Peco workers plan to walk off the job on the Fourth of July if they don’t have a contract by then, their union announced Thursday.
IBEW Local 614, which represents roughly 1,500 Peco employees including gas and electric field workers and call center staff, has been negotiating for a new contract for months. They include employees who work to restore electricity during power outages.
The workers voted at the end of May to authorize a strike if their union called for it, with over 1,000 participating in the vote. It would be the first worker strike in the company’s history.
“We’ve exhausted every avenue to reach a deal,” IBEW Local 614 president Larry Anastasi said in a statement Tuesday. “If Peco won’t invest in the workers who keep the lights on, we’ve got no choice but to stand together and demand the respect we’ve earned.”
Under its most recent contract, the union is required to provide Peco with at least seven days’ notice before going out on strike. A large crowd, including leaders of other area unions, gathered at Washington Square Park on Thursday morning for the union’s strike date announcement.
Peco spokesperson Candice Womer said in a statement Thursday morning ahead of the strike date announcement that the company is committed to negotiating in good faith for an agreement that “is fair to our employees, while supporting the long-term needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”
“We have presented a strong, market-competitive compensation and benefits package,” Womer said.
Customers should not expect delays or interruptions in service, said Nicole LeVine, Peco’s chief operating officer.
“We’re an emergency response company,” LeVine said. “We’ve been working on contingency planning in the event of a strike, and we were well prepared to execute our plan if needed.”
LeVine said some workers who would be called on during a strike are “familiar with our specific system,” and others “are coming in from outside of the region.” She declined to say how many workers are part of the contingency plan.
The union workers’ most recent five-year contract expired March 31, and negotiations, which started in January, have led to some tentative agreements, Peco has said. But sticking points have emerged around wages and benefits, the union says.
The most recent bargaining session was June 19, and the next one is scheduled for July 2, LeVine said. She noted that the company would like to conduct that session sooner.
Peco has suggested using a federal mediator to reach an agreement, LeVine said. “If we get a mediator in here, he can help making sure both parties are participating in negotiations, and we can reach a good deal,” she said.
Hundreds of Peco workers and supporters met in Washington Square Park on Thursday, a little after 11 a.m., some holding signs that read “Ready to strike. Ready to win.”
When Anastasi, the local president, announced that workers would go out on strike at 12:01 a.m. on the Fourth of July, the crowd behind him erupted in cheers. Anastasi said the union had not made the decision lightly.
“We didn’t want to do this,” Stephen Giorgio, a Peco employee for nearly three years, said after the news conference. But, he added, the union has been negotiating for months, and “enough’s enough.”
Giorgio, who works in the western suburbs, is part of a Peco team that gets called upon when a customer’s power is out.
“We’re out there day and night, weekends, holidays,” he said. “My wife forgets what I look like sometimes.”
His line of work is dangerous, he says, and can include climbing a 60-foot pole in the rain — but he wouldn’t trade it for another job.
“I love this job,” Giorgio said. “I can never see myself doing anything else. Took me 10 years to get here, and now I’m here, and I don’t ever plan on looking back.”
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