B&W PANTEX FILES UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES CHARGE AGAINST GUARDS UNION

Eleven Pantex security guards have been fired in connection with a “sick-out” earlier this month and contractor B&W Pantex is charging the Pantex Guards Union with unfair labor practices, according to a complaint filed last week with the National Labor Relations Board. B&W Pantex filed the complaint with the NLRB Jan. 23, suggesting that the action by the guards disregarded the collective bargaining agreement with the union and represented a “mid-term strike or work stoppage.” In its claim, B&W said the guards—all of whom worked on the Evening Construction Shift—called out sick Jan. 21 to avoid a drill that was scheduled to take place during their shift. “This sick-out was a concerted activity, planned in advance by the 11 SPOs [security police officers] in question, at least one of whom was a union officer,” B&W Pantex said in the complaint. “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.”