The hundreds of security personnel still on strike at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina are expected to return soon as their union and employer wrap up negotiations for a contract that won’t expire until October 2022.
It was not immediately clear when the deal will be signed. Among its provisions, the new labor agreement is six months shorter than previously offered and will keep a temporary lid on health insurance premiums.
A spokesman for security contractor Centerra-SRS said the parties hope to return striking employees to work as soon as possible.
On Aug. 15, nearly half of the 688 workers employed by Centerra-SRS went on strike after union United Professional Pro-Force of Savannah River (UPPSR) rejected a final offer on a new collective bargaining agreement the sides had been working on all year.
Centerra’s offer included an increase in insurance premiums workers weren’t willing to pay, according to UPPSR. Also, the deal would have given the contractor the ability to change the contract at its discretion, the union said.
The union represents 337 employees in the Centerra-SRS security workforce. As of Tuesday, just 64 of the 337 had either crossed the picket line or not gone on strike at all.
Representatives from UPPSR and Centerra met last Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since the strike began.
Centerra-SRS spokesman Rob Davis said the new deal includes minor changes that UPPSR accepted. Davis said the union wanted to focus on four areas: the length of the contract, computation of holiday pay, discipline, and health insurance.
Changes to the deal include: reducing the length of the contract from six years to five and one-half years; replacing a 50 cent per hour shift differential that was in the initial proposal with a 20 cent per hour pay increase for all employees; and adjusting the language on employee discipline to alleviate concerns of the company and union. What concerns? Also, Centerra agreed to not raise the percentage of health insurance premiums paid by employees during the December 2017 open enrollment period.
