NYC is facing its 4th heatwave in less than a month and it’s not helping that they’re still in a lockout with Con Edison! So far there hasn’t been any progress, but hopefully there will be a resolution soon. Click below for the story.

Melissa Nash

The city’s fourth heat wave in less than a month began blazing away Monday as Con Edison and the utility workers’ union sweated out a third week of the labor lockout.
No progress was reported at the ongoing contract talks, but Con Ed said it was prepared for another stretch of hot weather likely to stress the power grid.
“Our management employees are all trained and experienced for the jobs they are doing. From splicing cable, working in substations, to handling customer inquiries and other functions, its management workforce is ready,” said company spokeswoman Sara Banda.
Con Ed said it was also bringing in outside contractors – derided by the union as scabs – to beef up its ranks during the heat wave.
The city is under a heat advisory through 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Meteorologists warned that temperatures in the mid 90s – coupled with choking high humidity – would produce dangerous heat indexes of about 105 both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Con Ed started a brownout in parts of Manhattan Monday, reducing voltage by 5% to lighten the load on the system. Customers would not notice a difference, the company said.
So far, the utility has kept the grid going with no major outages since the lockout of 8,500 union workers began July 1.
Harry Farrell, President of Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers of America, said credit should go to the workers.
“That the grid has held so far is testament only to the men and women of Local 1-2 who built, operate and maintain the largest urban energy system in the U.S.,” he said.
About 1,100 customers lost power on City Island and more than 600 were still in the dark after two hours, said Bronx city councilor James Vacca. “I’d like to know what’s taking so long,” he said.
Union workers from across the city were planning to join the utility workers at a rally at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Union Square to decry the company’s attempt to squeeze workers while paying its chairman millions.
“We believe this it the largest lock out of working men and women in U.S. history,” Farrell said. “Our question to hard-working New Yorkers is where is the outrage?”
The heat wave is due to break Wednesday night, when strong storms could bring damaging winds – another threat to the power grid when they bring trees down on electrical lines.
“A cold front Thursday morning will really help to drive temperatures down,” said meteorologist David Stark at the National Weather Service.
That won’t be too soon for Cassandra Gilmore, a 27-year-old student, who sought relief at a Carvel ice cream store on Staten Island.
“I feel like I’m melting,” she said. “The humidity is really bad – it’s just so muggy and gross.”
Rebecca Martinez, 41, shared a vanilla milkshake with her 7-year-old son, Hayden.
“We were really feeling it today, so we came out to get some ice cream,” she said. “I was sweating in the car even with the AC.”
After a freakishly warm spring, the city has already been through three heat waves: temperatures topped the 90s for at least three days in a row twice in late June, and again in the first week of July.