Con Ed Contractors Demand a Fair Cut

Energy costs in New York City have skyrocketed over the past few years and show no signs of slowing down.

One group that’s being hit particularly hard by that bump in monthly bills? The workers that clean the offices, customer service centers, and substations of the utility giant Con Edison.

Dozens of cleaners and other Con Ed workers rallied at the company’s Manhattan headquarters last week demanding family-sustaining wages and improved benefits.

The workers are organizing with 32BJ SEIU to pressure the utility giant to drop Nelson Services Systems, the company that contracts the cleaners and pays many of them as low as the minimum wage of $16 an hour.

“My last Con Ed electricity bill was $194. They make billions of dollars off customers but essential workers — like me — who clean and maintain their offices have to work two jobs just to support their families,” said Sergio Centeno, who is employed by Nelson to clean Con Edison’s headquarters. 

“I don’t have health insurance,” he continued. “I live in fear — I can’t get sick, nothing can happen to me. I work 40 hours/week at Con Ed for $16/hour and 20 hours/week at a second cleaning job to help support my son. Our utility bill — all our bills — go up every year, but our wages don’t.”

The couple dozen workers contracted through Nelson to clean Con Ed facilities voted to join the Utility Workers Union of America earlier this summer.

Dropping Nelson and finding a new contractor who will hire back the same workers with family sustaining wages and competitive benefits should be easy for Con Ed, the workers say, because of how much it pulls in servicing New York City and Westchester county.

Con Ed made $2.5 billion in profits in 2023 and spent $1 billion in stock buybacks, a maneuver that artificially inflates the value of company shares while siphoning money away from workers. CEO Tim Cawley raked in $16 million in total compensation that year as well.

The utility’s profits aren’t likely to go down soon either — New York approved Con Ed plans to hike rates up 14.7 percent over the next three years in 2023.

“ConEd has billions of dollars. Why can’t ConEd afford to hire a cleaning company that pays a fair wage and provides quality benefits? Why? I have worked for Nelson for 8 years and have never gotten a raise,” said cleaner Isabel Rodriguez.