Prince George's Council Condemns Wash Gas Outsourcing

The campaign to fight the outsourcing of 250 local Washington Gas jobs has received the support of the Prince George’s County Council, reported Rosalind Helderman last Wednesday on the Washington Post website. The Council unanimously passed a resolution last Tuesday “condemning Washington Gas for outsourcing local jobs overseas,” Helderman reported. The resolution – sponsored by Councilmember Eric Olsen – declared the Council to be “deeply troubled” by the outsourcing of the jobs and asked that the Maryland Public Service Commission demand Washington Gas maintain customer services and “live up to its mandate to protect the health and safety of its customers.” The resolution also noted that the company seems to have no plan to lower rates tied to the savings the outsourcing will provide the company. The passage of the resolution comes less than a month after the DC Public Service Commission – as a result of pressure from OPEIU Local 2 and the Office of the People’s Counsel – forced Washington Gas to turn over copies of their outsourcing contract. “We hope this is just the start,” OPEIU Local 2 Organizer Lou Wolf tells UNION CITY! adding that the union is working with Maryland elected officials on the state and local levels to get similar resolutions passed to build momentum against the outsourcing plans. To download the Prince George’s County Council Resolution, click here.