Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
4/17/2015
The collective bargaining agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory and its protective force workers expires next week, and with negotiations deadlocked, the lab is readying a contingency force that would take over security at the lab once the current deal expires. The agreement between International Guards Union of American Local 69 and lab protective force subcontractor SOC-Los Alamos expires April 24, and union members have balked at extending the deadline. While negotiations are continuing, and will through next week, the two sides remain far apart on a significant number of issues, according to officials with knowledge of the talks. Lab officials would activate the contingency force if a deal is not reached.
The union had sought to preserve its lucrative health benefits deal—its members don’t pay for health benefits at all—while boosting its retirement benefits along with significant pay increases. The lab has pushed for union members to contribute to health care costs, which would bring the protective force in line with other sites around the complex, and is opposed to significant changes to retirement benefits and large pay increases. A final vote on a potential agreement is likely April 23 or 24, officials told NS&D Monitor.
Chris Mandril, the business agent for IGUA Local 69, said the union feels the wages and benefits provided to its members do not match up to industry standards. He said the union has proposed sharing the cost of health care premiums with the lab while pushing for an increase in the retirement contributions made by the lab, which he said was last in the weapons complex. "Though we have not completed bargaining, our economic proposals are based on achieving a fair contract with industry based wages and benefits,” Mandril said in a statement to NS&D Monitor, adding: “There is nothing unfair in making bargaining proposals to improve our members’ retirement, seek modest wage increases, and pay for a modest portion of health care costs.” He said the union was still hoping to reach a deal by April 24. “That will take SOC-Los Alamos and NNSA stepping up their economic proposals to meet industry standards,” Mandril said.
Contingency Force Began Training Sunday
Members of the contingency force began training Sunday, and the force consists of SOC-Los Alamos supervisors and security police officers from around the weapons complex. “In a work interruption, SOC-LA and the Laboratory are fully prepared to execute the contingency plan and will ensure the Laboratory remains open and secure and that national security interests are protected—including the safety and security of special nuclear materials,” Los Alamos spokesman Kevin Roark said. There hasn’t been a security strike in the weapons complex since Pantex guards went on strike in 2007. The last work stoppage in the weapons complex took place in 2011 when more than 800 machinists and production workers went on strike for 42 days.
National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Thom Mentzer said the agency is monitoring the situation. “The National Nuclear Security Administration is aware of the ongoing labor negotiations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and we are getting regular updates about the matter,” he said. “While we hope that the ongoing negotiations reach an agreement, we also developed a comprehensive contingency plan with the laboratory to ensure continued coverage of security requirements in the event they do not.”
