Posted on 11/04/2012 2:44:25 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
In a two-page Oct. 29 contract, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 1049 demanded union dues, pay hikes and benefit contributions from Florida electric utilities before its workers would be permitted to help reconnect power to Long Island communities. The demand came as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the Northeastern United States, stranding tens of millions without electricity.
The “Letter of Assent,” which The Daily Caller obtained from the Florida Municipal Electric Association, demanded 11 separate financial commitments from municipal power companies and electrical cooperatives in the Sunshine State. The agreement, for any utility that decided to sign it, would have been in force from Oct. 29 to Nov. 29.
Barry Moline, the association’s executive director, told TheDC that by Nov. 1 the union, based in the central Long Island town of Hauppauge, had relented and stopped insisting that nonunion crews pay dues and other union fees.
“The union director” himself placed a phone call to withdraw the letter, Moline said during a telephone interview Saturday. But that came only after Moline had notified a national trade group, the American Public Power Association, which turned outrage into action.
Letter mid-page -- use "view in full screen" function
The Florida Municipal Electric Association is a statewide trade group that represents 34 separate utility companies. The letter, Moline said, was sent to Florida’s nonunion power companies.
“We had crews ready to go on Monday when the storm hit,” he told TheDC. ”We had dozens of line workers ready to go. There have been hundreds of line workers who have been told, ‘We don’t want you unless you’re part of the union.’ And as a result, people in New York and New Jersey are having the power turned on slower than everywhere else.”
“The word we were getting all week was that New York was short by hundreds of [electric] linemen,” he told TheDC. “Well, okay. We’ve got them. Florida is two days away, so you need a head start.”
Of those workers who were ready to drive north, he said, “probably about 25 stayed put” because of the Long Island IBEW local’s demands. “Another 35 were delayed by five days.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Friday that he wouldn’t permit discrimination against nonunion crews eager to help reconnect consumers who have gone without power for days. He threatened to invoke his office’s emergency powers if necessary.
But in New York, no government official has stepped in to ensure that utility crews from other states won’t have to show their union membership cards before going to work — even though their own employers are paying for them to repair power lines in the Empire State.
Eventually, Moline said, his state’s crews “went everywhere else” affected by Sandy, “but it was only in New York where the union had to give their blessing.”
“It just made me sick that you’ve got people who have no power,” he said, “and you hear about a lot of people dying.”
On Saturday TheDC requested comments from New York State Public Service Commissioner James Larocca and spokespersons for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State Labor Commissioner Peter Rivera and New York City May0r Michael Bloomberg.
Only one of those persons responded and asked for a copy of the letter. He would not answer questions on the record about whether government agencies could have exercised — or did exercise — emergency powers to clear the way for nonunion power crews who wanted to assist.
N.Y. Energy Law 5-117 addresses the governor’s special powers “during [an] energy or fuel emergency,” but those powers are limited to fuel and energy allocation, stopping wasteful energy uses, and temporarily waiving environmental laws.
TheDC also emailed Don Daley Jr., IBEW local 1049′s business manager and financial secretary, for comment. Daley’s name appeared on the “Letter of Assent” emailed to the Florida utilities, as the person who would sign on the union’s behalf.
He did not respond to questions about whether his union is using a natural disaster to grow its membership and collect revenue.
Claims similar to Florida’s have come in from Alabama and Georgia since the superstorm hit, but this report marks the first time documentary evidence has been presented to the public.
The letter received by Florida utilities demanded that they pay IBEW member dues, provide workers with union-scale wages plus overtime, and allow crews to observe the “normal working hours” dictated by the IBEW’s contract.
It also required the companies to pay fixed percentages of every worker’s hourly wage into seven separate union-controlled funds, including a $9.75 per work-hour payment to the IBEW’s health care plan and 22.5 cents for every dollar of salary into its pension fund.
TheDC calculated that for a nonunion crew foreman normally earning $40 per hour in Florida, the mandated higher wages plus union contributions and dues would force a utility to pay $67.74 per hour for each worker completing power restoration tasks in New York.
For work performed on weekends or after 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, that overall rate would jump to $70.38.
On Saturday TheDC reported that a Florida utility crewman said his employer idled workers while a much longer union contract document went through legal review earlier in the week.
An IBEW spokesman told TheDC on Friday that ”the IBEW did not send the documents, nor did any of our locals.”
But he didn’t reply when asked if he had communicated with all 273 locals in the union districts where Sandy’s impact was felt. Those include 20 IBEW locals in New Jersey, 48 in New York, 10 in Connecticut and 52 in Pennsylvania.
It’s now clear that at least one of those 48 New York locals — no. 1049 on long Island — did make membership demands as a condition of Florida utilities coming north to help restore electricity.
The name of the letter’s electronic file was “letter of assent E No Car GENERIC,” suggesting that it may have been drafted first for North Carolina utilities. So far, no utilities from that state have come forward to say they were approached by IBEW local 1049.
Moline said some power utilities in Florida are unionized and others are not. That decision should be approached thoughtfully and deliberately, he explained. “We’re not going to be held hostage.”
“I’m not anti-union,” he insisted. “I think unions are fine. I was just surprised to find that in the middle of an emergency that the union would stand in the way.”
“I didn’t know how the Long Island Power Authority was putting up with it,” he said. “The union was saying, ‘No, you have to join us first.’”
“I thought, ‘Is this really happening?’”
Documented proof... never put it in writing, especially if you are denying it ever happened. idiots
More like a fart in a crowded elevator that's stuck.
The union goons turn their backs to Sandy victims. Here’s hoping that the helpless citizens return the favor.
Yep. And my brother in-law is one of them. Needless to say, our family relationship has suffered.
Even worse, on a hot day w/ no fan/ventilation working! LOL.
You’re doing a bang up job there Long Island power company union goons!
From the NYT
Hundreds of thousands of homes on Long Island were still without power Saturday, and frustration with the utilities, particularly Long Island Power Authority, continued to rise. “LIPA, get your act together,” Edward P. Mangano, the Nassau County executive, wrote on his Facebook page Saturday. “This response and lack of communication with customers is shameful.”
Mr. Bloomberg, too, attacked the power authority, which provides electricity to the Rockaways. “LIPA in our view has not acted aggressively enough,” the mayor said. He said the power authority had “no clear timetable” for restoring the power and that it had indicated that some homes and businesses might have to wait two weeks before the lights went back on.
a.k.a. the Democrat Party Slush Fund.
Let the people that support the unions have the unions. When they get power sometime after January 2013, maybe they will have a change of heart and realize that unions are there to help a few thugs and not the general population they are supposed to serve.
There are still over 450,000 LIPA customers without power and that’s what they are reporting on the news here, which means it is probably still over 550,000.
Crips. Bloods. MS-13. IBEW. Any questions?
Staten Island has a big retired population. Do you think these people will rebuild or go somewhere else. I live in NE PA and I am thinking we will have a influx of seniors up this way. Just thinking out loud.
Why? Because I’m in NJ and more interested in getting my power restored.
If someone else has to wait a little longer I’m ok with that.
IBEW lied and people died.
Do I have it right?
BTTT.
Most on Long Island are not “Lefties”, it is probably more Republican than Democrat on Long Island or split.
Peter King (R) is from Long Island
UNIONS: the blood sucking bottom feeders of the working class ,,,, they have no fidelity or loyality to their companies or anyone else ,,, it’s all about their own self centered selfishness . They are generally thugs and bullies who use thug tactics to achieve self gain and have little interest in their employers mission .
There is a thundering silence from the political leadership in NJ and New York. Christi - has done nothing. Blumberg - has done nothing. Cuomo - has done nothing.....to tell the unions to come to reality. It has been 3-4 days since this union thuggery has revealed its real self. It is now too late for the states leadership to step up and redeem their pathetic, shitty, self-agrandizing decision making. Everything, and I mean, everything is weighed in the balance as to what is in the best interest of their political interests. Like obama weighing in the balance whether it would be in his best interest to save 32 people in Benghazi, or save the SEALS fighting to save obamas people in Benghazi. These politicians are weighed in the balance and have been found lacking.
No, most wil rebuild, especially if the government and FEMA are picking up a lot of the tab.
Need to make sure that anyone who loses a family member or friend from lack of power gets this story...
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