Talks to resume Wednesday in JCP&L strike
(Tue, Jan/04/2005)
NEWARK, N.J. - The state's second-largest power company and union workers who have been on strike for nearly four weeks are to resume negotiations Wednesday.
A state mediator is to join representatives of Jersey Central Power & Light Co. and the union on Wednesday morning. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union went on strike Dec. 8.
The cost of health care for retirees is the main sticking point in negotiations, along with what the company terms "responsiveness" to customer needs involving overtime work.
The company is using management workers with training as line workers to fill in during the strike.
In September, the company offered a 9 percent wage increase over three years, but the union rejected it. The company said the cost of providing health coverage to the union workers has doubled from $7 million in 2000 to $14 million this year.
The strike is the first since 1987 for JCP&L, which provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state.
The five local unions that comprise IBEW System Council U-3 represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.
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