Dominion Locks Out Labor Union Workers in WV-PA-OH-NY-VA-MD

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lockoutA labor union contract between Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) and Local 69 of the Utility Workers Union of America, United Gas Workers expired on April 1st. Since that time the two have come to the bargaining table many times, without success. So Dominion is now trying to bust up the union (our words) by locking out 915 union workers from their jobs across the northeast and mid-Atlantic: in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Maryland and Virginia. Dominion’s top brass says they’ve had to take this step because of the upcoming heating season, about ready to begin. Dominion is concerned that customers not be left out in the cold, literally–so they’re replacing union workers with management workers and temps “trained to handle essential tasks.” Dominion is a large company that not only is an LDC (a local utility that distributes gas to customers), but also a big midstream pipeline company. Here’s what we wonder but haven’t seen addressed: What about Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export plant? Are any of these sidelined union workers off the job at Cove Point, and will that delay the project? Same for the upcoming Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. When it gets built, will it get built without union workers? What about Dominion compressor station upgrades coming to six plants, recently approved by FERC (see FERC OKs 6 Dominion Compressor Station Upgrades in PA, MD, VA)? Were any of these union workers working on the compressor projects?…

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