In the midst of recording breaking heatwave, Consolidated Edison threaten to pull workers..

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/nyregion/con-ed-negotiates-with-union-as-deadline-nears.html?_r=2

While New Yorkers try to keep their heads cool during this weekend’s heat wave, they may also want to hope that those running the final negotiations between Consolidated Edison and its biggest union do the same.

Officials of the union, Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America, have been threatening to pull their 8,500 members from their jobs as soon as Sunday morning if an agreement on a new contract is not reached before the current one expires at midnight Saturday. But they also have hinted that the company might lock the workers out. As some workers finished their shifts on Friday, they were told to turn in the keys to company cars and trucks and the identification cards that open gates to equipment yards, a spokesman for the union said.

The union’s president, Harry Farrell, has repeatedly suggested that Con Ed would not be able to keep power flowing to air-conditioners and lights around the city without his members. But Con Ed officials said the utility, which serves New York City and Westchester County, had prepared its managers to step in and operate the power grid and make repairs.
“We’ve been preparing for any eventuality,” said Michael Clendenin, a spokesman for Con Ed. “If there’s a work stoppage, management would operate the gas and electric system.”

Mr. Clendenin said the company could deploy about 5,000 managers, about half of whom have some experience working in the field. In the interim, he said, some construction projects would be postponed and meter-reading might be curtailed