Con Edison has issued the following statement:
As our contract expiration approached late Saturday night, management asked the union leadership to agree to extend the contract for two weeks.
The union leadership refused.
Management then agreed not to lock union employees out without seven days notice as long as the union agreed not to strike without seven days notice.
The union leadership refused.
On Sunday night, management asked union leadership to allow our employees to return to work immediately with only 72 hours notice of a strike.
The union leadership refused.
These offers are still good.
Advance notice is important so that we can plan for the safe and reliable operation of our complex energy systems. Imagine if a crew working on an outage at your home or business suddenly picked up their tools and left. We owe it to you – our customers – to prepare for any work stoppage. If workers could walk off the job without warning, we would risk disruption to the system and to the reliable service we provide you, our customers.
We need to balance the demands of the union leadership with the needs of our customers.