New York utility provider Consolidated Edison is scheduled to meet with the union representing its workers on Thursday. Workers have been locked out of their jobs since Saturday, when the previous contract expired and negotiations broke down. Con Ed has been using managers to keep the power on. Public officials are asking the company to allow workers back on the job during the negotiations, something the company says it will not do without a promise not to strike, which the union has refused. Both sides say that there are many issues that they have not agreed on.
See "NY Utility, Union to Meet Thursday; Talks Possible", Verena Dobnik, ABC News, July 4, 2012