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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<\/a> and Thomas Jefferson University<\/a>. When he started his job some 18 years ago, he and many of his coworkers had served in the U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n That shared experience was an advantage, he says, because they all came with the same training. The Navy used steam-driven ships. <\/p>\n \u201cYou just had to learn where things were because you already knew what they did, you knew how to do it, spoke the language,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n 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, <\/a>Thomas Jefferson University Hospital<\/a>, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art<\/a>, as well as the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>, which buys over half the steam<\/a> Vicinity sells in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n Since he\u2019s been on the job, White says the Navy-veteran hiring pool has shrunk, as the Navy moved away from<\/a> steam and toward diesel and gas turbines. Now hires come from refineries shutting down or trash plants, and they need training.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just a few of us older guys that are left over to try to pass this institutional knowledge down,\u201d 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\u2019t get paid for it.<\/p>\n Their union is negotiating a new contract and could go on strike if they can\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cVicinity Energy is committed to bargaining in good faith and believe those discussions belong at the bargaining table, not in the media,\u201d a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. \u201cThroughout 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Center City steam loop a \u2018diamond in the rough,\u2019 new CEO says as pressure builds to go green<\/a><\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n If they do walk off the job, they\u2019d be closely following in the footsteps of IBEW Local 614\u2019s Peco employees, who recently went on strike<\/a> before reaching a contract deal<\/a> last month. A strike authorization vote doesn\u2019t guarantee a strike will happen but can be used as leverage in bargaining.<\/p>\n The union has alleged that a Vicinity supervisor threatened to \u201cdischarge\u201d 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. <\/p>\n The union is still bargaining in good faith, president Larry Anastasi said. <\/p>\n Steam plants require human operators, so a strike could be very disruptive for steam-powered buildings across the city. Given that, Anastasi said, it\u2019s important \u201cthat we do everything in our power\u201d to keep a strike from happening.<\/p>\n An old system changing hands<\/p>\n Philadelphia\u2019s steam system was originally built by Peco<\/a> at the start of the 20th century. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause it\u2019s so old, I think people forgot its value,\u201d Anastasi said. <\/p>\n Veolia Energy bought the system in 2007. Vicinity\u2019s 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<\/a>. At the time, the company committed to $50 million in capital spending<\/a> over five years in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n Boston-based Vicinity manages some 41 miles of underground pipe infrastructure in Philadelphia, according to the company\u2019s website. The business services 400 buildings in Philadelphia, and its main plant is in Grays Ferry, at 2600 Christian St. <\/p>\n