Union warns of risk to public
Says managers working in Woburn ‘have no clue’
Locked-out union members continued to slam National Grid over its use of replacement workers at two different scenes in Woburn, claiming the company is putting lives at risk in the wake of Monday’s overpressurization.
“This is public safety,” locked-out worker Doug Neary told the Herald as he watched the replacement workers in Woburn. “You’re dealing with explosives underground.”
On Monday, an inadvertent overpressurization of a gas line along Lowell Street in Woburn caused National Grid to shut off supply to hundreds of homes. Union members continued to heckle the replacement workers, who are National Grid management, yesterday, there and at another leak caused by construction in the same city during the afternoon as the company keeps the union locked out for a 16th week.
“They’re management — these guys have no clue how to do this,” union protester Paul Gangi said as he watched the replacement workers. At the Lowell Street scene, protesters called out to the workers and National Grid vehicles that went by, sometimes shouting curses, other times calling people “scabs” or simply making fun of them.
Marcy Reed, the head of National Grid in Massachusetts, shot down the idea that the lockout is causing danger. The management personnel who are taking on these duties are fulling trained and qualified to do so, Reed said yesterday.
“They have decades of experience — fully qualified,” Reed said. “I have huge confidence with the workforce we have on the ground.”
Company spokeswoman Christine Milligan said National Grid has met with the union about a dozen times, and would like to meet more often. Milligan said she couldn’t comment on the specifics of negotiations.
Union worker Dennis Brogie remembers the last time the company locked them out, which happened in 1993 and left lasting bad blood.
“’93 took four years to get past,” Brogie said.
Yesterday, crews responded about 1 p.m. to a call for a gas leak on Buckman Street, finding that contractors working on a driveway at someone’s home had ruptured the 3⁄4-inch line going into the house, Woburn fire Chief Stephen Adgate told the Herald at the scene as a faint odor of gas was dissipating. He said it was a routine call, but worth extra attention given the focus on natural gas hazards following the previous day’s leak and the catastrophic series of events last month that led to dozens of fires and some explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.
At that scene, union members standing nearby shouted critiques at the National Grid workers, calling out “hustle, hustle,” and “let’s go, guys.”
“It’s an inadequate response,” union protester Mike O’Halloran said of the speed of the National Grid Workers.
Adgate, the fire chief, declined to comment on National Grid’s performance.
“It is what it is,” Adgate said. “We’ll just do our job.”