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As the state House of Representatives on Dec. 6 passed legislation authorizing wage benefits for locked out utility workers, House Speaker Robert DeLeo announced that the utility responsible for locking out its workers would be on the hook for any related costs under the bill.
That’s still the intent, but it appears that’s not reflected in the bill that was rushed through the House on a voice vote and with no debate.
As steelworkers’ union representatives swarmed the State House Monday to pressure the Senate to act on the bill, word began to circulate in the capitol that the House bill would require all electric or gas utilities to cover extended benefits for employees locked out by any one utility. The bill is on the move because National Grid locked out 1,200 of its natural gas workers in June and many of those workers face the end of unemployment benefits in January.
The News Service inquired with DeLeo’s office because the Winthrop Democrat had said previously the House bill (H 4988) protected taxpayers and ratepayers by “assuring that the cost of these benefits fall solely to the employer responsible for the lockout.”
“The intent of the legislation is that any utility which locks out its employees should be required to fund the benefit program established by the legislation to provide benefits to locked-out workers upon the expiration of their unemployment insurance benefits,” DeLeo spokeswoman Catherine Williams said in a statement to the News Service. “The speaker intends to discuss the correction of this drafting error with the Senate President and, if necessary, the House stands ready to make additional changes if the bill is returned.”
Twenty-five senators wrote a letter on Nov. 1 to Senate Ways and Means Committee Vice Chair Sen. Joan Lovely asking her panel to release a bill (S 2108) extending unemployment benefits an additional 26 weeks for workers who have been locked out by their employers. They said the bill was filed initially in response to the August 2015 lockout by Allegheny Technologies of 2,200 workers at 12 facilities in six states, including a New Bedford facility.
Senate President Karen Spilka and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr on Dec. 10 called on National Grid to “end their lockout immediately.”
