{"id":893618,"date":"2026-06-26T07:19:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893618\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:19:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:19:28","slug":"peco-strike-union-workers-to-walk-off-job-heres-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893618\/","title":{"rendered":"PECO strike: Union workers to walk off job. Here\u2019s what to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why are PECO workers planning to strike?<\/p>\n

About 600 workers, who have been hired since 2021, do not enjoy the same regular defined benefits as more tenured employees, and instead are provided a 401(k) plan that the union calls \u201cpoorly funded.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In addition to getting those employees added to the pension rolls, the union wants the retirement benefits to be based on gross payroll instead of the current base salary structure, which does not take overtime into account.\n<\/p>\n

Another sticking point is that those hired after 2014 are not eligible to participate in the retiree medical savings account plans.\n<\/p>\n

Anastasi said the industry standard is to provide all workers with these retirement benefits.\n <\/p>\n

The union had originally sought a 10% wage hike across the board, but said it has lowered that ask to 5.5 % for this year, followed by two years at 8% and two at 7.5%. Anastasi said they are frustrated that the company has not offered any counters, but instead, remains committed to its original offer that is far lower than the union\u2019s current proposal. He said the offer for call center workers, 98% of whom he said are female, is lower than the rest of the majority-male workforce.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t taking less for our women members,\u201d he told WHYY News.\n<\/p>\n

Call center employee Joy Rodriguez called the current offer unfair.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s terrible that they don\u2019t believe we deserve the same raise as the men out in the field,\u201d Rodriguez said.\n<\/p>\n

LeVine said their offer would provide a 20% wage hike over the five-year length of the contract for employees who work in the field and a 16% raise over five years for those who work in the call center.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very comprehensive process that looks at similar positions across the industry as well as throughout the region, and we are very competitively placed with that market analysis,\u201d LeVine said.
\n\"WendellWendell Young, leader of UFCW local 1776, speaking in Washington Square Park on June 25, 2025. (Susan Phillips\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

How would customers be impacted?<\/p>\n

PECO provides electricity to 1.7 million ratepayers in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. It also serves about 550,000 suburban customers with natural gas.\n<\/p>\n

The workers said the impending strike will leave customers served by improperly trained contractors.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople\u2019s lives could always be in danger when unqualified, unskilled people are working the system,\u201d said IBEW Local 614 assistant business manager Jimmy McGill, who also works as an aerial lineman for PECO said. \u201cIt\u2019s an aging infrastructure \u2026 and all the qualified people who respond to gas odors will be on strike as of midnight, July Fourth. It is a concern of ours, and that\u2019s why we don\u2019t take this lightly going on strike.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

But LeVine said the company always has a plan in place should a work stoppage occur and will utilize properly trained contractors and nonunion employees.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll seamlessly pull the trigger to act on the plan, and our customers will not see any interruption of service or delay in restoration throughout and the same safe and reliable service for our gas and electric customers that they should be used to,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

How has PECO responded?<\/p>\n

Both sides have filed unfair labor practice complaints. PECO said that while a federal mediator has been assigned to the case to aid in negotiations, \u201cthe union has not agreed to participate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think a federal mediator really would be a great option here, but for months, the union has declined that option,\u201d LeVine said.\n<\/p>\n

At the rally, Anastasi said the union would be willing to meet with the mediator.\n<\/p>\n

PECO and the union are also at odds regarding each side\u2019s commitment.\n<\/p>\n

PECO said they are \u201ccommitted to engaging in good-faith negotiations\u201d that are fair to their employees and the ratepayers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have requested earlier negotiation sessions and remain ready to meet at any time, including nights and weekends, but have not received a response,\u201d PECO said in a statement. \u201cWe remain focused on continuing productive discussions and we remain ready and available to meet.\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

But Anastasi disagreed.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when we show up they reject every offer and make us wait eight hours and then we leave,\u201d Anastasi said at the rally. \u201cThat\u2019s not bargaining and it\u2019s certainly not bargaining in good faith.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why are PECO workers planning to strike? About 600 workers, who have been hired since 2021, do not…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":652511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,115741,6807,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-893618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-peco","tag-strike","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116815199600095871","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}