Pantex Union Workers to Vote on Contract Offer Saturday
Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
8/7/15
After six months of negotiations, Consolidated Nuclear Security has reportedly made a best-and-final contract offer to the Metal Trades Council at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant.
According to a statement released Wednesday by CNS, union workers at Pantex are expected to vote on the contract offer on Saturday, Aug. 8.
Leaders of the Metal Trades Council, which represents about 1,200 hourly workers at the Texas facility, were not available for comment, so it’s not clear if the negotiating team has made a recommendation on whether workers should accept the proposed contract.
This is the first contract negotiations between the MTC and CNS, which took over management of Pantex and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee on July 1, 2014. In a statement, CNS said it is “hopeful that a labor agreement will be reached that is fair and reasonable and recognizes the Metal Trades Council’s important contributions to Pantex and national security.”
CNS said if the Pantex workers approve the offer, the new collective bargaining agreement would take effect on Monday.
“If the membership votes to reject the offer, Pantex workers represented by the Metal Trades Council will continue work under the provisions of the current labor agreement as CNS and the Metal Trades Council have mutually agreed to a continuance of negotiations through Aug. 28, independent of the pending vote,” the contractor statement said.
The medical plan for workers and other benefits issues have reportedly been a key part of the lengthy negotiations between the Metal Trades Council and CNS.
The overtime negotiations at Pantex have also stalled plans to begin negotiations at Y-12. Earlier this summer, the Atomic Trades and Labor Council in Oak Ridge agreed to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement until Sept. 21 to give CNS more time to work on the Pantex contract.
Atomic Trades and Labor Council President Steve Jones confirmed that the union and Consolidated Nuclear Security are set to begin their Y-12 contract talks on Tuesday. However, Jones said those plans could change depending on what happens Saturday with the Pantex vote. If the members of the Metal Trades Council at Pantex reject the CNS offer, Jones said, “Then we’ll take another look” at when to start the Oak Ridge talks.
Jones said Oak Ridge union leaders have been watching negotiations at Pantex, acknowledging that many of the issues at the sites are the same. But the said he has not been closely involved and has opted to “stay out of their business.”
Contract negotiations at the government sites typically take a couple months or longer to complete.
Asked if the Oak Ridge talks begin on Tuesday, would there be enough time to get a contract done by Sept. 21, Jones said, “We would try to do it by the date. It depends on what gets put on the table.”
Pantex/Y-12 Contractor Taken to Court Over Benefits Package
Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
8/7/15
Employee complaints about Consolidated Nuclear Security’s reduction of benefits for personnel at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants – a source of contention ever since CNS over took over the sites’ combined management contract in mid-2014 – have now reached the court system.
On Tuesday, attorneys for Richard Michelhaugh, a 28-year veteran of Y-12, filed a legal complaint in Anderson County (Tenn.) Circuit Court saying the federal contractor – a partnership of Bechtel National, Lockheed Martin, ATK Launch Systems, and SOC – did not have the authority to revamp a vested vacation benefit for salaried employees at Y-12.
CNS spokesman Jason Bohne did not immediately comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by attorney Greg Coleman argues for the previous vacation plan to be reinstated with restoration of benefits lost in the changeover, as well as monetary damages, legal fees, and “further relief as may be deemed necessary and proper.” The complaint also is seeking class-action status to include other Y-12 employees impacted by the benefit change.
Besides active employees at Y-12, the lawsuit says retirees who left Y-12 at the end of 2014 also suffered financial impacts because of the lost payout for vacation time they had accrued but not used.
According to the lawsuit, CNS on Dec. 11, 2014, distributed a “Standing Order” informing the plaintiff and other Y-12 employees of changes in which their vacation, personal, and sick leave were being replaced with “Paid Time Off,” or PTO. The order said portions of the vacation plan previously in place were not “compatible” with the new policy or the CNS contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
It appears the legal action does not apply to hourly workers who are part of unions with collective bargaining agreements, subject to negotiations with the Y-12 contractor.
CNS replaced B&W Y-12 as the managing contractor last year, winning the newly combined contract with Pantex on the promise to save the government billions of dollars over the next decade.
Details of those cost-reduction projects have yet to be released publicly.
