Commonwealth Gas Co. Modifies Contract Proposal Workers Rejected in April.(Originated from The Boston Globe)

Jul. 16--Commonwealth Gas Co. yesterday said it had modified a contract proposal rejected by workers in April and threatened to declare an impasse if the new offer is not accepted by negotiators for 372 locked-out union workers.

Declaration of an impasse would mean ComGas could impose its final contract offer and demand that employees return to work under conditions spelled out in the final agreement. At that point, the workers would have to choose between returning to work under the company's conditions or going out on strike.

Stephen Bryant, vice president of marketing and customer relations, said the utility's final offer eliminates a proposed two-tier wage proposal, limits the use of independent contractors to pipeline work and one department, and reduces the amount workers would have to pay for health care from $22 per week to $15.

"Those are significant modifications to the initial proposal. So, our position is that we have nothing left to offer, and we are at an impasse," said Bryant. "The final offer we've made helps these workers remain the highest paid, or close to the highest paid, gas union employees in New England. We can't do better than that."

A spokeswoman for United Steel Workers Union Local 12004 appeared unimpressed with ComGas' concessions.

Tammy Lynch, a labor consultant from Snow & Courtney in Boston, who is representing the union, said that, if an impasse is declared, the union would file an unfair labor practice charge against ComGas with the National Labor Relations Board.

Lynch said that despite the concessions, there are still 34 outstanding contract issues. "If the company declares an impasse, then they are saying that those issues are unresolvable even though negotiations have been held only four times in the last four months," she said.

Also yesterday, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), joined locked-out workers at a picket line outside the utility's parent company, Commonwealth Energy System Inc. in Cambridge.

Kennedy pledged continued support for the employees, who were locked out of their jobs at midnight April 1 after rejecting a contract proposal that would have expanded the duties of independent contractors, required for the first time that employees help pay for health care coverage, and established a two-tier pay system, among other things.

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