UPDATE FROM HUNTSVILLE:
The local (very conservative) News/Talk radio station here (WVNN/770AM) decided to do some further digging. That just had - on the phone - the heads of both the Huntsville Utilities and Joe Wheeler Electric Co-op organizations.
In the case of Joe Wheeler: they ARE a union shop, so that wasn’t even an issue. Their crews were actually sent up ahead of the storm - rode it out in Maryland - and have been working much of the week. The are now coming home as their assignments have been completed.
The Huntsville Crews were en route on Monday, and their bosses were working to try and get them a destination while they were still on the road. They were ‘turned down’ initially from one location simply because that area had plenty of help already. They are now in the Long Island area and expecting to work today. It seems their biggest problem was in trying to find an under-manned area, but they claim to have had no union issues.
The radio station has not (yet) heard from the Decatur (AL) Utilities bosses, but that’s 2 of the 3 groups that were supposedly involved here, and neither of those crews are reporting any union-related rejections.
In fact, one of the directors on the phone indicated that they were working through trade associations - not unions representatives - to get their assignments. But it would seem that the original WAFF report is falling apart.
Good report, ac .. thanks
I should also mention that the Seaside Heights NJ area called out in the original WAFF story was specifically mentioned by the Huntsville Utilities Director: that was their originally assigned destination, but it is the area they were turned away from as a result of having too many crews already on site by the time they arrived - not because of union issues.
I just caught from the same radio station that “Decatur Utilities crews were turned away” (”independent 3rd party confirmation”), though I have no further specifics at all on that at this point. It seems odd, given that the Huntsville team is working up there today, but we’ll need more info.
I heard someone spouting a company line. Rather hear from the people on the ground. And Dale Jackson is a self absorbed moron.
A number of you have claimed the New Jersey / Alabama power crew story is false. It’s quite true: http://t.co/KvuaeV48