WC Monitor
1/29/2016
Hanford Guards Approve New Contract
The Hanford Guards Union voted Tuesday to approve a proposed contract agreement with Mission Support Alliance. The contract would have expired at the end of October but has been extended three times as negotiations have continued. “We have a long-standing relationship with the guard and greatly value the critical function they have here at Hanford,” said MSA spokeswoman Rae Moss after the votes were counted Tuesday night. “The positive ratification of this new labor agreement is a result of good faith collective bargaining by both sides.”
Workers were offered a signing bonus of $1,000. A raise of 2 percent for 2016 will be retroactive to Oct. 25. The new contract includes raises of 2 percent for 2017 and 1 percent for 2018. Wage negotiations may be reopened for the last two years of the contract, which ends in 2020.
For security purposes the number of personnel who belong to the union is not made public.
Bechtel Hailed for WTP Savings
Bechtel National drew kudos from the Department of Energy for saving $3.4 million in subcontracts and procurements in the last budget year in construction of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) said the Hanford plant exceeded its fiscal 2015 savings goal of $2.3 million by 46.7 percent, Bechtel wrote in a Jan. 27 press release. The plant participates in EM’s Strategic Sourcing Initiative, which overall saved $28 million in 2015, beating its goal of $20 million.
Bechtel National’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant prime contract with DOE’s Office of River Protection was awarded in 2000 and is now worth roughly $9.6 billion. The deal expires on Aug. 15, 2019. The plant, being built to treat liquid waste from Cold War nuclear weapons programs at Hanford, likely will not be fully operational before the mid-2030s, though DOE is seeking opportunities to begin some waste processing earlier.
