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Agreeing To Agree
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Business New Haven
4/20/1998
By: BNH
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After months of haggling, bad blood, picketing and charges of bad faith, Omni Hotels and Local 217 of the Hotel, Restaurant Employees & Bartenders union finally came to an accord that promises peace in our time at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale (see story, page 6).
On April 14 an agreement was announced that would permit Local 217 organizers to count signed union cards as affirmative ballots in a vote to affiliate with the union. As well, the union and Omni agreed to a no strike-no lockout clause, and established a timetable for negotiations, should Omni employees choose Local 217 to represent them.
It's about time. It was always easy to dismiss this dispute as a tempest in a teapot, but the symbolism of the matter loomed large and badly tarnished what otherwise would have been viewed universally as a civic triumph: the arrival of a “four-star” hostelry to a downtown badly in need of a commercial jump-start.
Instead the dispute rent the community in two: individuals and groups whose consciences permitted them to patronize the hotel, and those who wouldn't. The chamber of commerce yes; the mayor no. Taste of the Nation yes; the NAACP no.
The whole matter brought discredit to both sides, and gave further ammunition to suburban snickerers to chide New Haven as a hyper-politicized netherworld that can't seem to accomplish anything without shooting itself in the foot.
That, thankfully, is behind us now. The two parties have established and agreed to rules by which to co-exist peacefully, and the rest of us innocents will be spared the moral expense of having to choose sides.
At last, we as a community can set our sights on the original goal of this tortuous process: enjoying the fruits of a first-class downtown hotel, and leveraging it and its amenities to renew the fortunes of our city center.
Plus, finally, Democrats can dine at Galileo's. We hear the duck is excellent.
More Power to Them
After four years of talking about it and examining the issue from seemingly every side, the General Assembly finally did something April 15 about electric-industry deregulation.
On that day the House voted 126-17 in favor of a bill that would end utility monopolies in the state and cut consumer rates for electric power some ten percent below 1996 levels. Hours later the senate added its stamp of approval to the measure by a 27-7 vote.
Critics will say that its passage in an election year itself makes the legislation suspect. Moreover, Northeast Utilities hired 14 lobbyists and spent $500,000 to win approval for the measure, so how “pro-consumer” can it be?
As well, at press time concerns lingered about whether Gov. John G. Rowland would sign bill into law, his office expressing doubts about a key last-minute amendment that would restrict the circumstances under which the utilities could seek adjustments from regulators to the ten-percent rate reduction for customers.
Those concerns notwithstanding, we believe that any measure which allows free markets to play a greater role in the pricing and delivery of electric power is a step forward for Connecticut. Imperfect or not, Connecticut's electricity-deregulation bill stands to benefit commercial and residential customers. If it needs to be improved or refined, let us do so as we continue to move forward into the new era of less regulation and more power to the marketplace.
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