Contract Reached at Connecticut Power Plants

470-1 members Rob Lasko (left) and Ken Heon, control room operators in the New Haven Harbor Station.

Local 470-1 wrapped up and ratified a new four-year contract with Consolidated Asset Management after just two days of bargaining in March. The agreement covers 33 members working at power plants in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut. A third plant, also in Bridgeport, with 13 members is under a separate contract that expires next year.

President Marc Lewandowski said he wasn’t sure what to expect this round: “The plants had changed ownership when PSE&G sold off its generation assets last year, so this was our first time at the table with Consolidated.” The process went smoothly, and ratification took place a month ahead of the contract’s May expiration.

Lewandowski credits his committee — local officers Carmine Santorelli and Steve Nicholson and UWUA Region I Representative Dan Hurley — with doing their homework on member priorities and ensuring their concerns were met. Rising inflation put wage increases first and foremost. The new agreement includes guaranteed annual increases of 4.5%, 4.0%, 3%, and 3%.