This weekend the Governor took it upon himself to stand between Con Edison and Local 1-2 of the UWUA to avert a strike of more than 9,000 members that help the power grid of New York City humming. The workers were set to walk out at 12am yesterday, but now the two sides are still at the bargaining table....until Wednesday at midnight. The question is, will the proposals be amenable to both sides?
From WCBS-TV:
Gov. David Paterson intervened late Saturday in negotiations between Consolidated Edison and the union representing almost two-thirds of the utility's work force just minutes before the midnight deadline for a possible strike expired and persuaded both sides to agree to a "cooling off period," a spokesman for the governor said.
Negotiations were suspended early Sunday and were scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said. Cockfield said the governor had been monitoring the talks while recovering at his Manhattan home from surgery Saturday morning to remove a cataract.
Paterson, concerned about the impact of possible service disruptions on customers created by a strike during the summer, reached out by telephone to Con Edison chief executive Kevin Burke and Harry Farrell, president of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, Cockfield said.
Well now that Paterson has publicly intervened, what will he do to avoid another impasse by tomorrow night? Con Ed figuratively slapped the union in the face with a 0.5% increase (followed by 1% increases down the road) and it took them quite a bit of time to come up with that. Will the Governor (or is he actively) working on getting the regulated utility to pay workers a wage that is more in line with what the union wants to see? We're waiting and we'll get a better picture of it all when the two sides get back to the table tomorrow morning.
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