Severe storms leave thousands without power as PECO workers remain on strike

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Severe storms capped off a hectic July Fourth weekend already marred by serious weather, leaving thousands in the Philly region without power. As PECO workers remain on strike, the utility company is sending out contractors in their place.

Thunderstorms hit the region on both Saturday and Sunday night, just as PECO union members hit the picket line.

PECO reported more than 3,800 customers had lost power across Philadelphia and its collar counties as of Monday morning.

The storms also downed trees and flooded some areas. Water rescues were carried out in South Philadelphia and parts of Delaware County. Near Doylestown, the hardest hit area of the overnight storms, more than 300 people were without power.

PECO said “nearly all” customers without power will be restored by Monday night, and the rest by Tuesday.

Workers on strike

Hundreds of striking electrical workers picketed outside PECO’s Market Street headquarters on Monday.

“If we’re not gonna be at work together today, we want to be together anyway. So we’re down here doing work for ourselves,” said Joseph Vasallo, a business agent with IBEW Local 614 and a longtime linesman.

PECO deployed contractor crews in their place to restore electricity, fix power lines and dispatch crews. PECO also said it is “utilizing qualified contractors, some of which have already worked on our system, and securing additional field support from outside our region.”

Shawn Dougherty, a business agent with IBEW Local 614, said replacing workers with contractors isn’t that simple.

“They think that we’re a plug-and-play unit, that they can just bring contractors in from other states. They don’t understand that this system is one of the oldest in the country,” he told NBC10.

“[If] those systems fail and they have to be repaired or replaced, you want trained technicians who know the system well to do it,” added Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Danny Bauer.

Contract negotiations resumed Monday morning.