Posted:
December 28, 2009
RELIGIOUS
LEADERS CALL ON NV ENERGY TO LIVE UP TO PROMISES
Full-Page
Newspaper Ads Appear This Week In Northern Nevada
Religious leaders in Nevada called on NV
Energy this week to honor its promise to workers.
In full-page newspaper ads appearing
throughout northern Nevada, the religious leaders said they are “deeply
troubled” by the company’s plans “to unilaterally slash medical benefits of
retired workers who committed their working lives to preserve our access to gas
and electricity in the cold of winter and the heat of summer and who retired
with the promise of defined healthcare benefits.”
The ads, which appear just days before the
expiration of the labor agreement between the utility and IBEW Local 1245, called
on the utility’s corporate leaders “to return to the bargaining table and to
honor their promises.”
“Corporate social responsibility requires
our business leaders to recognize and respect the labor of the workers and to
keep their word, as our religious traditions value those who do the world’s
work,” the religious leaders said. “We honor each other and the Holy by seeking
to assure that workers are able to live decent lives as a product of their
labor and can expect their employers to live up to past agreements after they
retire.”
NV Energy has asserted that it intends to
end contractual protections for retirees’ medical benefits and has refused to budge
on the issue since negotiations began last summer. The company’s intransigence
at the bargaining table has provoked two major demonstrations by employees and
retirees in November, including the first picket line in IBEW’s 62-year history
of representing workers at the utility.
The ad, which can be seen in its entirety
via a link on the IBEW Local 1245 home page, appears this week in the following
newspapers:
Reno-Sparks
area
Reno
Gazette Journal
Carson City area
Nevada
Appeal
Printed
Wed-Sun
Minden area
Record-Courier
Printed
Wed, Fri and Sun
Battle Mountain area
Battle
Mountain Bugle
Printed
Wed
Winnemucca area
The
Humboldt Sun
Printed
Tues & Fri
Fallon area
Lahontan
Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard
Printed
Wed, Fri, and Sun
Elko area
Elko
Daily Free Press
Printed
Mon - Sat