Members of United Steelworkers Local Union 1-689, employed in deactivation and demolition by Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, were scheduled to vote Nov. 1 on a two-year extension to their current collective bargaining contract at the Department of Energy’s former enrichment site in Ohio.
Voting was set to start at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time at the multi-purpose building at the Pike County, Ohio Fairgrounds, according to a post on the local union’s webpage.
The two sides at the Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio, have been negotiating since February on a follow-on to the current agreement, which expired March 29. Short-term extensions kept the status quo in effect during the talks. The “final” such incremental extension lasts through Nov. 4, according to language of the offer that United Steelworkers (USW) are about to vote on.
The USW bargaining committee recently accepted the contractor’s “final offer” on Oct. 13 and is submitting it for a ratification vote by members. Providing the deal is ratified, the contract extension would be retroactive to March 29 and run through March 29, 2023.
The deal includes: a 3% wage increase; establishment of Juneteenth, which falls around June 19, as a company holiday; a pledge to continue bargaining toward a mutually-agreeable reduction in force policy and certain other elements.
A “memorandum of agreement” on the tentative deal was signed by the union and Fluor-BWXT on Tuesday.