Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
1/31/2014
The Pantex Guards Union said this week it will seek to reinstate 11 security officers who were fired by contractor B&W Pantex after the company claimed they engaged in a “sick-out” and failed to report for work on Jan. 21. B&W filed a charge the 11 security officers assigned to Jan. 23 with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging the union committed an unfair labor practice when the evening construction shift called in sick two nights before. “This sick-out was a concerted activity, planned in advance by the 11 SPOs in question, at least one of whom was a union officer,” the charge alleges. “As such, notwithstanding any after-the-fact disavowals of the sick-out by the union, the union had knowledge of the sick-out and failed to prevent or stop it.”
Pantex Guards Union President Frank White said the union denies the company’s claims and will seek to resolve the dispute through a process established by the NLRB, a federal government agency that investigates labor claims. “We deny the charge and we are filing grievances to get these employees back on the job,” White said. The Pantex Guards Union, he said, represents more than 400 security police officers at the Pantex Plant, where the nation’s nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled. The elite guard force protects the plant site and patrols around the facility with armored vehicles and automatic weapons. The Carson County, Texas, facility employs roughly 3,100 workers.
B&W: Sick-Out Was ‘Unlawful Job Action’
The company’s charge claims the alleged sick-out constituted a mid-term strike or work stoppage, violating federal law, and Article 8 of an agreement between B&W and the union. “The 11 Security Police Officers called in sick within a few hours on the same day for the same shift in order to avoid involvement in a drill that was scheduled to occur during that shift. B&W Pantex believes this was an unlawful job action and a violation of its collective bargaining agreement with the union. Despite the actions of these individuals, the Pantex Plant remained safe and secure at all times,” B&W said in a statement.
NLRB spokesman Gregory King said the agency has received the company’s charge and has assigned it a case number. The NLRB receives about 20,000 to 30,000 charges per year from employees, unions and employers, covering a wide range of unfair labor practices, according to information from the agency. Each charge is investigated by board agents who gather evidence and may take affidavits from parties or witnesses, according to the agency, and those findings are evaluated by a regional director and some cases could be reviewed by NLRB attorneys in Washington. “When the NLRB investigation finds sufficient evidence to support the charge, every effort is made to facilitate a settlement between the parties. If no settlement is reached in a meritorious case, the agency issues a complaint,” according to the agency.
If the agency issues a complaint, then the case goes before an administrative law judge and the NLRB acts as a representative for the party that filed the charge. Such cases are typically settled through mediation or are dismissed by a regional director, according to information from the agency.
