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?’”
I’m surprised that there seem to be no pitchforks in the populace anymore.
I was thinking earlier that this would have been a great “Sister Soulja” moment for Obama: he could stand up and b*tchslap the unions and order them (figurative sense) to let the non-union workers in.
Wouldn’t matter to the people in the area (not like NJ and NY are going to go for Romney anyways, so they’re just collateral damage) because it would still take days to get the crews back in, but it would go a long way to bolstering him in a lot of other states.
All it would require are his union leadership buddies to zip their mouths for a few days, look the other way and let him do it.
I’ve actually wondered if this thing wasn’t contrived from the start, just that it’s all hit too late. It’s all just too convenient. Local IBEW(s) issue exceptionally onerous demand letters to out of state, non-union crews - essentially blackmailing them for helping people get their electricity back. What’s the chance, in this day and age, of something like that being contained?
The National IBEW has plausible deniability, and Obama gets to step up to the plate and act both Presidential and MODERATE. When the IBEW relents, he gets to claim a major success in a major disaster situation right before the election ...
Ok.. that’s just enough. A nice full page ad saying Unions Demanded While People Were Stranded would work. Maybe, just maybe we could get rid of them.
I was forced to join the IBEW in the early 70’s when I worked for HK Porter Company in Lynchburg, Va. I wound the high voltage parts of transformers that went on poles outside of homes. Let’s say they threatened my father who also worked there and I didn’t want to see my new car upside down on fire; so I joined. It is corrupt organization. Once management caught the union local president asleep back in the sand blasting area. They sent him home for 3 days without pay. He called a strike, and these idiots walked out - all to get his 3 days pay back. Another time we were voting on a new contract. There were 3 choices 1) management, 2) the DC union thugs, and 3) what the workers actually wanted. The vote was overwhelmingly what the workers wanted (closer to the management proposal). They threw that option out and had us vote on 1 & 2. We ended up on strike and the union suits (fattest bunch of clowns I’ve ever seen) went back to DC. As soon as I got my college degree in night classes, I was outta there and I tore up my card.
WRONG. The last time Nassau and Suffolk went Republican in a presidential election was in 1988. All congressional reps on Long Island are Aden’s with the exception of King, who is a shill for the unions anyway.
Back when Obama was giving his teleprompter speeches demanding the first couple of stimulus bills that just HAD to be forthcoming; he listed “infrastructure” as one of the things that just HAD to be done, along with “shovel ready jobs”. Like most of what he says, “infrastructure” and “shovel ready jobs” went the way of the dodo bird; and the Obama said something to the effect of, “Shovel ready jobs? I don’t know nuthin’ bout no shovel ready jobs!” and, “Infrastructure? I don’t know nuthin’ bout no infrastructure!” - Now, those trillions and gazillions have been spent, who knows where; and now he’s demanding MORE, MORE, MORE . . .
All Reps on Lawn Guyland are DEMS with the exception of King. Damn autocorrect!
My (ex)friend’s son joined the electric union last year. Father is constantly bragging how much his son brings home and what kind of super expensive tools he uses. It’s nauseating listening to him. Last I heard, the son was sent to Syracuse. Son also doesn’t know who to vote for because his boss tells him to vote for obama.
I haven’t spoken with this friend since the day Sandy hit. He’s been demoted to acquaintance in my book. Unions make me sick. They’re ruining this country.
May the people of LI suffer until they shut the unions down....and I have family there, but these unions thugs MUST GO
May the people of LI suffer until they shut the unions down....and I have family there, but these unions thugs MUST GO.....
Where is the democrat governor....where is the county executive stopping these crocks.....
Can’t admit you made a mistake. Got it.
Fox News was showing video of big, white utility trucks being loaded onto military transport planes in California to be flown east to help out. Military personnel were loading the trucks onto a big plane that had a cone tail lifted up. How much did this cost? Did the federal government pay to have union trucks flown across the country instead of trucks coming from closer? Why isn’t anyone looking into this?
I saw photos of that (LA Times??).
You ask a very good question!
The majority of citizens have the same mindset and support unions no matter what. When the USA needs an enema, this is where the pipe goes.
Excepting anyone who’s job requires them to be in Nuevo York or Nuevo Jersey, screw em, they get what they deserve.
Heard Bloomberg visited some area and got cursed out.
He said it would be two more weeks.
Too bad they can’t rent Giuliani as mayor until this blows over .
When NJ back up they may reconsider
the union thing. The out state volunteers may not know the secret handshake but are good people from what I’ve seen.
Not just here for the money. Very compassionate and proud to help.
I’m personally thankful. I bought pizza for a group at a place down street that’s got power. No bribe 4 days later I still got no power.
bump
If they didn’t vote for this, and there is no end in sight, then they’d better move, for their own good.
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