With a labor contract expiring today and a strike pending, union leaders are charging that SoCal Gas has cut back its workforce so much that it jeopardizes customer safety. “Southern California Gas is not even managing to respond to potentially high risk gas leaks in a timely fashion,” charged Art Frias, Utility Workers Union of America Local 132 president earlier this month. The company represents 4,000 SoCal Gas employees, including workers who maintain the utility’s extensive distribution pipelines. It’s taking longer for the company to answer customer calls, respond to complaints about potential gas leaks, and restore gas service after disconnected customers pay their delinquent accounts, according to Sam Weinstein, Utility Workers Union of America assistant to the president. “We think [the union is] kind of cloaking the concern about union jobs under the mantle of safety,” Denise King, SoCal Gas spokesperson, said. She confirmed that the utility has turned to the use of outside contractors, in part, to maintain its gas lines. She said that was done to contain ratepayers’ costs. Last September’s San Bruno disaster—which killed 8 people, injured 51 others, and destroyed more than three dozen homes—set off a scramble at the CPUC, in Sacramento, and at the federal level to enhance pipeline safety standards (see story page 7). In response, state lawmakers passed several natural gas pipeline safety bills that await signature into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. Both the utility and union generally support that safety legislation. The union safety charges come at the 11th hour in labor contract talks in which SoCal Gas is seeking to hold the line on wages, increase employee contributions to health, and establish a two-tiered pension plan, according to the union, plus trim other benefits. King said that the average unionized worker earns $69,500 per year. The company has recently put on the table a proposal to boost that by 10 percent over the next four-and-one-half years. She added that the company wants to offer wages that are competitive within the industry—yet balance union compensation costs against the interests of financially-stretched ratepayers. Union officials warn their members have authorized a strike against SoCal Gas if a new labor agreement is not forged by today. The current contract between the company and the union expires at midnight on Sept. 30. King said the company remains hopeful it can avert a strike. The union is raising complaints about safety as the California Public Utilities Commission pursues tighter safety standards for the state’s natural gas utilities in the wake of the San Bruno gas disaster last year. An earlier blast on a Pacific Gas & Electric pipeline in Rancho Cordova in 2008—which killed one person and injured five others—also is adding to safety concern. On Sept. 29, a CPUC administrative law judge recommended upping a previously discussed penalty for PG&E from $26 million to $38 million. Weinstein wants the CPUC to extend whistleblower protection to utility employees who testify or complain about gas safety issues to the commission. The protections are needed, he contends, because the company has not guaranteed it will not seek to dismiss or punish employees who raise safety concerns. CPUC commissioner Mike Florio highlighted the importance of whistleblower protection as regulators met earlier this month—particularly when the agency strives to improve the safety of aging utility gas distribution pipelines. Florio said the commission has set up a new hotline for whistleblowers and placed a link to information about how the commission handles whistleblowers on the front page of its website. The commissioner said the “inside knowledge” held by whistleblowers can assist the commission in discovering “otherwise undetectable wrongdoing.” He called whistle blowing particularly timely give the commission’s greater emphasis on safety. The union criticisms also come as the commission weighs a $338 million rate hike for SoCal Gas next year. That’s equal to a 7.4 percent increase in revenue that would raise the average customer gas bill by $3.35/month, according to the company. The union is complaining that while SoCal Gas is seeking to hold the line on worker pay and benefits, compensation for top company executives is extravagant. For instance, it noted in a presentation to its membership earlier this month that five executives received $91 million in compensation over the three-year period ending in 2010.
