http://www.syracuse.com/business/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/business-6/1097918475105990.xml
NiMo workers reject contract
Three-quarters of company's work force could strike at midnight tonight.
By Tim Knauss , Staff writer
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Niagara Mohawk workers soundly rejected a "firm and final" contract offer from the company Friday, increasing the likelihood they will strike when their current contract expires at midnight tonight.
Unless union and company leaders agree today to reopen contract negotiations and extend the current contract, 4,000 union workers - three-quarters of Niagara Mohawk's work force - will walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
"There would be no choice," said David Falletta, president and business officer of Local 97, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Falletta and a small team of union negotiators are scheduled to meet at noon today with company officials to assess whether further negotiations are possible.
The company issued a statement Friday night saying it was "disappointed that the union work force has failed to ratify a contract offer that pro-
vided an increased value of $10,000 per employee per year. The company has accepted union leadership's request to meet informally tomorrow."
Falletta declined to provide the vote count, but said the vote against the contract was "overwhelming."
Local 97 has never called a strike against Niagara Mohawk.
As they finished their shifts Friday, union employees turned in their identification badges, truck keys and other company equipment in case they don't come back Monday.
Private contractors have arrived in Syracuse and other locations and are prepared to begin work Sunday in the event of a strike, said Kerry Burns, speaking for Niagara Mohawk. Management personnel and retirees also have been trained to step in for union employees if necessary, Burns said.
National Grid Transco, which owns Niagara Mohawk, has not yet sent in workers from its operations in New England or England, but is prepared to, Burns said.
If unionmembers walk off the job, all remaining personnel will begin working six 12-hour days per week, Burns said.
Many people - union members, managers and utility customers - hoped Friday that a strike would be avoided.
Among them were eight gas mechanics who worked Friday afternoon to repair a shut-off valve connected to a six-inch gas main in Baldwinsville. A small pipe connected to the valve was corroded and broke when a crew tried to shut the valve to do maintenance, said one of the workers, who gave his name only as Bob.
He said he did not know whether Niagara Mohawk could keep up with all the work if union members strike.
"If it gets busy, they'd better have enough coverage," he said.
Martin Currier, vice president of Local 97, said there was "no way" the company could maintain normal service levels during a strike. The 24,000-square-mile service territory is too big to cover with replacement workers, he said.
"I thinkthey're going to focus on the metropolitan areas as much as possible," Currier said. "But this area is so huge - no way. It can't happen."
But company officials said they could call on "a couple thousand" replacement workers to operate during a strike. They said they did not expect major problems.
Local 97 represents 4,000 NiMo workers throughout Upstate New York, roughly half of whom are in the utility's central division. They include gas mechanics, line workers, customer service representatives, clerks, janitors and others.
The average union employee makes $57,000 a year, not counting overtime, company officials said. Union wage rates range from roughly $30,000 for an entry-level office worker to $70,000 for an experienced line mechanic, Burns said.
If a strike presents difficulties for the company, it is no less a hardship for the workers.
Local 97 has no strike fund, so striking workers would be without any pay for up to seven weeks, until they qualify for unemployment benefits.
Niagara Mohawk made its final contract offer to union members Wednesday, after eight weeks of talks failed to produce a settlement.
William Edwards, the company president, characterized it as a generous settlement that added $10,000 to the average worker's annual pay and benefits over its 30-month term. He and other management officials said they were "baffled" by union opposition to it.
The documentcontained some provisions that union negotiators had asked for, such as the removal of a cap on company contributions to future retiree medical benefits.
But union leaders complained that several key provisions were unacceptable. They objected to a change in a formula to calculate pensions, and to changes in short-term and long-term disability benefits.
They also objected to contract language giving the company unlimited discretion to hire private contractors.
Niagara Mohawk's proposal guaranteed employment for anyone whose job might be eliminated due to outsourcing, but union officials are concerned that the number of union jobs would be drastically reduced through attrition.
"They're looking to dwindle us down, because the smaller we are, the more bargaining power they have," Currier said.
Edwards said Niagara Mohawk needs the ability to hire contractors, especially for less-skilled jobs. Contractors have proven to be significantly more cost-effective in certain areas, such as bill collection.
The company also wants more flexibility to schedule union workers around the clock.
"We're putting a lot of value on the table for our employees, and asking them to agree to work rules that make us and them more efficient," Edwards said.
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