New York Daily News – by Ben Kochman
They help keep the city warm, but these men are getting iced.
Nearly 50 deliverymen and mechanics at Bronx heating oil supplier Castle Oil Corp. will be out in the cold as a publicly traded giant takes over the company’s East River terminal, the Daily News has learned.
“We broke our backs all these years keeping New Yorkers warm, and now they are throwing us to the curb at the start of winter,” seethed driver Mark Wade, 49, who has delivered oil with the company for 25 years.
Sprague Energy purchased the massive oil terminal on the Port Morris waterfront as part of its acquisition of Castle Oil, a $56 million deal that was announced on Election Day.
Soon thereafter, Sprague sent notice to the company’s nearly 200 employees in the Bronx and at its Harrison, N.Y., headquarters that they’d be losing their jobs.
A spokesman for the Portsmouth, N.H.-based company says Sprague will rehire up to 130 of Castle Oil’s workers in early December — but that doesn’t include any of the drivers or mechanics.
DELMUNDO, ANTHONY FREELANCE NYDN/ANTHONY DELMUNDOMark Wade, 49, here out on a run with Castle Oil, will soon be laid off among nearly 50 unionized drivers, as new owner Sprague Energy takes over the company.Those jobs will be sub-contracted to third-party workers — likely nonunion and lower-paid, labor sources say.
The company has long employed unionized workers, paying a decent wage and providing good health care and a pension plan.
“We do not have a proprietary truck fleet at any of our terminals,” said Taylor Hudson, a spokesman for Sprague. “That’s not part of our business plan.”
Castle Oil has long been one of the largest providers of heating oil to the tristate area. During a brutal cold stretch last winter, every driver worked seven days a week for more than a month, shuttling oil to homes, businesses and schools.
Drivers said they helped fuel generators at Ground Zero days after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, and helped get the city dried out after it was saturated by Superstorm Sandy.
BEN KOCHMANAll of the drivers at Castle Oil will be axed as a new owner takes over the company and plans to hire nonunion, lower-paid third-party workers.Their hourly rate was set to rise 50 cents, to $31.86 per hour in December, said Demos Demopoulos of Teamsters Local 553, which says the drivers have two more years remaining on their union contracts.
A lawyer for the 86-year-old company, which boasts on its website a “tradition of family values both at home and in the community,” countered that the contract only applied while the drivers worked at Castle Oil, and did not transfer to the new company.
“What counts in a contract is not what you intend, but what it says,” said Michael Meadvin, Castle Oil’s lead counsel and senior vice president.
The company is providing the severence pay mandated by federal and state guidelines, Meadvin added.
But the workers are set to be axed, and they’re feeling the freeze at the onset of the holiday season.
“All of us have kids at home, we have families,” said driver Steve Catalano, 41. “My 10-year-old son told me he didn’t want anything for Christmas, since I wouldn’t be working.”
The Walmartization of America continues. These large corporations run by accounts and lawyers come in and buy up these smaller companies. Then replace all the workers with cheap labor. Even then with their accounting “mistakes” they don’t pay them overtime or “lose” the time sheets. Anyone that doesn’t like it can go pound sand of course. They just replace them with illegals. Works great for the owners of the corporations but I think there were laws against these practices in the US at one time.
I know how this feels. I got laid off December 13 2014. Not a good feeling. It was a small business. bad break.
Job compitition in the market. As long as they do not hire illegals. Lots of driving jobs on the East coast. Driver shortage so they should have new jobs by the end of the week there.
They wont have any problems finding work if they want to drive over the road.
“Merry Christmas!”
“Those jobs will be sub-contracted to third-party workers — likely nonunion and lower-paid, labor sources say.”
Aka illegal immigrants that DHS flew in to NYC this past year. 😉