(NEW YORK CITY) – Nearly two weeks ago, four people locked themselves in a room to end the Con Edison Lock-Out of 8,500 Union Members of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA).

According to Local 1-2 spokesman John Melia, UWUA’s President Michael Langford, Local 1-2’s President Harry Farrell and Con Ed’s CEO Kevin Burke - aided by Governor Andrew Cuomo - agreed to terms to get Local 1-2 Members back to work on The City’s Critical Energy Infrastructure.

At the time Cuomo publicly claimed that severe weather was approaching New York and feared the City’s Power Systems were threatened.

When asked if the Labor Dispute ultimately required Cuomo’s intervention to end the Lock-Out, Melia said: “Yes, because Burke [Con Ed’s CEO] was on an ideological mission to destroy the Union and the Governor recognized that Public Safety was being compromised and he had to step in.”

Mail-Home Ballots were sent out last week to the 8,500 Membership and they have to mail them back to the Union’s Offices by August 15th.

Melia said the Tentative Agreement calls for a Wage Increase of 11% over the term of the Four-Year Agreement, increased Health Care Contributions by the Members (Melia didn’t know the exact percentage, but noted it is less than what the Company originally sought), and on the hottest item that separated widely both sides during negotiations preceding the Lock-Out - the Pension - the Tentative Agreement calls for the Defined-Pension Benefit to stay intact for current Workers.  But for new hires as of July 1st, they will be forced to invest in a 401(k)-like Plan, supplemented by a Thrift Savings Plan (a Federally-Managed Savings Plan) where the Company will match Members’ contributions at 100%.

Surprisingly, Melia said the Union believes New Hires will receive a Pension after 30 years, which almost equals the payments of a Defined-Benefit Pension Plan: “We don’t think that New Hires’ Retirement Payments will be less than an existing Member’s Pension Payments.  We believe that new hires will have the ability to have a Funded-Retirement Package that’ll yield the same as a Defined Pension Benefit.”

In fact, Melia said New Hires could potentially end up with a Higher Retirement Package through the New Retirement Plan: “It’s certainly mathematically possible that New Hires will have more in retirement when you factor in a Decent Wage, thirty years of work with the Company, Pre-Tax Contributions and the Company’s one-hundred-percent matching via the Thrift Savings Plan.”

The question begs, however, why would the Company even offer the 401(k)-like Plan if New Hires will receive an almost Equal Retirement to those receiving a Pension?

“The company had an ideological hatred of the Defined-Pension Benefit,” said Melia, explaining that one of the biggest gains for the Union reached in the Tentative Agreement is that the $8 billion Defined-Pension Benefit Plan cannot come up even for discussion for the next six Contracts, about a quarter of century from now.  “I can’t think of a Labor Agreement anywhere where the Company can’t raise the pension issue for twenty-five years,” he said.

Another item in the Tentative Agreement, which the Union believes will allow the Labor Organizations to grow, is that for every four New Hires, three will be Union Positions.

According to Melia, over the years - as Con Edison was hiring New Workers - it was classifying them as Managerial Positions, thereby eating into the Union’s numerical strength.

Asked if he was happy with the overall outcome, Melia answered: “Yes.  The Union will grow, our Members will have stability and the Pension Issue will not be a source of contention for a long time.  All in all, considering what the Company wanted, it didn’t get very far.  They caused a major disruption, but at the end of the day they did it for nothing. T hey didn’t anticipate the type of fury they would unleash,” referring to the strong showing of solidarity by the City’s Labor Movement.

Melia also noted Con Ed, to also help persuade the majority of the 8,500 Local 1-2 Membership to Ratify the Agreement, will offer a $1,200 Bonus and then a $600 Bonus next year.