CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

The state Senate passed a bill this week that would require public utility companies, including Rochester Gas and Electric Corp., to pay prevailing wage for cleaners, security guards and other service employees.

Opponents of the measure worry that the added costs might be passed along to consumers, raising their monthly bills.

Lawmakers said the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, closes a loophole in state labor law that requires state agencies to pay the standardized rate for service workers but exempts public utilities.

Handymen, janitors, groundskeepers, cooks and other workers providing basic services for the utility companies would be subject to prevailing wage, which is an hourly rate set by the state Labor Department on a county-by-county basis for individual service occupations.

The measure has yet to pass the Assembly.

RG&E and its sister company, New York State Electric and Gas Corp., said the bill "would put upward pressure on energy prices without providing any benefit to consumers."

(Click to read the entire article)