Utility Company Mutual Aid

[SteveOFD 176]

Yesterday morning (Friday) about 10AM, I came across what looked like a "Mutual Aid" staging assignment for ConEd. This was located at a hotel located off of I684. There were probably about 40 - 50 vehicles located here from pickup trucks to bucket trucks, with a couple of cars from ConEd. As you can see in the pictures this company, http://www.wearediversified.com/, brought along some interesting "toys".

[JM15 386]

I have seen large groups of these companies trucks a couple of times in Westchester.

[jack10562 414]

They could be some of the contractor crews who were brought in to do repair work as part of ConEd's union lockout "contingency" plan.

The tentative union contract agreement that was just negotiated has not been officially ratified yet, so there is always still a chance of a strike or union labor walkout.

[TRUCK6018 50]

It is common for power companies to have mutual aid help during a wide spread outage. There were numerous power companies from other states and utilities contractors in Dutchess also.

It's a shame it takes a predicted major storm, and governor's intervention to get the linemen (and rest of the force) back to work. Now maybe the company will realize who needs who more.

[adlere21 9]

They could be some of the contractor crews who were brought in to do repair work as part of ConEd's union lockout "contingency" plan.

The tentative union contract agreement that was just negotiated has not been officially ratified yet, so there is always still a chance of a strike or union labor walkout.

Jack10562 is correct. These are NOT mutual aid, these are the non union "scabs" from Alabama brought up by coned to replace their locked out Union employees. These workers were commonly observed performing substandard/unsafe work all across westchester, including the shallow setting of new poles.

[helicopper 1,050]

The utility mutual aid system is far superior to what we deal with in the emergency services. For major emergencies, the utilities are able to mobilize large numbers of crews and materials and move them where they're needed quickly from all over the country.

These pictured crews may not be part of a mutual aid assignment due to the labor issues at Con Ed but in years past similar contingents could be seen staged at DES and Playland as well as other locations.

[JetPhoto 626]

Yea, but a big difference is between a utility co & the fire service is they have way less people than the fire service and a MAJOR difference is they get paid a lot more than people in the fire service. So who wouldn't want to take a free trip across the country, so what if you have to do work too.

[Goose 188]

Yea, but a big difference is between a utility co & the fire service is they have way less people than the fire service and a MAJOR difference is they get paid a lot more than people in the fire service. So who wouldn't want to take a free trip across the country, so what if you have to do work too.

I think its more about how they coordinate things than anything - even before storms happen you see the convoys coming into town with pretty impressive amounts of resources. Its hard enough getting a mutual aid ambulance these days.

[Danger 160]

Yea, but a big difference is between a utility co & the fire service is they have way less people than the fire service and a MAJOR difference is they get paid a lot more than people in the fire service. So who wouldn't want to take a free trip across the country, so what if you have to do work too.

I disagree here. First off, going from Michigan to Wappingers is hardly a "free trip across the country that anyone would want to do." It's a 13 hour trip in a large truck and when you get there, plan on sleeping in a cheap motel, eating Denny's and working 18 hour days in the tree and snow covered roads and rights of way that accompany power outages. Second, they do not get paid way more than those in the fire service, unless of course you include volunteers.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Danger