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