It looks like this merger deal is not all it’s cracked up to be after all.
At a meeting with community members and Good Jobs Better Baltimore organizers last week, CEO Mayo Shattuck tried to reassure concerned customers and local residents that any merger deal would be a net positive for the city — creating new jobs, lowering utility rates, and more investment in the local community.
However, it seems like executives for Chicago-based Exelon did not get the memo.
Chris Crane, current Exelon president and future CEO if the merger goes through, did not mince words when talking about the impact of the merger deal — the most impactful job cuts will be in Baltimore.
According to an article in the Baltimore Business Journal, Crane told Exelon executives on August 10th:
“The reality of combining two companies is there is inefficiencies or redundancies and there’s where a lot of the value is created…”
“What we will look at is how do we get to our right numbers with everybody with a smile on their face? It most likely won’t be possible in Baltimore and we’ve been very open with the folks there…”
This is what we’ve been saying for all along and why we presented our vision to CEO Mayo Shattuck last week. We want any merger deal to benefit Baltimore, not energy executives. It’s important that everyone in Baltimore understands the reality of the situation. If we do not stand up for a better merger deal, these energy executives will be free to cut jobs and raise rates as they see fit.
