BLACKOUT BLACKMAIL (Indian Point empolyees who threaten strike should go to jail)

That, at least, is what labor leaders (along with Indian Point's old scaremongering foes) hoped folks would think.

"Elected officials should be very concerned that Entergy [the plant's owner] is playing Russian roulette with public safety," union flack Steve Mangione warned. "No matter what they say, they cannot guarantee the safe operation or the security of Indian Point" if it remained open during a strike.

In New York, public employees who perform other safety-related or essential services - cops, firefighters, transit workers, teachers - are subject to imprisonment for striking (even though they've done it anyway, and have threatened to even more often). So should power-plant staffs, even though they're not on government's payroll. And not just workers at nuclear generators - but at all power plants.

This is a lot of nonsense. The New York law that prohibits public employees from going on strike is known as the Taylor Law. At one time, Indian Point employees would never have been able to go on strike in the first place because they were subject to the Taylor Law. Once the plant was sold off to a private company (Entergy), that all went out the window.

The State of New York could make those employees subject to the Taylor Law once again, if it wanted to -- but it would have to cough up a couple of billion dollars (that it doesn't have) to buy the plant back from Entergy.

What you see here is a classic case of New Yorkers living in a utopian dream world that is becoming increasingly disconnected from any sense of reality. They want cheap, reliable electricity, but no power plants within a thousand miles of where they live . . . they want utility employees covered by the Taylor Law, but they don't want those employees on the public payroll . . . no incinerators or landfills within a hundred miles of Manhattan, but no trash barges on the Hudson River and no additional recycling costs, either.

This city is filled with the people Jose Ortega y Gassett had in mind when he lamented the utter ignorance of the "modern barbarians" in Spain in the 1930s.

***Or let "inexperienced" replacements step in***

Hey now, don't blame the unions for this! In the past companies promoted trained operators into supervisory positions just so they would have trained men able to operate these plants during strikes.

Now, however, people are being promoted solely on the basis of favoritism and cronyism. Quality of work and operating experience are no longer required for promotions at some plants.
Can you $u(k tha boss's a$$ is all the requirement needed for promotion to supervisor at certain plants.
I've been there and seen it.

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