Con Edison Answers to No One; Chances Are They Will Leave us Without Electric Why? Why Not!
Con Edison once again show us how much they care about this city. I have been born having Com Ed. in my travels have never seen a more irresponsible company, dealing with so many precious lifes and $$ treasure that will be lost by every New Yorker. To be lost if we loose electricity even for 24 hours. They cannot blame it in their Union, which are culprits no. 2. But its been Con Ed by their cavalier attitude that makes everything that happens is 'an act of god'. I, on the other hand would see an act of god if Con Ed became a responsible company and a partner with those companies that care in NY,
The real stinger is that the new York mayor with Albany have made Con Ed what it is. They don’t answer to anyone. Their boss is the public service commission, comprise by people appointed by the governor and the mayor. That is so they would not take flack which is the case with NY Transit. No bosses, just a board of directors. A public company with a board of directors? Who ever heard of this bull shit! for a utility as big as Con Ed. But it happens because NYorkers are not aware so the politicians do what they need to do to cover their asses particularly in badly run companies like con Ed.
Now supposed they lights went out for a week. It wont be the first time that we have had acts of gods in the city…it most be that we have too many sinners here. So we loose power for one week. Chaos breaks out, people die, people go out of business and so forth. My question is what would happen to con ed? NOTHING. They get sued, they pass along the charges to us, They got everything figured out!
What are the politicians going to do now? Can't fire them…Who will take over?…..and that is the problem and the key to finding a way to fire their asses. No More commission, let the highest public officials be responsible. that way we will fire their buds too if the company miss behave. That is the conundrum we have put our selves, in.
Adam Gonzalez for adamfoxie*
After locking out 8,000 union workers in a contract dispute, Con Ed is assuring New Yorkers it can deliver power without disruption during these scorching summer days. The utility is currently relying on 5,000 managers and and some retired supervisors who have been persuaded to come back and fill in for the locked-out workers. But with temperatures in the mid-90s, demand for power is acute, and the union warns that if there's any serious problems, the managers won't be able to handle it.
"They have placed their customers and the public at great peril," union spokesman John Melia tells the Daily News. "These men and women don’t have the knowledge or the expertise or the capability to keep the system operating long term. These guys don’t know how to go down into flaming manholes." Not to be outdone, union president Harry Farrell told the Times, "What they said last night to the people of New York was, ‘Drop dead.' They’re asking retired supervisors to climb poles and work in manholes and stuff — I just don’t see it happening." For now, Con Ed is suspending meter reading and shutting walk-in centers.
Con Ed workers haven't gone on strike since the summer of 1983; at that time there were 16,500 members working at the utility, and the Times reports that the strike lasted nine weeks, with one major incident affecting service. The two sides are currently at odds over pension benefits. Workers' current contract has expired, and while workers were willing to continue working without a contract during negotiations, Con Ed officials had demanded an agreement from the union not to strike without seven days' notice.
The union rejected that, and negotiations broke down around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Throughout yesterday there were a number of small-scale power outages, but Con Ed's spokesman says there were below average for a typical day in July. In Queens, about 650 households in Hollis lost power for most of the day, and the News reports that Con Ed managers were on the scene at a darkened a block of Wilson Avenue in the Bronx, where someone letting off firecrackers hit a power line. “This is dangerous work," Melia warns. "It kills people. We lose one or two men a year. The [management retirees] can’t deal with a transformer fire on top of a pole."
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