Pittsburgh unemployed organize to prevent utilities cut-offs

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Pittsburgh -- On the day before Thanksgiving, a delegation of about 30 members the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee handed the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission , a petition bearing the signatures of 1,300 Pittsburgh-area residents. They demanded an end to utility shutoffs and institution reconnect policy, based on the individual family's ability to pay, for those whose service had already been terminated. Just a few hours before, an 84-year-old woman had found dead from smoke inhalation on Pittsburgh's North Side. Because her electricity had been shut off, had been burning candles, and a had blazed out of control. This was the area's second death within a month as a direct result of utility shutoffs.

The Mon Valley Unemployed Committee The MVUC is an outgrowth of collective activity on the part of steelworkers from a number of different locals who were faced with long-term layoffs in the mills around Pittsburgh. In May 1982 the group--having not yet adopted a name--organized a demonstraof over 2,500 in support of extended unemployment benefits.

MVUC is open to both union and nonunionized workers, employed and unemployed. It is marked with the stamp of blue-collar industrial workers who are used to decent wages and to working under a union contract. But many have been forced to take low-paying jobs in the service sector, where unionization weak. Others are back in school-after 20 or 30 years of work--in retraining programs for "displaced" workers.

of the MVUC's most successful campaigns, , resulted in a widely publicized moratorium on mortgage foreclosures for unemployed workers' homes in the county. A state bill providing state loans for up to three years to the unemployed and disabled who fall behind in their mortgage payments has passed the House with a two-to-one vote and is expected to pass the Senate by early December. This legislation was designed by the MVUC and a similar formation in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Unemployed Project.

This summer MUC helped initiate a network of more than two dozen unemployed groups throughout the country. The coordinator of the National Unemployed Network has his office at the MVUC headquarters.

The MVUC has demonstrated an awareness of the links between the struggle of the unemployed other social issues. ( It endorsed and helped organize the August 27 National March for Jobs, Peace and Justice, as well as the November 12 March Against U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean, raising the slogan "Jobs, not war!" Most recently, it has actively extended its support to the embattled Greyhound workers, noting that the assault on the living standards of unionized workers and Greyhound's union-busting attempts hurt all workers, including the unemployed.

Speak-out Against Utility Shutoffs Organized by the MVUC, a November 10 speak-out on utility problems, which was attended by representatives of the PUC and five utility companies, attracted over • 100 people. One woman, Gail Milac, out of work for 17 months, came with a utility shutoff notice in hand. She outlined her family's attempt to pay their bills and still make sure that there was enough food in the house The family was facing termination of their electricity because of a $76 bill.

Evelyn welling, a Neighborhood Legal Services lawyer specializing in utility problems, noted how difficult it has became to find a doctor willing to sign a medical certification form for those who would suffer medical complications Socialist Action December 1983 if their utilities were to be turned off. By harassing doctors and threatening them with the possiblity that they will be forced into court to testify in person, utility companies have attempted to reduce the number of medical certifications that suspend termination notices for 30 days.

The Problem After a months-long battle, the MVUC was able to force the banks and loan companies to accept partial payment of the mortgage of an unemployed hameowner. And since the beginning • of 1983, there has been a moratorium on foreclosures for unemployed homeowners in Allegheny County. But after winning this important fight, the conmittee tound that people could not continue to live in their homes with their utilities shut off. For unemployed families, MUC asserts that the right to utilities must be guaranteed.

Rob Toy, currently coordinator of MVUC, noted that at the beginning of last winter, almost 4,000 people were without gas. But the problem is even greater this winter. Officially, unemployment in Allegheny County stood at 14.1 percent in October.

Several Pittsburgh-area steel mills are operating, but with half the work force. Steelworkers with years of seniority will never be recalled. The so-called economic recovery may mean that profits are up, but this has little impact on areas such as Pittsburgh. According to an AFL-CIO study by the Cormittee on the Evolution . of Work, as many as 6 million unemployed workers may become a permanent "laborsurplus underclass," and a number of experts put the figure even higher ("Recovery Irrelevant to Workers Left Behind," William Serrin, New York Times, 9/6/83).

A recent statement issued by the MVUC placed the utility fight within the context of the current economic crisis: "The problem of unemployed workers 1041167 on a limited income. The committee believes that the promise of money from the various assistance programs should be enough to obtain immediate reconnection. That is, bureaucratic red tape or delay in sending out the aid that has been promised should not delay reconnection.

Outlining their demands in a letter to the PUC, the MVUC requested a meeting with the three commissioners. Committee members appeared on IV and spoke on radio to explain the urgency of their campaign.

When MVUC members crammed into the PUC office for the meeting--bringing banners, signs and petitions--they were disappointed by the agency's response. The cormissioners were "not available," not even by phone hookup. In view of the two deaths the month before that could have been avoided by implementation of their demands, MVUC members did not have much use for a vague statement from a PUC representative that their demands "have been taken under consideration."

MVUC' s Barney Oursler announced the committee's intention to continue to pressure the PUC for a ruling. One utility, Equitable Gas, has pledged that any customer facing financial difficulty who contacts the company will not face a shutoff during the winter months. Oursler welcomed their statement and promised to monitor their record. He called on Equitable Gas to pledge itself to a reconnection policy based on the MVUC proposal, and he encouraged the other utility companies to follow suit.

Such determination is a hallmark of the MVUC. In the past the committee has disrupted sheriff foreclosure sales by blocking the doorway and by packing the courtroon with unemployed workers, who chanted, "No jobs, no sales."

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