Labor
Frequently Asked Questions
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Will HVPA be better for Central Hudson workers?
Yes. Currently, everything the Central Hudson workers need, from wages to equipment, has to go through highly politicized rate cases that pit workers against ratepayers. With no shareholders to answer to, HVPA can prioritize alleviating this tension by investing in the needs of the workers while keeping rates as low as possible. To ensure this happens, the bill puts the Business Representative of the Central Hudson union on the Board of Trustees, and the union gets to appoint two people in the Governing Board of the community oversight body, known as the Observatory. Presently, the workers don’t have a representation on Central Hudson’s board.
Additionally, the hiring of short-term contractors to avoid union rates will be prohibited. And HVPA requires the strong labor standards for businesses it contracts with, and for any buildout of generation assets it may pursue.
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Who will run the Hudson Valley Power Authority?
The day to day operations of the Hudson Valley Power Authority will be conducted by the same workers who operate Central Hudson today, from the line workers to the engineers to the billing experts, and more. What will change is Central Hudson’s privately elected Board of Directors will be replaced with a publicly appointed, transparent, and democratic Board of Trustees. This board will be the highest decision-making body, but they’re not the ones who will conduct the day to day operations—that will be done by the full suite of staff below them.
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What happens to the workers’ pension and right to strike?
The bill preserves the Central Hudson workers’ right to strike by maintaining their private-sector status (New York’s public sector workers don’t have this right). It also preserves their current contract, including the retirement plan. The arrangement of keeping the workers as private sector is borrowed from the task force that made a recommendation to turn the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to a fully publicly-owned utility instead of the current public-private setup.
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