DENVER — Hundreds of unionized Xcel workers could vote to strike as soon as Tuesday if negotiations do not progress, the head of the union warned Thursday.
"It sucks to be in this situation, it really does," said Chuck Carrera, IBEW Local 11 president and an Xcel journeyman lineman. "The membership doesn’t want this, the membership wants to go to work."
Negotiators said the company's ongoing negotiations with Xcel Energy have stalled. The union is asking for more pay -- a 20% increase over three years, instead of the 13 percent Xcel offered. They also want guarantees for employees at coal power plants and do not want mandatory on-call shifts.
"We're hitting a wall. And they're not willing to work with us and not willing to be fair," said Nate Gutierrez, the union's business manager. "That's what's putting these guys on edge a little more is because we don't have progress to report."
The union said it's going public with this after months of negotiations -- 23 meetings and 150 different proposals. A federal mediator came in yesterday -- but still no deal. The parties are scheduled to meet again on Tuesday.
Without a deal, the union's 1,900 workers could vote to go on strike when the contract expires at the end of the month.
"The problem with that is that it's going to affect every single community that we live in. every single community that Xcel serves," Gutierrez said.
In a statement, an Xcel spokesperson said "We are negotiating in good faith and will continue to do so. We would like to continue making progress."
If they don't, the union said all of its members will stop working at power plants, stop repairing the powerlines and stop fixing the gas mains.
Xcel could hire non-union contract crews -- as power companies sometimes do in natural disasters -- to fill their places. The unions bet finding people willing to take their jobs will be tough.
"When we go out on those hurricanes, we're going out for a reason," Carrera said. "We're going to restore people's power, not to steal somebody else's job."
"Xcel Energy is committed to providing safe, reliable service," the company spokesperson said. "We remain respectful of the negotiating process, with continued plans to meet with representatives at the bargaining table."
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