PECO strike continues as union says company won’t budge

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

PECO’s unionized workforce said the company is not offering any counterproposals despite spending hours in contract talks since employees walked off the job July 4.

The 1600-member union that includes linemen, gas technicians and call center workers hit the picket lines as temperatures soared into the triple digits and storms knocked out power for 57,000 customers over the weekend, according to PECO.

“The problem we have is we’re dealing with a monopoly,” said Stuart Davidson, the attorney for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 614. “It’s not like they have competition … they have a captured community, they have nothing but money. And if you look at the reported results of their profits, it’s extraordinary.”

PECO’s profits jumped 50% last year as a result of the 2025 rate increase. PECO is a subsidiary of Exelon, a publicly traded company that owns six utilities, including Atlantic City Electric and Delmarva Power and Light. Exelon’s President and CEO Calvin Butler earned $24.6 million in 2025, including stocks.

Speaking at a press conference outside the Hilton at Penns Landing, where talks are taking place, Davidson characterized the fight as “David v. Goliath.”

“It’s the first time anyone pushed back against this company,” he said.

Davidson said while the union has moved on its offers, the company has not. He said some workers are paid 30% less than the prevailing wage. The union employees have been working without a contract since April 1.

PECO defended its offer as generous — including 22% wage increases for linemen stretched over a five-year contract.

“PECO has put forward a significant offer that directly addresses the union’s priorities, including nearly 22% wage increases for field employees, 16% increases for care center employees, a cash balance pension plan, and a retirement medical savings account,” the company said in a statement.

How are customers impacted?

The strike hit at a difficult time for PECO. The storms that blew through the area Saturday evening disrupted power for thousands of PECO customers. IBEW Local 614 Business Manager Larry Anastasi said they are sympathetic to those who lost power during extreme heat.

“There’s people that have been off power for a couple of days, and when you’re out of power, every minute seems like a day,” Anastasi said. “And with no end in sight, I think this is a good example of how the company actually feels about its employees and its customers.”

Anastasi said out-of-state contractors aren’t familiar with the infrastructure, and if the workforce had been available, power would have been restored more quickly.

PECO said that by Sunday evening, the company had restored power to all but 6,000 homes and businesses using non-union employees and out-of-state contractors. By Monday, about 2,000 remained without power, which the company expects to fix by Tuesday morning.

“This is all part of our extensive contingency planning efforts, where we are utilizing qualified contractors, some of which have already worked on our system, and are trained to handle the work they are performing,” PECO said in a statement. “Utilizing contractors and crews from outside of our region is very common, especially during large storm events. This allows PECO to increase staffing during storms or emergencies to ensure we can restore service as quickly as possible for customers.”

PECO also said it has had to beef up security to accompany non-union workers because “union protestors are showing up at restoration sites and impeding that work.”

The union disputes that, and instead, said PECO has deliberately disabled their publicly accessible power outage map.

“PECO wants to complain about lawful pickets to avoid explaining why they’re wasting money on inexperienced, out-of-state contractors who are leaving customers in the dark,” said Melissa McCleery, IBEW Local 614 spokesperson. “Local 614 members are exercising their legally protected right to picket.”

On Saturday, the union said three of their members were assaulted by company security in separate incidents. PECO denied the allegations.

The company said it disabled part of the website detailing outages due to security concerns, but said the number of outages is still viewable.

PECO provides electricity to 1.7 million ratepayers in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. It also serves about 550,000 suburban customers with natural gas.

‘Not bargaining in good faith’

PECO and the union have also been at odds regarding each side’s commitment to reach an agreement.

Both have filed unfair labor practice complaints. While a federal mediator has been assigned to the case to aid in negotiations, PECO said, “the union has not agreed to participate.”

On Monday, Anastasi said the company is trying to wear them out.

“The company moves incredibly slow by design, and they feel they have an endless supply of money and an endless supply of resources, and they want to use those resources to try to beat us up,” he said.

PECO said it is “committed to engaging in good-faith negotiations to reach an agreement that is fair to our employees, while supporting the long-term needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”