After its first effort fell short of its goal, Department of Energy cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth is reviving its voluntary separation program in hopes of finding 29 more workers ready to take early departure.
The decontamination and decommissioning contractor for the Portsmouth Site in Ohio in December first issued its offer in hopes of persuading 75 employees to take the early out. Forty-six employees accepted the voluntary separation offer and left the company effective Jan. 31.
On Monday, Fluor-BWXT said it would “reopen and extend” the offer until May 16. Employees accepted for participation this time around would leave on May 30.
The voluntary separation offers to both union and salaried employees are meant to help Fluor-BWXT realign its workforce of roughly 1,500 people as it ramps down its decontamination of the X-326 Building, one of three 30-acre facilities built in the 1950s to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. The vendor says the workforce reduction will allow it to align its skill mix with the remaining work, but that headcount will remain steady as new hires are brought on.
The terms of the voluntary separation offer have not changed since December, according to company spokesman Jack Williams. The buyout packages give financial separation packages to different categories of employees based on their union or salaried status and years of service.
United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-689 President John Knauff said his organization remains opposed to the company’s handling of voluntary employee reductions. “We have contractual language for them to follow” on voluntary workforce reductions, he said by phone Monday.
Knauff also questioned whether Fluor-BWXT has enough extra people to justify such a separation package.
Fluor-BWXT has a 10-year DOE contract, valued at about $3. 7 billion, for demolishing and disposing of buildings, equipment, and ancillary facilities at Portsmouth. The company began work in March 2011 and began its final 30-month extension in September 2018.
