PACT SHOCKER: Thanks to Gov. Cuomo and the oncoming storm, Con Ed and was able to come to a deal to get 8,000 locked out workers back to work. (
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A powerful killer storm lashed the city last night, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands — but just the threat of the tempest helped end the Con Ed labor lockout.
Gov. Cuomo was able to bring union leaders and management together because storm-generated blackouts without Con Ed’s full labor force could have spelled disaster.
“The storm changed the tone,” Cuomo said, announcing the agreement from his Manhattan office, where the talks took place. “It was a good deal, I believe, for both sides.”
The framework allows the 8,000 members of the Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America, who have been sidelined since the June 30 lockout, to return to work.
“Sometimes a storm has a silver lining. And I think this storm had a silver lining by bringing the parties together,” Cuomo said.
With National Weather Service warnings of the massive, region-wide storm hitting his desk, Cuomo told both sides to put the bickering aside yesterday morning and at least come to a temporary agreement.
The returning workers were quickly pressed into action when winds whipped up to more than 50 mph and left nearly 5,000 people without power.
The fast-moving, powerful storm also claimed the life of a prosecutor with the state attorney general’s office who was struck by scaffolding and bricks after lightning zapped a church steeple in Brooklyn.
Richard Schwartz, 61, was walking home near the Christ Church on Clinton Street in Cobble Hill at 8 p.m. when the bolt loosened masonry that sent the scaffolding tumbling, cops said.
The antitrust investigator was rushed to Long Island College Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“It appears that there was a lightning strike that struck the steeple of the building,” said FDNY Deputy Chief Vinny Mandela. “It knocked several big blocks down.”
Schwartz’s stunned ex-wife arrived at the scene and said she was preparing to tell their 21-year-old daughter of his death.
“She doesn’t know. I’m leaving in a few hours to drive up [to Vermont] and tell her. It’s going to be devastating news,” she said.
On Long Island, Suffolk County police say an 18-year-old man received a shock while inside his Middle Island house. They say the house may have been struck by lightning. He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan, Larry Celona and AP