US Senator Corzine (D,NJ) Meets with Striking IBEW Systems Council U-3 (New Jersey) Members

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Corzine Meets With Striking JCP&L Workers

Jan 29, 2005 2:40 pm US/Eastern

Lending his voice to the effort to end the nearly two-month-old strike at Jersey Central Power & Light, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine met with workers Saturday and vowed to push for more face-to-face negotiations between the union representing electrical workers and New Jersey's second-largest utility.

"Collective bargaining is sitting down at a table and negotiating, and that hasn't happened on a consistent enough basis," Corzine said to cheers from a group of about 200 picketers in front of the company's headquarters.

Talks are scheduled to resume Wednesday in the strike that began Dec. 8 and involves about 1,350 workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. 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.

Standing in the snow as cars passed by on Route 124, Corzine told workers he would strive to make sure both sides were bargaining in good faith. He was warmly received by the striking workers, several of whom yelled out, "You've got my vote!", a reference to Corzine's candidacy as a Democratic candidate for governor this year.

"He's a leading candidate for governor for the state of New Jersey and he's an 800-pound gorilla because he's a U.S. senator, so his endorsement of the issues brought up by the union brings it to the forefront," said IBEW spokesman Jack Moriarty. "He's also a highly successful businessman and he understands what it means to run a company, so he should be respected by both sides."

Corzine said he met with company officials last week in Washington. Company and union representatives met with state and federal mediators for four days last week and were scheduled to meet again Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said.

"We continue to bargain in good faith, and we appreciate the efforts of elected officials to keep the parties at the bargaining table," said Morano. "That's the way these issues have to be settled."

During the strike, JCP&L is using management workers and linemen brought in from JCP&L's sister utilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania to fill in for the striking workers. They were able to restore power to about 20,000 customers who were affected by last weekend's snowstorm within 24 hours, Morano said.

"The consumer matters, too," Corzine told workers Saturday. "You guys know what you're doing. Right now you've got management that doesn't really know how the lines ought to be serviced. If we have another snowstorm, the public is going to get enraged because we need to have professional people doing the job."

Corzine's appearance impressed Nancy Adams, 42, of Wall, who works as a meter reader in Allenhurst. "To have a U.S. senator say, 'I need some answers,' would put pressure on anybody," she said. "I think that's fairly formidable."

Corzine's gubernatorial campaign received the endorsement of Rep. Robert Menendez and Assembly Speaker Albio Sires on Friday. The senator declined to comment Saturday when asked about reports that acting Gov. Richard J. Codey would make an announcement Monday about whether he will oppose Corzine in a Democratic primary.


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