IBEW Local 1298 (Morristown NJ) Continues Talks with First Energy over Health Care

FirstEnergy, union to talk again

Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/29/04
By DAVID P. WILLIS
BUSINESS WRITER

FirstEnergy Corp. and union negotiators representing Jersey Central Power & Light workers will go back to the bargaining table after union workers rejected a new contract offer late last week.

The company and leaders of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers had "fruitful discussions", which resulted in an initial agreement for a three-year contract, said Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp., JCP&L's parent company. However, that proposal was voted down by union members on Thursday.

"This was a first step," Surgeoner said. "We plan to go right back to the negotiating table and work with the union to try to come to an agreement that the company can live with as well as one the work force can accept as well."

The current contract, which covers about 1,200 JCP&L employees in New Jersey, including line workers and meter readers, is set to expire on Oct. 31.

Union leaders could not be reached for comment. But a Web site at www.IBEW1298.org said union members voted the proposed settlement down "by a wide majority."

The settlement included a 3 percent raise in each year of the contract and cost increases for health care coverage, according to the Web site.

"The primary objection to the proposed settlement was the huge jump in cost for the health care plan," the site said. "Many members would have seen their wage increase wiped out by the increased health care costs over the three years of the contract."

The utility's Surgeoner confirmed that contract talks have focused on wages and health care costs. "The issues that are out there are issues that are affecting most corporations and most work forces in the United States today," he said.

FirstEnergy wants its workers across its entire service territory, which stretches across three states from Ohio to New Jersey, to have essentially the same health care coverage, Surgeoner said. Currently, he said, "it varies greatly."

The company wants to increase workers' contributions toward their health-care coverage costs, which includes medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage, Surgeoner said.

He said a union representing workers in western Pennsylvania has ratified an agreement accepting an increased share in the costs for health benefits. "The agreement accepted in Pennsylvania did not differ greatly, if at all, from what was offered in New Jersey."