Tell Con Ed to end the lockout

Cheering as the truck goes by.

Consolidated Edison locked out 8,500 utility workers Sunday during the worst heat wave of the year, threatening the safety of millions of New Yorkers.

This is one nasty lockout. Con Ed rejected union workers’ offer to work without a contract. Instead, the company replaced them with managers to try to maintain services for the utility's 3.2 million customers. Con Ed said yesterday it canceled all medical coverage for the locked-out union workers. They're still able to sign up for COBRA; but before getting covered, they must pay more than $500. Few can afford it.

How are they managing to run the utility without trained and experienced union workers? Two managers have already been hurt while business owners fume at the brownouts that engulf the city. Reports NY 1:

The utility says 5,000 managers are currently running operations and responding to emergencies. 

One manager was injured in a manhole explosion on the Upper West Side Wednesday while filling in for a locked out worker. 

He's the second manager hurt since the lockout began.

Utility workers picketing.

In Brooklyn, 124 customers were without power for three days, costing business and restaurant owners thousands of dollars in customers and food. Although Con Ed employees said that they would have no trouble fixing the problem quickly, previous power outages in the area had been solved much quicker. Reports the New York Post,

Business owners on one Brooklyn street are sputtering mad over Con Ed managers’ inability to fix a power outage that’s lasted three days, costing them thousands. 

The lights began flickering Sunday on Bergen Street in Prospect Heights, hours after 8,500 unionized Con Ed employees were sidelined in a contract dispute. 

Managers filling in for the locked-out union workers were making slow work of fixing the problem, which as of yesterday afternoon still affected 124 customers.

Con Ed and Local Union 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America are meeting today to continue negotiations. This is the first time the two sides are in the same room since a stalemate was reached at midnight on Saturday when the union workers’ contracts expired. The meeting was arranged on Monday by federal mediators to encourage an agreement.

Sign a petition to tell Con Ed to end the lockout here.