Utility Board to Ask PSC to Act on Washington Gas Outsourcing

The DC Consumer Utility Board (CUB) wants the Public Service Commission (PSC) to prevent Washington Gas from outsourcing service center jobs "until the PSC has had a chance to review the public safety impact," CUB Chairman Herbert Harris tells UNION CITY. The CUB's formal request to the PSC will be made "within 48 hours," Harris said. The cuts - announced Wednesday morning by Washington Gas -- will result in the layoff of 300 local workers, including 150 members of OPEIU Local 2 who work in the utility's service call center. The gas company filed for a $20.5 million-dollar rate hike earlier this year, which included plans to charge local consumers for the outsourcing. Charging that Washington Gas violated federal labor law by refusing to bargain over the proposed layoffs, OPEIU Local 2 filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge Thursday afternoon with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). "Moving customer service out of the country to save Washington Gas a few dollars doesn't even begin to pass the smell test," said Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams, echoing the CUB's questions about how outsourcing the gas company's service department will affect gas customer safety and the real cost of outsourcing. "When local gas customers call in a gas leak, we want someone who knows our community on the line." Added OPEIU Local 2 President Dan Dyer, "Bermuda-based Accenture has a long track record of promising big savings and then failing to deliver." Accenture was formerly Arthur Anderson Associates, the Enron accounting firm which went bankrupt after failing to flag the energy company's financial irregularities.