USA : Dominion lockout continues; no date set for new negotiations
BRIDGEPORT — The lockout of union employees by Dominion Transmission and Dominion Hope continues, preventing over 915 unionized gas workers from returning to work, according to Craig
Bradford, president of United Gas Workers Union Local 69.
“Local 69 members are ready and willing to come back to work,” Bradford said. “We have a severe concern for public safety. We don’t believe that the current workers can operate the equipment as effectively and efficiently as we can.”
Union leadership and Dominion representatives met with a federal mediator on Sept. 8, shortly after the lockout began. However, no agreement was reached.
Bradford said that the issues preventing an agreement with the federal mediator were the same issues that caused the dispute to begin with: pensions and health care for new hires. Bradford also said that before the lockout, the union offered the company an agreement that would allow the union members to continue to work, provided they agreed not to go on strike during negotiations. He says this offer still stands, but the company will not accept the agreement.
Dominion asserted that they completely disagree with the union’s assertion that they offered an unrestricted no strike agreement, but refused to comment further due to an ongoing investigation as a result of the Local 69 filing unfair labor practice charges.
Frank Mack, Dominion communication project manager, said that furthermore, this agreement would not have been in the public’s best interest.
“A no-strike clause ‘during negotiations’ really offered the companies no protection at all. The union could just say that they are stopping negotiations and strike whenever it wanted to do so. As a result, the union could strike during the winter months when our customers are the most vulnerable.”
In the meantime, Mack said that their system continues to operate in a safe and reliable manner.
“We’re looking forward to getting back together and reaching an agreement,” Mack said. “We want to settle on a contract that’s fair to all parties. That has been our goal from the beginning.”
According to Dominion, the current operations management team has on average 19 years of experience and most began their careers in the field so they know the facilities well.
They are also getting support from qualified contractors who have pipeline experience. Many of them have actually worked on and are familiar with the Dominion system. The companies will continue to respond to emergency calls and monitor the system 24/7.
According to Local 69, the federal mediator proposed that the current contract be extended through the winter months, to allow the union workers to return to work while bargaining continued and the company refused.
There are no scheduled dates for the parties to resume negotiations, but both have agreed to continue communicating.