Delays from the lockout and a temporary moratorium on non-emergency National Grid work following an overpressurization incident contributed to a potential year-long backup for developers trying to get gas hookups.Īfter the Local 12012 vote at the Irish American Club in Malden, the mood was jubilant, with workers shaking hands and slapping backs, and smiles all around. The company expects to resume non-emergency work, including new services, in early February. “For most employees, this ship has sailed, and these guys were trying to hang on, and it looks like they hung on to some of it for a while,” he said. On the main sticking points of health insurance and pensions, the union and the company both got a bit of what they wanted. Hugh Murray, a lawyer at McCarter & English in Hartford who represents management in labor disputes, said that neither side should be claiming victory in this fight. The retirement plan for future employees is less costly for the company and, unlike with a traditional pension, employees are not guaranteed a certain monthly benefit for life. “I suspect they’ll think twice before they do it again.”īut, he noted, the company did accomplish what might be its main goal: getting rid of pensions for new hires. “I think came out of it with a black eye that in many respects was completely unnecessary,” said Steve Striffler, director of the Labor Resource Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The workers, who had volunteered to keep working after their last contract expired on June 24, gained public sympathy over the course of the lockout, as well as support from lawmakers, who passed a bill to extend their unemployment benefits that Governor Charlie Baker signed into law last week. Labor experts see the contract as a win for workers, especially considering the hard line National Grid took - locking out employees and cutting off their health insurance in an attempt to reduce their benefits. The Local 12012 vote was 323 for and 12 against the contract at Local 12003, it was 562 to 105. The locked-out workers, who serve about 700,000 gas customers in 85 communities in the state, will go back to work the week of Jan. “The company did make the progress we set out to make on health insurance and transitioning new hires to new retirement plans,” president Marcy Reed said in a conference call. National Grid also said that it had accomplished its goals. We had to compromise, but we compromised on our terms.” We stood up to a multinational, multibillion-dollar corporation that has more money than a lot of countries in the world. . . “We did something that we think was unprecedented. “We feel good,” said John Buonopane, the president of Local 12012, one of the two United Steelworkers locals involved in the lockout. (Updates with comments from CEO from first paragraph, BI commentary.A few dozen jobs will be created, including new safety oversight positions and outsourced jobs that will be returned to union employees. A stable debt ratio is crucial to give investors confidence that its liabilities aren’t too high compared to the value of its assets. It also said it expects net debt to rise by £4.5 billion in the next year from £41 billion. The company confirmed a final dividend of the year of 37.6 pence.
The company expects underlying earnings per share next year to be “modestly below” this year’s levels after the changes, it said in a statement. It warned in April that earnings might be hit after a UK budget measure on tax expenses was seen crimping revenue from transmission and distribution.
National Grid faces strict cost controls in the UK after Ofgem said in November that it would allow the utility to invest less than it hoped to until 2028. “Gas has a very important role to play in the northeastern US.”
“It’s certainly something with a lot of emotion,” said Pettigrew. The US is facing a heated debate over gas-stoves, which are facing bans in some jurisdictions as lawmakers push toward electrification. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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