Today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo summoned threatening storm clouds to the New York region, used them as a pretext to bring the warring sides of the Con Edison labor dispute together, solved that dispute, and his work done, sent those clouds back out to sea again, and brought forth the sun.

Or so it seemed at least at a hastily-arranged press conference at Mr. Cuomo’s midtown office today, where the governor, the head of the utility and the head of the utility workers union gathered to announce the end of a nearly month-long lockout of over 8,000 workers and to heap praise on this coup by the governor. Read More

Forty-five minutes after a press release was sent out to reporters informing them that Con Edison had agreed to temporarily end the lockout of several thousand workers in advance of a major storm approaching the area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared at a press conference in his midtown office building with the heads of both the utility and head of the local and national utility workers union.

The official reason for the press conference was to restate the press release: three thousand of the 8,500 workers would be returning to work until the storm and its clean-up were over, at which point the lockout will resume again.

The unofficial reason for the press conference was to note that Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been criticized by various elected officials and opinion makers for his reticence to get involved in the negotiation, is now fully engaged in bring the nearly month-long work stoppage to a close. Read More