We’re glad to hear that South Jersey’s power utility, Atlantic City Electric, and its union employees have come to terms on a tentative contract. All’s well that ends well, especially as the holidays near. Union members were to return to work yesterday, assuming they ratified the agreement.
We’re a bit baffled, however, by the handwringing and criticisms of people who should know better who said the company should provide health coverage for workers while they were on strike.
About 400 workers walked out Nov. 5 a few days after their previous contract expired and the company and union couldn’t agree on a new deal.
As is typical in strikes, those refusing to work did without the health coverage that was part of the contract they were no longer honoring. Businesses don’t have to keep paying employees who aren’t working, and we see no reason to expect them to provide employment benefits either.
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The union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 210, tried to make it sound as though the loss of benefits was punishment for workers striking. “The union was aware the company had the choice of eliminating benefits, but we felt they would do the right thing and not pull the plug,” IBEW Business Administrator Zach Story said. He further claimed that it showed Atlantic City Electric and parent company Exelon didn’t care about their employees.
That would not have been the right thing, nor would it have advanced any public interest. Benefits are a substantial share of the compensation for workers. Funding them for those who leave their employment would be as ridiculous as still paying former workers.
This is widely known, and under federal COBRA law former workers can pay to keep their coverage active until making other arrangements — such as ending a strike and returning to work. Unions, in fact, often pay for continued health coverage under COBRA for the workers they’ve sent out on strike, and provide some replacement for their lost paychecks as well. IBEW is just blaming the company for its own lack of service to its members.
Yet Rep. Jeff Van Drew, the area’s Republican congressman, apparently fell for this baloney.
“When I hear families’ health benefits are being canceled right before Christmas, … it’s clear that this strike is much bigger than the traditional dispute between business and labor,” Van Drew said.
Atlantic City Electric didn’t cancel the health benefits. Workers ended their business relation that included pay and benefits when they quit working.
Perhaps Van Drew was distracted by some trumped up partisan issues with the company, such as classifying Veterans Day a floating holiday to make room on its regular list for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and not starting company meetings with pledging allegiance to the flag. For the good of society, we hope the destructive trend of idly politicizing business matters is reversed.
California this year made it easier for striking union workers to qualify for its Medicaid program to replace their work benefits. As of October, Connecticut has been offering striking workers special enrollment in state health insurance programs. We never imagined Van Drew would take a political position against the good and necessary functioning of the labor market, but now we’re not so sure.
Extremely progressive and always union-supporting New Jersey in April took action on the other part of compensation to encourage strikes and support unions. Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law cutting in half how long strikers must wait to get unemployment benefits from the state, from 30 days to just two weeks. The law was made retroactive so union members who had walked out in the past could collect jobless pay. So union members choosing not to work get paid not to work — even as people laid off by companies or government-ordered shutdowns have been thwarted by N.J. unemployment from getting benefits they’ve paid into for years.
Atlantic City Electric said the contract up for a ratification vote Wednesday includes pay increases, more vacation and holiday time, and a work-from-home option for some. Maybe Van Drew’s outburst pressured the company to settle more quickly.
But who’s looking out for the interests of consumers and businesses who must pay electric bills already rising to fund Murphy’s climate agenda? Apparently no one but voters anymore.