Pepco Employees Reject Contract Offer, Threaten to Strike
Pepco Management, Public Say "Go Ahead!"

(Washington, DC) — The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1900 overwhelmingly rejected the latest contract offer from DC-area power company Pepco – five to one by some estimates – and many now feel that the next vote will be on deciding whether or not to strike.

The 1100-member union includes overhead line personnel, clerks, cable splicers and warehouse workers.

Pepco management, not wanting to cave, and Pepco customers, who have repeatedly gone without power for long stretches of time over the past few years, seem to be egging the strike on.

Pepco officials said that they are prepared for a strike and predicted its 788,000 customers in DC and MD would not notice any changes. "How much shittier could the service be?" asked a Pepco spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Our managers and supervisors are at the ready to fill in," continued the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity. "And we can call in utilities from other states. And now that the NFL has allowed its referees back to work, we can ask the former replacement referees to fix downed power lines. After all, they're used to being out in the field."

There have been rumors about bringing in workers from Pepco's new Japanese partner, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), to assist with depleted manpower. TEPCO is the company which so competently handled the incident at Fukushima Daiichi in March 2011. A 9.0 earthquake triggered a tsunamis, which knocked out backup generators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and caused several of the reactors to melt down.

Pepco faces skeptical and angry customers, who see Pepco taking care of customers in other states, such as New Orleans, while its own customers suffer without power for weeks. For some customers, the June 29, 2012 storm knocked out power during a heat wave for over a week.

The threat of a strike comes as Pepco gets ready to implement a mid-October rate increase for its customers. In MD, the average residential bill will increase by $1.81 a month. In DC, the average residential bill will increase by $5.20 a month.

"So we'll pay even more money and get even worse service," said a Pepco customer, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Are you sure that Pepco isn't being run by the same people as Metro?"