LOCAL 1-2 UPDATE
WHATEVER IT TAKES ENTERS CRUNCH TIME!
STATEMENT OF CORE PRINCIPLES
Brothers and Sisters it’s crunch time! As never before in our history, Local 1-2 will be judged by what we do, by how we do it and in how we conduct ourselves at the bargaining table and in the streets during our coming contract negotiations with Con Edison.
The stakes cannot be higher, because we know that Con Ed is pinning its hopes, not just on imposing devastating changes to the terms of our labor-wages, pensions, health care- but to the death of Local 1-2 itself. Kevin Burke and his cronies are counting on it and they’re telling their Fat-Cat friends.
Burke and Co. have already signaled their end-game with the profound morale-killing changes in employment they dictated recently to their mid-level, mid-pay, manager drones. And Con Ed is looking to do the same to us. Meanwhile, they’re content to pick us off one Member at a time.
So, in preparation for the looming war we have developed a set of Core Principles to guide us into the future and to set a standard insuring that Local 1-2 emerges Stronger, United and Powerful.
FAIRNESS: First, the climate of fear that Con Ed trades in has to go. No more arbitrary 20-day suspensions. No more cutting corners when it comes to safety. No more games with our schedules. A fair wage for a fair day’s work is what common decency demands. It is what we demand in our workplace. Yet, Con Ed has strayed so far from these norms in recent years that our shops and our yards have descended into dark Darwinian nightmares of survival, demanding Brother turn on Brother: Cage matches of greed.
EQUALITY: There is no doubt that we, the Members of Local 1-2, keep the lights and power flowing to the homes and businesses of millions of New Yorkers. There’s also no doubt that Kevin Burke and his top managers reap pay days astronomically-millions of dollars-higher than any other energy executives in the country. There is no doubt that Local 1-2 demands to share in these proceeds. They ask for shared sacrifice, we demand they share the wealth. We will close this vast pay chasm between the Brothers and Sisters who keep the lights on and those who feed like bloated parasites on the profits we create by our labor.
UNITY: Con Ed has already created new ranks of privilege by separating their mid-level manager stooges into categories that take from some and give to others. Brothers and Sisters that’s the scam Con Ed will try to run on us. They want nothing less that to divide our ranks. And they’ll do it by dangling carrots of goodies to some, and deny it to others. Brothers and Sisters Local 1-2 will not allow any of our jobs, or any of our titles, to be broken into a tiered system. We know today that any such system once in place will cause the death of the Union. It is a sickness that is chronic, progressive and fatal to any Union that has drunk from this poison well. We stand United today or we die tomorrow. For you and your family, it is time to close ranks and prepare for a fight that will determine the heart, the soul and the very lifeblood of Local 1-2, now and in years to come.
Today, we implore each and every Brother and Sister to stand with us. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT EACH OF US BE AT THE APRIL 17 MEMBERSHIP MEETING. If we do not send Con Ed a signal that night, it will be like entering a battle unarmed. Be There. SAVE YOUR FUTURE!