Thomas White is a control room operator at a Philadelphia plant working with chillers and steam boilers to provide heat and air-conditioning for Jefferson Health and Thomas Jefferson University. When he started his job some 18 years ago, he and many of his coworkers had served in the U.S. Navy.
That shared experience was an advantage, he says, because they all came with the same training. The Navy used steam-driven ships.
“You just had to learn where things were because you already knew what they did, you knew how to do it, spoke the language,” he said.
White and his colleagues work around-the-clock shifts for Vicinity Energy, operating a system that generates steam and electricity to provide customers with heat, air-conditioning, and chilled water. In Philadelphia, Vicinity serves hundreds of buildings, including Two Liberty Place, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as the University of Pennsylvania, which buys over half the steam Vicinity sells in Philadelphia.
Since he’s been on the job, White says the Navy-veteran hiring pool has shrunk, as the Navy moved away from steam and toward diesel and gas turbines. Now hires come from refineries shutting down or trash plants, and they need training.
“There’s just a few of us older guys that are left over to try to pass this institutional knowledge down,” said White, who is a member of IBEW Local 614, along with 56 other Philadelphia employees of Vicinity. They do this training on their own time, White said, so they don’t get paid for it.
Their union is negotiating a new contract and could go on strike if they can’t reach a deal. They want raises, better short-term disability pay, a safer workplace, and compensation for the time they spend training new hires. Their current agreement expired in March.
“Vicinity Energy is committed to bargaining in good faith and believe those discussions belong at the bargaining table, not in the media,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “Throughout this process, the safety of our employees, customers, and the communities we serve remains our top priority, and we remain committed to safe, reliable operations.”
The steam plant workers voted to authorize a strike on Saturday if their union calls for it, with 77% participating in the vote, and 97% voting yes.
If they do walk off the job, they’d be closely following in the footsteps of IBEW Local 614’s Peco employees, who recently went on strike before reaching a contract deal last month. A strike authorization vote doesn’t guarantee a strike will happen but can be used as leverage in bargaining.
The union has alleged that a Vicinity supervisor threatened to “discharge” workers who strike, according to an unfair labor practice charge filed with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month. Vicinity did not comment on the charge.
The union is still bargaining in good faith, president Larry Anastasi said.
Steam plants require human operators, so a strike could be very disruptive for steam-powered buildings across the city. Given that, Anastasi said, it’s important “that we do everything in our power” to keep a strike from happening.
An old system changing hands
Philadelphia’s steam system was originally built by Peco at the start of the 20th century.
“Because it’s so old, I think people forgot its value,” Anastasi said.
Veolia Energy bought the system in 2007. Vicinity’s parent company, private-equity firm Antin Infrastructure Partners, bought it from Veolia in 2019 as part of a larger deal valued at $1.25 billion. At the time, the company committed to $50 million in capital spending over five years in Philadelphia.
Boston-based Vicinity manages some 41 miles of underground pipe infrastructure in Philadelphia, according to the company’s website. The business services 400 buildings in Philadelphia, and its main plant is in Grays Ferry, at 2600 Christian St.
Vicinity’s Philadelphia business brought in over $99 million in revenue last year but reported a net loss of $11 million in 2025 after paying for fuel, operating expenses, and other costs.
What do workers want?
After months of negotiations, it’s hard to keep morale up among workers, said Kenneth Gordy, a union shop steward and control room operator. Gordy said he feels workers are underpaid for the highly skilled and dangerous work they do.
Operators typically clock in for 12-hour shifts beginning at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. They get two weekends off per month.
Operators earn roughly around $50 an hour, said Anastasi. He said “substandard” wages and benefits have led to turnover.
“We want our wages to reflect the knowledge, the level, the skills, the things that we do. We’re not asking for extraordinary things,” White said.
Union members also want fully funded short-term disability. They used to be able to get 100% pay during short-term disability years ago, but they now get around 60% during such leave, Anastasi said.
“Guys are using their bodies in this plant. We’re beating ourselves up,” said Sean Finnegan, an auxiliary operator who maintains equipment.
The workers also want their employer to make repairs to the plants where they work, citing unsafe conditions such as asbestos, as well as standing water in work areas, Anastasi said. Part of the ceiling was falling down in one area recently, White recalled.
“A new private equity firm takes over, and none of the repairs get made,” Anastasi said.
Anastasi also wants to improve retirement benefits for the Vicinity workers. He wants their employer to contribute to the union’s annuity program, so workers can get monthly payments upon retirement.
Anastasi is coming off a retirement win for his union’s Peco members, who clawed back pensions in their recent contract with the energy company. The union heralded the deal as a “historic contract victory.”
The steam plant workers’ most recent bargaining session was Aug. 3. The next session has yet to be scheduled, the union said Thursday.
