Out of perhaps 950-to-1,000 United Steelworkers members employed by various companies at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio between 10 and 15 are expected to be fired as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors, a union official said Tuesday.
It is always possible a couple of those heretofore unvaccinated workers could get inoculated at the last minute, prior to Wednesday’s Dec. 1 deadline, Herman Potter, president of Piketon-based United Steel Workers (USW) Local 1-689, told Weapons Complex Monitor.
While the number is less than the 150 to 200 USW members that Potter earlier feared would be terminated as a result of the vaccination mandate, the union official said he was disappointed contractors Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, Mid-America Conversion Services and Portsmouth Mission Alliance refused to extend the deadline for full vaccination until Jan. 18, which the government would have allowed.
Spokespersons for Fluor-BWXT and Atkins, the lead partner for Mid-America Conversion, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Fluor-BWXT spokesperson last week said the “vast majority” of Portsmouth Site workers have chosen to be vaccinated.
In a letter to Potter dated Tuesday, DOE’s acting manager for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, Joel Bradburne, said while a Nov. 10 revision to federal guidance pushed the federal deadline until Jan. 18, contractors can still stick with their previously-announced plans to get workers vaccinated against the virus before then.
“Covered contractors are responsible for ensuring that covered contractor employees comply with the workplace safety protocols no later than the deadline of January 18, 2022, however, this does not preclude them from establishing earlier deadlines in their effort to achieve compliance,” Bradburne wrote.
“I understand these are trying times and I appreciate your dedication to the safety and well-being of the members of USW Local 1-689,” Bradburne said.
Potter had written the DOE Nov. 9 asking more time to be given to educate workers about vaccine safety. The USW official said he did not know how many people at the former gaseous diffusion plant complex are retiring rather than taking the shot, or how many received medical or religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate.
Among those currently expected to be terminated are a pregnant woman and a man who filed his exemption request after the deadline, Potter said.
The vaccination orders for federal contractors at Portsmouth and other nuclear cleanup sites grew out of September executive orders by President Joe Biden and subsequent guidance implementing those orders by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.
