Con Edison says it can keep the power flowing if almost 9,000 union workers walk off the job early Wednesday – but the union says New Yorkers had better get ready.

“If there’s a prolonged heat wave, the stress on the system is tremendous,” said Joe Flaherty, spokesman for Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2.

“It’s very, very involved. It takes a lot of work, a lot of expertise,” Flaherty said. “If anything even remotely comparable to [the 2006 Queens blackout] happens again, forget about it. It will be devastating.”

The union’s contract with Con Ed expired early Sunday morning, and both sides broke off negotiations after Gov. Paterson asked them for a three-day cooling-off period.

Con Ed managers were waiting in the wings then to take over the controls during a strike, and they will once again be in place tonight and ready to work 12-hour shifts if necessary, said company spokesman Michael Clendenin.

“The lights will not go out because of a strike. We will continue to provide service,” he said. “We will respond to emergencies as they arise.”

Managers will not perform routine maintenance or upgrades, Clendenin said, but they will staff control rooms, dispatch centers and service trucks. Half of Con Ed’s managers were formerly union workers and are familiar with the system, he said – and because the company doesn’t operate power plants anymore, it’s better able to handle the distribution of electricity.

The union says Con Ed proposed minimum 0.5% annual raises in a four-year contract, as well as health care cuts, a switch from pensions to a 401(k)-style plan for new employees and a clause to recover workers’ compensation payments from worker pensions. Con Ed has declined to discuss any particular positions.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday in a state Labor Department office downtown, and the union was preparing a detailed counterproposal Monday.

The state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, said Con Ed’s 3 million customers in the affected area would not be hurt by a walkout.

“Con Edison has a plan, and management will cover the proper locations,” said PSC spokesman James Denn. “We are confident under the circumstances that they are doing everything they should be doing.”

Source: NY Daily News