Tom Gallagher

PECO, Philadelphia International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Tom Gallagher

Tom Gallagher has been an engineering technician for PECO for 33 years. Tom and his co-workers install, test and maintain the electricity system for 1.5 million electric customers in the city of Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Tom and his co-workers suffered under constantly changing work rules. They wanted a say in their working conditions and wanted their experience respected.  After the electricity market became deregulated, Tom and his co-workers wanted protection from layoffs and wanted their seniority to be honored. People were being asked to reapply for their jobs and the company contracted out the garage where Tom’s truck was maintained. All of the workers at the garage were laid off and then asked to come back to work for the contractor for $4 less per hour. At the same time, the company was cutting back on staff, it was cutting back on the workers’ health care benefits. Tom saw his health care premiums go up to 20 percent.

Tom and his co-workers tried to form a union in 2004. The company hired a notorious anti-union consulting firm to run a campaign of fear and intimidation. Managers called workers into one-on-one meetings and tried to convince them why they did not need a union. The company held weekly mandatory group meetings to discourage the workers from voting for the union, often giving the workers free lunch.  Despite the company’s attempts to stop the workers from forming their union, Tom and 73 percent of his co-workers voted for the union. 

But the workers’ victory was short lived as the company stalled on negotiating their first contract. It took nine months to schedule the first bargaining meeting. To date, it has been two years and 80 meetings and the company has not agreed to a first contract. In fact, in 30 percent of National Labor Relations Board elections where workers vote for the union, they never reach a first contract.