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NEW YORK, N.Y. Talks resumed Friday between Con Edison and its locked out union employees after negotiations Thursday yielded no results.
Thursday's negotiations, at an undisclosed location in New York City, were "totally unfruitful," John Melia, a spokesman for Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America, said Friday morning.
The meeting Thursday was the first time the two sides were in the same room since contract talks broke down early Sunday. Melia said Con Edison officials seemed uninterested in finding an agreement.
"They could have sent crash-test dummies," Melia said. "They have never talked to us in good faith."
Con Edison spokesman Mike Clendenin countered said that the union had refused to work under the just-expired contract for a few more weeks until a new contract could be worked out.
"Last week we made several [contract] offers," Clendenin said.
This week's meeting was arranged Monday by federal mediators after negotiations reached a stalemate when the workers' contract expired at midnight Saturday.
On Sunday, Con Ed rejected union workers' offer to work without a contract, and workers decided not to take the company up on its proposal to extend their current contract until July 14 while talks continued.
The company's 8,500 unionized workers were locked out, and 5,000 company managers were called in to maintain services for Con Ed's 3.2 million customers.
Melia said having managers take on the duties of locked-out workers was endangering the public.
"There's no economic basis for this decision," Melia said. "They are trying to break up the union."
Reporter Liz Button contributed to this story.
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