HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO acknowledged a bill to extend the unemployment benefits of locked-out National Grid workers doesn’t do what he thought it would do.
The bill was approved with no debate during an informal session of the House on December 6. DeLeo issued a statement at the time saying the bill would extend the unemployment benefits of the 1,250 locked-out workers and assess the cost on National Grid.
CommonWealth reported that the bill as written would actually assess the cost on all of the state’s utilities, not just National Grid. But a spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee, which drafted the legislation, insisted only the company locking out its workers would have to pay.
On Monday, DeLeo’s office acknowledged the bill wouldn’t do what he said it would do. In a statement to the State House News Service, a spokeswoman for DeLeo said the intent of the legislation was to assess the cost of the extended benefits on the shareholders of the utility that locked them out. “The Speaker intends to discuss the correction of this drafting error with the Senate President and, if necessary, the House stands ready to make additional changes if the bill is returned,” the statement said.
The legislative snafu comes at a time when legislative leaders are talking tough on National Grid but doing very little. Senate President Karen Spilka and Republican leader Bruce Tarr
issued a strongly worded statement on December 9 threatening action against National Grid, but the Senate has done nothing so far. The Legislature’s Committee on Telecommunications, Energy, and Utilities
held a raucus hearing on December 4 on a bill that would force National Grid to restore health benefits to its locked-out workers, but that measure, despite apparent support from most of the committee members, hasn’t moved.
The union continues to win the battle in the court of public opinion. Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen reported on how the union is doling out money to members who are struggling to make ends meet without a weekly paycheck. Cullen says hundreds of workers are taking nothing from the union so that other members can get what they need.
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Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
“The selflessness of the workers stands in dramatic contrast to a British-based company that made almost a $5 billion profit last year but still wants to wring concessions from the people who do the work,” Cullen wrote.
Meanwhile, National Grid and the two union locals representing the company’s steelworkers continue to negotiate, but a resolution remains elusive. The company is pressing the union to agree to diminished pension benefits for newly hired workers and some additional health care charges for all workers, but the union is refusing to go along even if the company offers sweeteners in other areas. For either side to give in at this point would mean the last six months of pain have been in vain.
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