BRAINTREE AND SANDWICH, MA, ISSUED JUNE 7, 2011…Local 369, Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO has reached a significant new contract with GenOn Energy Services, LLC, one of the largest competitive generators of wholesale electricity in the United States that owns a power plant located on the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

The agreement affects approximately 30 workers that UWUA Local 369 represents, at GenOn’s Sandwich plant.
The agreement will expire on October 30, 2014, and calls for a total of 12% in wage increases over the life of the agreement.

Local 369 President David Leonardi noted that the agreement was a hard-won battle, particularly given that the GenOn Canal facility operates only during “peak” periods when the power grid is overwhelmed, as well as the fact that the plant saw layoffs of nearly 20 workers in December 2010.

“This is a major victory for the workers in this plant,” said Leonardi. “The Company had been looking for concessions, give backs and just generally to roll over the remaining workers in this plant, and our 3300 member strong union prevented that.”

Central to the Union’s approach to the negotiations was a nationwide unfair labor practice charge against all of GenOn’s facilities in the United States. That charge centered on a series of the Company’s employee policies and procedures that Local 369 contended violated the National Labor Relations Act.

The nationwide unfair labor practice charge remains pending against GenOn, and, Leonardi said, “Local 369 intends to ensure that the Company modifies the problematic rules and re-publishes them.”