| Newly in possession of a House-approved locked out worker benefit bill, Senate leaders said Monday they are ready to intervene if National Grid won’t end its lockout of union gas workers voluntarily.
“This process has gone on long enough, and the Senate is prepared to take action if needed,” Senate President Karen Spilka and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said in a statement released overnight Sunday, hours before the Senate was expected to gavel into session at 11 a.m.
“We call on National Grid to end their lockout immediately and allow the workers to get back to work now,” Spilka and Tarr said in a statement released at midnight. “We believe the two parties can continue negotiations – and they must continue negotiations – while allowing these families to put food on their table, take care of their children’s pressing health needs, and enjoy their holidays together.”
Days after lawmakers threatened to intervene in the labor dispute between National Grid and the United Steelworkers, the company said Friday that a “constructive” bargaining session on Friday had led to a commitment to meet daily starting Dec. 17 until a deal can be reached. National Grid spokeswoman Danielle Williamson said the company gave USW Locals 12003 and 12012 a list of items it was “willing to discuss with an effort to reach an agreement before Christmas” and had agreed with the union to ramp up its bargaining schedule.
“We had constructive discussions about important issues. We are encouraged that we now have a commitment from the unions to bargain again next Thursday and Friday, and then, beginning Monday, Dec. 17, every day until we reach an agreement,” Williamson said.
National Grid has offered the unions pay raises in the range 15 percent over four years and job guarantees as part of its offer, but is seeking health insurance deductibles and changes to the company’s pension plan for new hires. The state House tried to put pressure on National Grid to end its lockout of workers last week when it passed legislation that would force National Grid to pay into a new program for unemployment benefits for locked out workers that would kick in once existing unemployment insurance benefits expire around Jan. 15. National Grid had complained as recently as last Tuesday at a hearing in front of hostile legislators that the unions had been unwilling to meet as frequently as the company since the lockout began in late June to try to reach a compromise.
