March 17, 2014

OAK RIDGE UNION LEADERS PUSH FOR END OF SHUTDOWN

By ExchangeMonitor

Union leaders, including Atomic Trades and Labor Council President Steve Jones, were joined by other organizers at a rally/press conference Tuesday as a sort of latch-ditch effort to deter furloughs at the Y-12 National Security Complex and other Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge. Jones said Oak Ridge workers still believe they can make a difference by putting pressure on Tennessee’s elected officials in Washington, although the ATLC chief acknowledged that Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) was the only one who had responded directly to the union base. “I haven’t heard from the rest of the delegation and that disappoints me,” Jones said, adding: “Those are the guys who ultimately have to vote for this thing, either up or down, so we’re appealing to them.”

Political volunteers involved with the grassroots Organization For Action (OFA) joined the union officials at the Atomic Trades and Labor Council’s union hall to encourage people to contact their congressmen and other officials in Washington. “What’s going on in Washington doesn’t represent what’s happening here,” said June Jones (no relation to Steve Jones), an organizer with the group. Her husband is a sheet-metal worker with a subcontractor at the Oak Ridge facilities, and she said the work slowdown began soon after the government shutdown. “They’ve got jobs they can start, but they’re not starting them because of this budget shutdown,” Jones said. Joan Nelson, another volunteer with AFA, said, “They’re putting people out of work at Y-12 for no good reason. Those people are doing their job. Congress needs to do theirs.”

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