John Catsimatidis-Owned Oil Company Refuses to Sign Union Contract at Greenpoint Refinery

John Catsimatidis-Owned Oil Company Refuses to Sign Union Contract at Greenpoint Refinery

Claudia Irizarry Aponte, The City

Logo for THE CITYThis article was originally published on by THE CITY

Left to right: Union rep Vic Castellano with Asaaf John and Andre Soleyn at Greenpoint’s United Metro Energy worker strike, April 29, 2021.
Union rep Vic Castellano, left, with Asaaf John, center, and Andre Soleyn at Greenpoint’s United Metro Energy worker strike, April 29, 2021. | Gabriel Sandoval/THE CITY

United Metro Energy, the Brooklyn-based oil company owned by radio host and former GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, declined to sign a longstanding, industry-wide collective bargaining agreement that expired last Friday, Dec. 16.

The contract had represented only three truck drivers, who haul fuel from the Greenpoint refinery, as members of Teamsters Local 553 for decades. But additional United Metro workers, including about two dozen technicians and mechanics, have been on strike for union recognition since April 2021.

In an interview with THE CITY on Thursday, Catsimatidis said — as United Metro executives have in recent months — that the company was never bound by the agreement, a matter Local 553 is disputing with the federal National Labor Relations Board.

Overall, that contract spans some 800 workers in New York City and is negotiated by the New York State Energy Coalition (NYSEC), which deals with labor contracts with unions across the state on behalf of several energy corporations. 

United Metro’s refusal to sign the master agreement was largely seen by workers as an attempt to further thwart the efforts of striking workers at the expense of the facility’s three union members.

“That’s all part of the fight to undercut the union effort that we started, and he seems to be getting away with it,” said Andre Soleyn, a terminal operator and union leader on strike at the terminal since April 2021. “So he is definitely using that as a perch to come against us as a group to prevent us from getting what we deserve.”

The new contract that went into effect on Dec. 16 includes a $5.50-hour increase over the three-year life of the agreement — the “largest increase ever,” according to a memo sent to Local 553 members — and the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

Mayor Eric Adams meets with Greek American leaders at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.
John Catsimatidis, right, attended a meeting Mayor Eric Adams held with Greek American leaders at Gracie Mansion, Feb. 15, 2022. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

“We are abiding by whatever terms everyone else is abiding by. And if they make an agreement with the rest of the industry, we will most likely abide by that, too,” Catsimatidis said.

“Somebody shows it to me, whatever agreement they abided by, with the other people, we will abide by it,” he added.

In response to Catsimatidis, Local 553 secretary-treasurer Demos Demopoulos said in a statement to THE CITY on Thursday: “I expect Mr. Catsimatidis to be a man of his word and that he will honor his commitment to abide by and sign the Industry Agreement when I present it to him.”

600 Days on Strike

Even as it honored the terms of past industry-wide agreements settled in 2017, United Metro Energy claimed — in a Sept. 20 letter from president John McConville to NYSEC CEO Rocco Lacertosa — that the company was not bound to the contract that expired on Dec. 16 in the first place, because it did not sign the contract.

United Metro, McConville wrote, “is not bound by the current Master Contract with Local 553. To the extent that any such agreement is in effect — which it is not — it will not renew after December 15, 2022.” 

Local 553 charged the company had “unilaterally canceled a valid collective bargaining agreement” in an unfair labor practice charge it filed against United Metro with the NLRB in October.

“For the employees that are covered under that contract, they have been paying all the wages, benefits and medical, vacation schedule — everything that’s covered under the master contract,” Demopoulos said last Wednesday. “So it’s ridiculous for them to claim now that they’ve never been covered under that contract, when for years, they’ve been more or less honoring that contract.”

Catsimatidis is the CEO of Red Apple Group, a conglomerate of energy, real estate, media and grocery companies, including Gristedes food markets, which have a longstanding collective bargaining agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500.

The dispute adds another chapter in a multi-year labor dispute at United Metro Energy, which distributes heating oil to New York City schools and hospitals and the MTA, as well as diesel fuel to gas stations. About two dozen of its Greenpoint refinery oil technicians, terminal operators and fleet mechanics are on a strike that has stretched for more than 600 days.

Those workers voted to join Teamsters Local 553 in 2019 and went on an indefinite strike in April 2021, more than two years after fruitless contract negotiations began.

United Metro workers earn hourly wages averaging $12 below the industry average, according to Local 553.

‘Always Welcome’

“Basically, they’ve just been dragging out negotiations,” union rep Vic Castellano told THE CITY last year. “And we wouldn’t take this action if they were negotiating the way they claim to be. Nothing should take over two years.”

In April, a year after the strike began, Local 553 called on Mayor Eric Adams to halt a $52 million contract with United Metro brokered by his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, because of the dispute. The mayor’s office said it could not sever the deal because the company is in compliance with local regulations, the New York Post reported.

Catsimatidis told THE CITY that the workers “are always welcome to come back to work.”

“Check my record — in 50 years in labor, in New York City, I’ve been a CEO for 50 years, we’ve never had a strike. And the union just on a Monday morning, decided to put these people on strike,” he said.

United Metro responded by firing nine terminal operators at the onset of the strike in 2021 — union leader Andre Soleyn among them. The company was ordered by the NLRB to reinstate the nine employees in July of this year; those workers are separate from the truck drivers whose contract the company is disputing.

The company complied, and all but two of those workers remain on strike, taking other jobs to make ends meet while holding the line.

“There’s a certain resolve that the guys have, and that’s because we all have families that we need to take care of, and we want them to do better than we did,” Soleyn said.

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Emmy Burger will be available at Emmy Squared in March

For a limited time only, customers at Emmy Squared will get a taste of the famed double-stack “Emmy Burger” typically served at its sister restaurant, Emily, in the West Village.

Both Emily and Emmy Squared are part of the family of pizza restaurants called Pizza Loves Emily.

The Emmy Burger is consistently listed as one of the city’s best burgers, according to the company. It features double-stack dry-aged beef patties cooked medium rare with Emmy sauce, which is made of gochujang and Kewpie-mayo. It’s then topped off with caramelized onions, American cheese, pickles and served on a pretzel bun.

The burger is served with curly fries.

Guests can take to social media to weigh in on the rivalry between the Emmy Burger and another famed burger, Le Big Matt. At the end of the month, every guest who voted for the winning burger will receive a $10 gift card to Emmy Squared.

Emmy Squared has three locations in New York City, including one at 346 Grand Street in Williamsburg.

Calls for vaccinating more seniors in north Brooklyn

St. Nicks Alliance, Los Sures and The People’s Firehouse released their own plan to get thousands of seniors in north Brooklyn vaccinated.

The groups are calling for setting up both fixed and mobile vaccination sites in:

  • Senior centers like Swinging Sixties Senior Center (211 Ainslie Street) or Los Sures David Santiago Senior Citizens Center (201 South 4th Street)
  • Senior housing sites like Metro Houses (609 Metropolitan Avenue), Jennings Hall (260 Powers Street), Monsignor Vetro Houses (320 Devoe Street) or Monsignor Alexius Jarka Hall (70 Bedford Avenue)
  • Large housing complexes like Lindsay Park Cooperative or local NYCHA developments

They also want to partner with providers to streamline the appointment registration process. Their plan calls for providing transportation through St. Nicks Alliance, collaborating with local drug stores to bring vaccines to the homebound and home care workers, and working with local elected officials.

The three organizations provide the bulk of senior services in north Brooklyn, according to St. Nicks Alliance executive director Michael Rochford. They also have deep roots in the community.

Read more about their plan to vaccinate more seniors in this week’s Greenpoint Star newspaper.

Volunteer to help clean up north Brooklyn

Join NYC H2O and Councilwoman Darma Diaz’s office for a volunteer cleanup event on Saturday, February 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event will focus on cleaning up Euclid Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. There will be three two-hour shifts available. Volunteers can sign up for just one shift.

Gloves, garbage bags and pickers will be provided for volunteers. Everyone will be asked to maintain six feet of physical distancing and wear masks.

Register for the cleanup event here.

Electric vehicle charging hub coming to old Pfizer site

Revel is building the continent’s largest electric vehicle charging depot at 630 Flushing Avenue, the former home of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

When it’s built out, the hub will have 30 chargers open to the public 24/7, accessible to all electric vehicle brands.

Revel plans to build out charging hubs like these throughout New York City to promote the use of electric vehicles.

The hub, which will go live this spring, will use Tritium’s RTM75 model for the first 10 chargers. These chargers provide the vehicles with 100 additional miles in about 20 minutes.

Read more about the new charging hub in this week’s Greenpoint Star newspaper.

Two Bushwick groups receive SBS grants

Screen shot via Google Maps

The NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) has awarded over $750,000 in grants to neighborhood business organizations across the city, including two groups supporting Bushwick businesses.

Brooklyn Alliance, which services Bushwick and Canarsie, and Evergreen, serving Bushwick, are recipients of the Strategic Impact COVID-19 Commercial District Support Grant.

The funding is meant to be used for merchant organizing, technical assistance, and increasing awareness of city and state rules and regulations.

SBS so far has only allocated the first phase of grants, with another round coming. Applications for the second phase opened on January 25 and close on February 8.

Read more about the SBS grants in this week’s Greenpoint Star newspaper.

Cornegy leads Brooklyn BP race in fundraising

Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, left, would be the first woman to serve as Brooklyn borough president.

With a dozen candidates running to replace Eric Adams as Brooklyn borough president, we’re looking into the fundraising numbers that have come out after the January 15th filing deadline.

Leading the pack is Bed-Stuy Councilman Robert Cornegy, who has raised nearly $250,000 in the race. Second is Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, who collected nearly $243,000, according to the Campaign Finance Board.

According to Simon’s campaign, Brooklyn residents made up over 80 percent of her 800 unique contributors. More than 90 percent of her donors are from New York City.

If elected, Simon would be the first woman to serve as Brooklyn borough president. She has been endorsed by State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, 504 Democratic Club, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.

Williamsburg/Bushwick Councilman Antonio Reynoso has raised over $166,000 in the race, while Khari Edwards has amassed nearly $145,000 in contributions.

Other notable candidates include Councilman Mathieu Eugene with $38,000, Kimberly Council with $47,000, and Lamor Whitehead-Miller with $22,000.

Velazquez endorses Gutierrez for City Council

Jennifer Gutierrez, center, is running for City Council to represent Bushwick and Williamsburg.

A City Council candidate in north Brooklyn has earned the support of “La Luchadora.”

Jennifer Gutierrez, who is running for City Council to represent Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, is currently the chief of staff for Councilman Antonio Reynoso, who is term-limited and running for Brooklyn borough president himself.

She was endorsed was Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who has represented the area for decades and is a political power broker in New York City politics.

“Jennifer has been a strong ally for me in North Brooklyn for many years,” Velazquez said. “I know that I can trust Jennifer to fight hard for her community and deliver important progressive victories in the years to come.”

The endorsement comes as no surprise. Velazquez has long been a champion of the progressive wing of the local Democratic Party, and counts Reynoso among her many allies.

The race to replace Reynoso only has three candidates so far: Gutierrez, Sean Esrafily and Terrell Finner. Gutierrez is shaping up to the leader of the pack.

Per Scholas receives NFL’s Inspiring Change grant

A Brooklyn nonprofit organization is one of 13 partners that will receive grant funding as part of the NFL’s Inspiring Change social justice initiative.

Per Scholas, which has an office in the Broadway Triangle area, provides skills training and access to employer networks for people often excluded from tech careers through no-cost technical training.

The nonprofit will use its Inspire Change grant to enroll 220 people into their software engineering courses, a 15-week, full-time training program that includes technical instruction and professional development to advance economic equality.

Since 2018, the NFL has provided more than $95 million in support of programs focused on education, economic advancement, police and community relations, and criminal justice reform.

City Council candidate Elizabeth Adams releases first ad

Screen grab from Adams campaign video

City Council candidate Elizabeth Adams kicked off the new year with a new video.

Adams, a Greenpoint resident who grew up in New York City, is hoping to succeed Stephen Levin as the representative for District 33, which includes Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo and Vinegar Hill.

She worked as a legislative advocate for Planned Parenthood before becoming the legislative director for Levin.

In her campaign video, Adams touts her work on issues like climate, reproductive rights and standing up to NYPD overreach.

“When the pandemic hit, I went to work,” she says in the video, detailing how she organized mutual aid efforts.

There are 10 total candidates in this race, including Glomani Bravo-Lopez, Victoria Cambranes, Lincoln Restler, Stuart Sherman, Benjamin Solotaire and more.