Posted on 11/03/2012 2:52:37 AM PDT by markomalley
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bristled at reports Friday that an electricians union stood in the way of some utility workers who wanted to help restore power to victims of Hurricane Sandy. He would use his emergency-management powers, he said, to guarantee that nonunion crews could help restore his states electricity grid without interference.
Ive been on the phone with PSE&G [Public Service Electric and Gas Company], JCP&L [Jersey Central Power & Light] and the union, and theyve all absolutely promised me they would never turn away a single worker whether they were union or nonunion, and I wouldnt allow it, Christie told reporters shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.
I would invoke my powers under the Disaster Control Act to prevent that from happening, but theyve assured me we dont have to. (RELATED: NJ utility denies turning away nonunion electric crew volunteers from Ala.).
But a spokesman for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg didnt reply to emails asking whether his boss would take a similar hard line. A spokeswoman for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo similarly didnt return phone calls asking the same question.
Christie said Friday that there was one incident of this in Seaside Heights since Superstorm Sandy hit.
First of all, the workers never came to New Jersey, okay? They werent turned away when they got here. They heard that New Jersey was a union state, coming from Alabama. When they stopped in Virginia, they called to see what they would do and they were given bad information.
Christie said his states major utilities and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have all said they do not have that requirement.
The Daily Caller had published a report more than an hour earlier about electric utility crews from central Florida that idled for two days instead of working on Long Island, while their managers dealt with the unions demands.
It turns out there was a 300-page contract that the union controlling LIPA [the Long Island Power Authority] wanted everybody to sign first, the crewman told TheDC. We dont have time for that. Weve got guys ready to go. You need lawyers for this. (RELATED: Ala. utility, Fla. crewman blame electricians union for interfering with Hurricane Sandy relief)
An IBEW spokesman told TheDC on Friday that the IBEW did not send the documents the Florida crews managers described, nor did any of our locals.
But he didnt reply when asked if he had communicated with all 273 locals in the union districts where Sandys impact was felt. Those include 20 IBEW locals in New Jersey, 48 in New York, 10 in Connecticut and 52 in Pennsylvania.
A few hours after Christie spoke, TheDC reported on another case this one involving an electric co-operative in Georgia whose workers were turned away from New York because they werent union members.
Neither of those cases involved New Jersey, but Christie threatened to invoke the authority he holds under New Jersey law if it became necessary. The states Civilian Defense and Disaster Control Act gives the governor broad power to control utility repair squads and other volunteer agencies in times of crisis.
Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts told TheDC that both union and nonunion crews are at work right now in New Jersey, restoring power.
He said he believed those nonunion crews included some from outside New Jersey, but conceded he would need to confirm that.
Roberts reiterated Christies vow to bring utility companies to heel if nonunion workers werent welcomed into the Garden State. But he stopped short of saying the governor would apply the same level of aggressiveness to the IBEW.
It would be absolutely premature for me to talk about what the governor would or wouldnt do in the absence of more proof, Roberts told TheDC.
Were always open to evaluating new information.
That won’t keep the union goons from making sure the “scabs” have “accidents.”
Cyclone59. Bloomberg told the obeeee not to come and Christie could have done the same thing. There was work to be done and a massive motorcade doesn’t help. And the over-the-top hugging and kissing up to obeeee will be priceless if fat boy tries to look past NJ.
I work with quite a few Liberals. I mentioned yesterday to the one Liberal that NJ refused help from non-Union workers. Her husband is a Union worker(music industry) and she said “Well good for them, that is their right”. I said to her, are you serious? People are cold, hungry, homeless, without power, lost their homes and NJ should refuse help from folks just because they are non-Union? She quickly changed the subject. You know the usual side-stepping. Liberals are all for helping people unless of course it interferes with their paychecks.
So, it never happened. I should believe Christie, the union thugs instead of my lying eyes. There’s video of union thugs screaming “scabs” + “scum bags” at the guys from Alabama. OK, it didn’t happen, like a lot of things don’t happen in the Age of Obama. Right.
Anyone above the level of idiot should have known smacking down the unions should have been the first thing on their plate.
Unions threaten non union, throw the union members in jail.
Good; we need him. His work here isn’t done - there are still thousands of state & municipal workers that need to be laid off to reduce our tax burden and draw business to our state.
Was Christie holding Obama’s hand for support when he made the statement?
Are you sure Christie said that? It’s so muffled hard to understand anything he says with his face buried between obama’s buttocks.
More likely, the GOP-E's new wonder boy.
Threats are for pu$$ie$—Real men act, not talk.
Yes,ke2, the shot of the Mantoloking Bridge basically fading into the water, and seeing a new inlet cut to the ocean there, where homes used to be, is iconic.
The other shot that comes to mind is seeing the Casino Pier roller coaster sitting in the waves where that part of the amusement pier collapsed into the sea.
The entire natural gas system on the barrier island has been compromised and must be rebuilt, along with the power, water and sewer systems.
People are being told they cannot return there for six months.
Obama was going to win NJ anyway so it’s not like it’s Christie’s praise is going to change things.
I like that Christie showed a completely different attitude towards the President of the opposite party. It shows up Gov Blonco and Mayor Nagin to be the partisan interferes that they were post Katrina. I’ve already used this to beat up some libs. It will also go a long way for him getting elected governor again next year despite the vitriol he is going to get from the teacher and public unions. That’s a good thing for us long suffering NJ taxpayers. I don’t want him in a national role other than fundraising for Republican candidates which he does so well.
And as for the anti-union bravado on this thread, Chrisite is handling it the best that can be expected. Unilaterally ban the union, even temporarily? How? The cops are unions too and they’re a little busy right now to. Piss off the unions and you’ll get some very slow work. When you’re dealing with unions as an exec, you’re dealing with mob like mentality if not the outright mob. There has to be a balance. Maybe native New Jersey people just have a sense for it that doesn’t translate well in the rest of the county.
Shame to say if they did come in to help, not many, but there are a few who would make their life difficult. It’s the mentality, experienced it firsthand, sick.
I find it hard to believe Hannity would use audio from the Verizon strike a year ago and claim it was NJ union workers screaming at Alabama relief volunteers. So I am calling BS on the link you posted. Such a misrepresentation is shameful, despicable in fact. (Not say you are, I appreciate your bringing that lying youtube vid to our attention. Most likely a false flag operation by some degraded liberal).
“Christie threatens Disaster Control Act order to guarantee nonunion utility workers can help restore NJ power”
Politicians love to bestow our God-given Constitutional Rights upon us as if they come from them.
All Christie needs to do, if he really cares, is prosecute the union leaders for denying free men their freedom to act to benefit their fellow man, not pass some “law” that underscores the rights free people already have from which they were endowed by their Creator.
We all, if we consider the Constitution, live in a “right to work” state.
Thanks,arasina, their Dad is VERY proud of them.
The power outages are spotty now in Lakehurst—number two son says the power is on one block away, but not by him.
And he has been a one man relief effort, orgainizing relief and donations via phone to Facebook while he is guarding the downed power lines in various places.
He says the folks that live where he is working have opened their homes to him for bathrooms, brought food out to him, coffee, etc.
He has been encouraging people to stay strong, even when he is at his outpost in the cold and dark.
The other son works for the Boro of Seaside Heights, or what is left of it. He is a police dispatcher, but also a volunteer fireman and on the Dive/Rescue Team that rescues swimmers and boaters in the ocean and bay.He lives in Toms River, on the mainland, and just had few roof shingles blown away—lost two trees, but they didn’t fall on any houses. He loves chainsaws—and until he could get onto the barrier island on Thursday, was cutting up downed trees all over his neighborhood. Like he said, we are not waiting here—things have to get done!
Very proud of them both.
“People are being told they cannot return there for six months.”
It is hard to determine how many of those people were year-rounders and how many were vacation homes; a friend has a house just north of Seaside Heights, and for many years an increasing number of the homes were being winterized and used as primary residences. I couldn’t imagine how much any of those people were paying for homeowners insurance; like much of New Orleans I’d imagine much of these won’t be rebuilt because the properties are basically uninsurable. If you’re familiar with the situation in Wayne/Pequannock (where people want the government to buy them out of flood-zone homes), the Jersey shore crisis might be just the opportunity to do that in some areas. The homeowners walk away with their insurance proceeds, and the area simply reverts to its natural state.
They never should have been turned away in the first place. It needs to be fixed for good to allow them to help.
Very valid points.
The saving grace of this storm concerning the barrier islands is that most of these homes are second homes, and buttoned up for the winter, or just inhabited on weekends into the fall.
The barrier islands are fairly deserted in these winter months, except for weekends.
More folks in recent years have retired to these homes preferring to live year round, becasue in the non tourist season you have the ocean and bay to yourselves.
Seaside Heights has a weekend crowd during these months and mostly welfare recipients who take over the hotels once the tourists depart by Labor Day.
For a place like Seaside Heights that absolutely depends on tourism, all of thew items folks come there for have disappeared—the beach, the boardwalk, the bars, the amusements.
The other thing to be thankful for is this storm happened on October 29th and not July 29th or August 29th, at the height of the tourist season.The tourist season now is all but over, the money has been made, and the memories abundant of a great summer at the Jersey Shore.
Places like Staten Island and Toms River,and other places in NY and NJ that were affected by the storm surge where folks live year round, is far more of an impact than the barrier island.
You’re right; this could have been worse at a different time of year, and it is worse in the “year-round areas” to the north.
The shore is nicest in the spring & fall...
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