No strike for Electric Co-op – yet

PLYMOUTH — Unionized workers for the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative rejected, 79-1, the company’s new contract proposal, but they will not be calling for strike until the company has an opportunity to review their counter proposal over the weekend.

After the union rejected the contract on Thursday night — three days after the old contract expired — the two sides resumed negotiations Friday morning.

“The company wanted more information, and we gave them a counter proposal that the union could accept and take to the body,” said Dick Rogers, the business manager of Local 1837, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“They’ve got to come in Monday at 9 a.m. with something the body would accept,” Rogers said.

Seth Wheeler, spokesman for the Co-op, said that, while “there is no indication that a work stoppage is imminent … NHEC has prepared a contingency plan to provide for adequate coverage of power outages and to protect public safety in the event that union employees engage in a work stoppage.”

He said, “Certified line crews have been engaged and will be accompanied on any outage calls by non-union NHEC employees who are familiar with the service territory. NHEC members will still be able to report outages 24 hours a day to the NHEC Outage line at 1-800-343-6432.”

“We’re thinking about the Co-op members as well,” said Rogers, “and we don’t want any interruptions of power. The union is not afraid to strike or take a job action, but we’re trying to be reasonable. Our members will keep working, and the company agrees there will be no changes. The company wanted trust, and we’re trusting they’ll live up to it, but it will come to a head Monday. We’ll see.”

Three provisions of the contract were at issue: pensions, 401(k) plans, and wages.

The union asked to revert to the pre-2012 provisions for the retirement plans after agreeing to cutbacks in the last contract. The company offered to switch back to a higher-percentage plan but wanted to increase full eligibility from age 62 to age 65, Rogers said.

The biggest issue for the union was the company’s insistence that it could change the pension and 401(k) plans at any time without going back to the union.

“We can’t have language that suggests we cannot bargain,” Rogers said.

The third issue was compensation. Rogers said Co-op linemen make $1.75 to $2 less than their counterparts in other companies, but the Co-op management offered no wage adjustments.

“A 79-1 rejection of the offer is a resounding vote,” Rogers said. “I haven’t seen anything like it in my time. They’re very unified in their message, and I hope the company hears this loud and clear.”