it, not what we do. We have been trained, we are professionals, we've been doing this job for years and years."

Con Ed officials said the injury was minor and the worker has been treated and will return to work tonight.

Temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s and low 90s throughout the week.

Frank Allen is making sure the heat doesn't blow his power at home in upper Manhattan. "I turn off the air conditioner when I leave home," said Allen, 61, who was shopping in the Union Square neighborhood.

"It's not too good when the wires go out, and there's no one to fix them, Allen said. "The workers should get whatever they deserve - just do it for us, Con Ed."

He has cats at home, but he's not worried leaving them without air conditioning. "They find their way to some cool corner."

And when he goes to work, heat is far from a problem: Allen works in a 33-degree space, in the refrigeration unit of the Fresh Direct food delivery company in Queens' Long Island City.

"In a heat wave, I wear long johns."

At an electronics and air conditioning retailer across the street from Con Ed, manager Ramon Nieves said there have been multiple power outages in recent years in his Queens neighborhood.

"I'm mad at Con Ed - what are they thinking?" he said. "A lot of people could get sick in this heat."

He said his store sold about 35 percent more air conditioners this month than in the same, cooler period last year.

The extreme weather included vicious storms from Indiana to New Jersey and south to Virginia that left 17 people dead and 2.7 million without power. Most of the damage came in the mid-Atlantic region, and only scattered outages across Con Ed's service area in New York were reported as of Sunday. Con Ed said it is keeping a close watch on its system and has trained managers working on essential operations.

Union spokesman Melia disputed the company's claim that its managers could do the job of the union workers.

"They know what happens in a heat wave, they know they don't have the expertise to fix it," he said. "They don't have the technical knowledge."

Con Ed said if the union agreed to the extension, employees would be welcomed back.

"We can't operate the system safely, reliably for our customers if the union were to take some sort of strike action without any advance notice," Clendenin said Monday.

Negotiations lasted just over 10 days over a range of issues, including pensions, heath care and wages.

"This is very unfortunate. Both sides are very far part," Clendenin said.

Melia said the union negotiators were kicked out of the room in what he called a "union-busting tactic."

"This is not a labor issue," he said. "This is a corporate monopoly."

He said the two sides had been talking when the company demanded the union sign the contract extension, and that Con Ed locked workers out when the union said it preferred to keep talking and keep workers at the jobs without a contract in the interim.

Beth Fertig, Annmarie Fertoli and Alec Hamilton contributed reporting