New Jersey IBEW Linemen sit out the Storm because Company Won't deal

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JCP&L Weathers Storm While Workers Strike

Jan 24, 2005 4:49 pm US/Eastern

BC-NJ--JCP&LStrike Bjt

01-24 0706 BC-NJ--JCP&L Strike, Bjt,680 AP Photo stfjcbn By JOHN CURRAN Associated Press Writer

The snow was falling, but Jersey Central Power & Light lineman Bill Perry was at home. He wasn't out in the cold, lifting tree limbs off power lines or running wire or working on a road project.

For Perry, 53, of Jackson, one of 1,350 union members on strike against the Morristown-based utility company, the weekend's winter weather didn't mean overtime or treacherous duty. It just underscored the mixed emotions he already felt.

"When this storm blew through, I was sitting in the living room -- drinking coffee, watching the birds in the feeder. I told my wife, `We should be out working.' It's a funny thing, sitting home when I should be working. It just doesn't seem right," Perry said Monday.

Seven weeks into a strike by five locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, JCP&L executives and union representatives see no end in sight. Talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday.

The strike began Dec. 8.

At issue are retiree health care costs and JCP&L's plan to require employees to be on 24-hour call via electronic pager or cellular phone, which the union says would be the equivalent of "electronic dog collars."

JCP&L provides electricity to 1 million customers in 13 counties, primarily in the northern part of the state. The unions represent linemen, technicians, clerks, mechanics and other employees of the Morristown-based company.

The storm Saturday and Sunday dumped a foot of snow on parts of New Jersey, knocking out power to about 20,000 JCP&L customers, most of them in central New Jersey, according to JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.

Using management workers and linemen brought in from JCP&L's sister utilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the company was able to restore power to everyone who lost it within 24 hours, Morano said.

"We've now experienced two windstorms, an ice storm and the blizzard. We've not seen significant prolonged power outages during any of them. We've kept up with the emergency and restoration work," Morano said.

"Obviously, we're somewhat impaired not having the entire workforce available to us. But that speaks more to other work -- meter reading, new service connections," Morano said.

Perry wasn't the only idled JCP&L worker feeling strange. The mixed emotions of others had to do with more pressing concerns, like paying the bills.

"It's a hardship. It's definitely tough," said Rose Valentin, 40, of Ocean Township, who has taken a part-time job working weekends as a cashier at Costco to make up for the loss of pay from her job in customer accounting at JCP&L.

Valentin and her family have reduced their food budget by $50 a week and are dreading the continuation of the strike, which has already lasted longer than she expected. In a few more weeks, she fears, they may be getting shut-off notices -- perhaps even from JCP&L, her employer -- for nonpayment.

In the meantime, her family has cut out nonessential expenses.

"Yes, I have more time with the kids. But it's stressful. My emotions are up and down. One minute I'm depressed because I don't know how we'll pay our bills. The kids don't understand why they can't get their basketball pictures taken. It's only $20, but at the same time we need to be holding that money for our food budget or our bills," Valentin said.

Perry, an 18-year employee who has earned upward of $90,000 in recent years -- his base salary is about $62,000 -- because of mandatory overtime work, said he is living off savings but has had to cash in some investments to make up for the lost paychecks.

He has begun using the wood stove in his home more, hoping to conserve on heating costs.

"We're not looking for sympathy. We're just looking for a fair contract," said Perry.

Jack Moriarty, a spokesman for the striking workers, said the union has opened two food banks to help union members.

"They were immediately inundated," said Moriarty. "These are middle-class people who've had their livelihood snatched from them and their lifestyle destroyed."


© MMV Infinity Broadcasting Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In the interest of timeliness, this story is fed directly from the newswire and may contain occasional typographical errors.