Contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) said Tuesday it informed labor unions at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio before announcing a voluntary separation program to trim about 75 people from the cleanup workforce.
Company spokesman Jack Williams took issue with comments made in a Tuesday article of Weapons Complex Morning Briefing by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-689 President John Knauff. The USW official said his organization was not consulted prior to the program being rolled out Monday.
“As a standard practice of labor relations, Fluor-BWXT did have informal discussions with both the SPFPA [Security Police and Fire Professionals of America] and USW unions prior to the December 17th announcement,” Williams said by email. There were also follow-up meetings with representatives of both unions Monday before the plan was announced.
Knauff, however, stood by his earlier assessment regarding the level of meaningful consultation with the union on the matter. A “passing conversation in the hallway” before Monday, and a rushed meeting on Monday, should not be characterized as collaboration, Knauff said.
Fluor-BWXT said it is offering a voluntary separation package to a combination of salaried and union workers. Employees who take this option would leave Jan. 31. The contractor said it has made headway on decommissioning the former uranium enrichment plant and is moving increasingly into demolition, which affects the needed skill mix in its 1,500-person workforce.
