Pepco Union Faults Short-Staffing for Long Outages
Monday, July 16, 2012
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Short-staffing at Pepco is as much to blame for
the recent power outages as Mother Nature,
according to the union that represents over
1,000 Pepco workers. “We’ve been
complaining for years that staffing levels are
too low,” IBEW 1900 President Jim Griffin
says. Griffin testified at the DC City Council
on Friday in the wake of outages that left over
a million area residents without power for as
long as a week. “Staffing, especially of
linesmen, is half of what it was 20 years ago.
These are the folks that are vital to keeping
the lights on, and we’ve just been
decimated.” Contract workers have also been a
problem, Griffin said, noting that “They’re
here today and gone tomorrow, leaving us to
pick up the pieces.” Local 1900 is in
contract negotiations with Pepco; the current
contract was due to expire May 31, but has been
extended through midnight on July 29. - photo of Pepco
employees assessing damage to electrical lines
by Jason Reed/Reuters
