Peco’s union negotiations have turned ugly amid expired contract
Peco and its 1,500-member union are accusing each other of not bargaining in good faith. Here’s how negotiations are going.
As Peco negotiates a new contract with a union representing roughly 1,500 of its employees, both sides are accusing the other of bargaining unfairly, including Peco alleging “patently obnoxious” behavior by union representatives, including comments about race and gender.
Peco has also accused the union negotiators of “threatening violence” against the company’s lead negotiator and telling him to “tie a rope and jump.”
The union said Peco’s allegations are “a blatant distortion.”
“Peco still has not provided the union with a substantive proposal on pensions or healthcare, and its wage proposal is still both inadequate and especially insulting to the call center workers—predominantly women and people of color—who are being offered even less than the rest of Peco’s employees,” said union spokesperson Melissa McCleery.
Both the union, IBEW local 614, and the company, have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board in recent days. Both the union and the company contend that they do want to reach a deal.
The union represents Peco’s gas and electric field workers, such as linemen, as well as back office and call center employees. These workers are seeking improved benefits and wages in a new contract, including a consolidated pension plan for all members.
Both sides appear to still be far from reaching an agreement on key issues.
Peco alleges in its NLRB filing that union representatives have hurled profanities at the company’s negotiation team, referred to some union members as autistic, and told a female Peco representative that she hasn’t “been house trained yet.” Peco alleged that a union representative said “in the presence of African-American female bargaining committee members, in reference to a cup of coffee, ‘black & strong, how I like my women.’”
The company’s filing says union representatives called Peco’s lead negotiator “physically deformed,” and disabled, and likened his role as lead negotiator to “hiring a pedophile to run the [expletive] daycare.”
Peco’s filing attributes these statements to the union’s bargaining representatives, without naming specific union members.
Peco spokesperson Candice Womer says the union’s “tactics and misconduct are wasting time, and in many cases are concerning.”
“Union leadership’s conduct at the table has been reprehensible,” she said. “Despite this conduct, we remain ready and available to meet and continue discussions. We are eager to move forward, because we are focused, as always, on our customers.”
Union spokesperson McCleery says the company’s “characterizations of the union’s conduct at the table are a blatant distortion aimed at distracting from the fact that the company is not serious about reaching an agreement and giving its workforce and the public much-needed stability.”
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Bargaining had been scheduled most recently on Sunday, but Peco representatives did not show up, the union said in its complaint this week.
Womer said the company didn’t attend because “at the eleventh hour, Local 614 unilaterally insisted on virtual bargaining and refused to meet in person, which is not as effective as meeting in person.”
Larry Anastasi, IBEW Local 614 president, said in a statement, “Peco management didn’t even show up. It’s total disrespect.”
“We are doing everything we can to reach a deal, but it feels impossible when management blows us off, jerks us around, and refuses to negotiate on the actual issues,” he said. “Bargaining in good faith requires actually showing up.”
The union’s last contract was negotiated remotely, noted IBEW local 614 spokesperson McCleery. Peco’s Womer said the remote negotiations on the last contract were unprecedented and due to the pandemic.
The worker’s recent five-year contract expired on March 31. It’s the first time since Peco’s workforce voted to unionize in 2004 that their union’s contract has lapsed.
IBEW local 614 and Peco are next scheduled to meet Monday for bargaining in person.
