UI and UWUA Local 470-1 Deliver 300 Employee Letters to Attorney General Tong

Union members request meeting with Attorney General regarding his support for PURA cuts that harm UI employees


Link to photos of letters being delivered can be found HERE.


HARTFORD, Conn. — February 20, 2024 — Today, United Illuminating (UI), a subsidiary of Avangrid (NYSE: AGR), announced that members of its workforce, who also belong to the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 470-1, delivered 300 letters from UI employees to the office of Attorney General William Tong. The letters detail the employees’ “disappointment with [the Attorney General’s] continued actions and decisions that directly contradict [the] stated intentions of supporting UI’s front-line workers” because “harm to a company, and its management, is inseparable from harm to its employees.” The employees further reiterated their request that the Attorney General fulfill his prior commitments to meeting with UI and union leadership.

“I was pleased to represent the 300 UI employees and UWUA members who signed this letter by delivering it to the Attorney General today,” said Moses Rams, UI Chief Line Group Leader and President & Chair of UWUA Local 470-1, who delivered the letters with UWUA Local 470-1 Executive Vice President Siobhan “Bonnie” Springer and Trustee Jeffrey Cyr. “While the Attorney General has stated his ‘immense support’ for UI workers, his unreserved backing of policies and decisions that harm UI as a company are hurting us as well, so by continuing to assail UI, he is directly deepening our troubles.  I urge the Attorney General to follow through on his verbal commitments to meet with our union men and women to discuss these concerns so we can work together for the benefit of all his constituents.”

As they delivered the letters, Mr. Rams, Ms. Springer, and Mr. Cyr reiterated their request to meet with him to discuss the union’s concerns with his support for PURA’s policies and decision-making, especially his support for PURA’s August 25 Final Decision in UI’s most recent rate case, which cut UI’s requested revenue increase by 87 percent. The Final Decision continues to have tangible negative impacts on UI’s union workforce, including cuts to incentive compensation and the company’s plans to replace outdated tools and resources, such as fleet vehicles, that impact their safety. These impacts make it illogical, in the union’s view, for the Attorney General to express both his support for the Decision and his support for UI workers.

More than 300 signed copies of the UI employee letter were delivered to Attorney General Tong’s office in Hartford. Signatories of the letter include UI President & CEO Frank Reynolds, UI Vice President of Electric Operations Chuck Eves, and the entire composition of the UWUA Local 470-1 Executive Board.

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