About 1,000 union plumbers are out on strike this morning after talks to forge a new three-year deal stalled over a move to ease long-term joblessness.

Kevin L. Cotter, the business manager of Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 12, said his union asked management to adopt a so-called “referral list,” which would have compelled contractors to hire first those union plumbers who’d been out of work the longest.

Hugh Kelleher, executive director of the Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors Association of Greater Boston, said employers couldn’t give up the right to choose. 

The plumbers work for contractors across eastern Massachusetts. They won’t picket work sites, Cotter said, and their members will report to jobs where project labor agreements forbid striking.

“Given unprecedented levels of unemployment, we’ve asked them to be considerate to the unemployed and give them a share of future jobs,” Cotter said.

Kelleher agreed this was the only dispute between the two sides and believed they could be back at the negotiating table as soon as today. (source)