1199SEIU Helps "Fight The Power" At Baltimore Gas & Electric

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

A new community-labor coalition called Good Jobs Better Baltimore recently “turned the tables” on Baltimore Gas & Electric, serving the company with a “very special turn-off notice,” reports 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. In a deal that would see the company's combined headquarters moved to Illinois, BGE's parent company – Constellation Energy – is “attempting a controversial merger with a Chicago-based utility, so the 1199-backed coalition showed up at BGE headquarters [in early May] vowing to turn off any merger that lacks strong protections for Baltimore families and workers,” says the union.   John Reid - Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU's Maryland/DC Division, which is a founding member of the Good Jobs Better Baltimore coalition – called the merger “a great deal for CEOs but a bad deal for Baltimore.” Good Jobs Better Baltimore representatives say, “For far too long, ordinary Americans have had little say in an economy that has produced record gains for CEOs but record rates of foreclosures and unemployment for working people. The recent history of BGE and Constellation offers a classic case of everything that has gone wrong in America over the last decade.” Click here to read the full story on 1199SEIU’s website. - photo courtesy 1199SEIU