NS&D Monitor
5/2/2014
Y-12 UNION APPROVES ONE-YEAR EXTENSION
Y-12’s union workers approved a one-year extension of the existing collective bargaining agreement on May 1, setting the stage for the transition of contractors at the Oak Ridge plant. “We’re glad to have this behind us,” Jones said. The extension includes a 2.5 percent wage increase and a $250 signing bonus, the same terms that were recently approved by the Metal Trades Council at the Pantex warhead assembly/disassembly center.
The ATLC had sought an extension of the existing contract, which was due to expire in June, in order to give more time to get to know the incoming contractor—Consolidated Nuclear Security—before negotiating a long-term contract. The negotiations took place with B&W Y-12, the contractor at Y-12 since 2000, but the approval was given by Bechtel-led CNS, which takes over full management of Y-12 and Pantex on July 1.“I think it’s a positive step in the right direction,” Jones said of the budding relationship with CNS. “Of course, we’ll start planning for next year pretty quickly. But I think this was a good first step to get us off on the right foot.”
ORNL WORKER WAS HOSPITALIZED AFTER SERIOUS ACCIDENT
A laborer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory suffered two broken legs and a broken right thumb in a March 31 accident in which a heavy piece of equipment tipped over while being loaded onto a truck and fell onto the worker. ORNL spokesman David Keim confirmed the accident and said the worker was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The worker remains on medical leave, but is expected to fully recover, he said. The total weight of the equipment and moving cart was estimated at about 1,600 pounds, although the full weight of the physics equipment—referenced as a “scattering chamber”—may have been eased somewhat by some arms that extended from the chamber.
The accident occurred at an off-site facility on Union Valley Road in Oak Ridge as workers were attempting to load the equipment purchased at an ORNL surplus auction. An investigation of the incident is continuing. The equipment had reportedly been sold for about $350, but Keim said after the accident the lab gave the purchaser his money back and kept the piece of equipment.
