Members of the Hanford Guards Union Local 21 spent part of their Thanksgiving weekend picketing outside of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state, following expiration of their labor agreement with the Leidos-led landlord contractor.
Negotiators for the guards and site landlord, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS) are expected to resume talks Monday with help from a federal mediator, the Tri-City Herald newspaper reported over the weekend.
The unionized guards were locked out effective Nov. 27.
Union members told a local television news outlet the issues include wages, health benefits and handling of grievances and arbitration.
In a Nov. 26 statement, HMIS President Amy Basche said more than two months of contract negotiations have failed to produce a new labor deal. “Local 21 security police officers cannot report to work until a new agreement is in place,” Basche said.
“Like all DOE sites handling security-sensitive materials, HMIS has a contingency plan to ensure required staffing to prevent disruption to the Hanford Site’s security posture,” Basche said. “With no new agreement in place, HMIS has begun implementing this plan.”
Along with Leidos, Centerra and Parsons are also partners in HMIS.
Meanwhile, labor and management had chaffed even before negotiations. In October, before the current work stoppage, a federal judge criticized HMIS’ foot-dragging on arbitrating an overtime grievance, saying it amounted to bad faith.
Editor’s note, 11:20 a.m. Eastern time, Dec. 2, 2024. The story was changed to show that the overtime time grievance predated the current work stoppage.
