The head of a local branch of the United Steelworkers (USW) at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site cleanup project in Ohio claims contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth is unfairly pushing workers to accept a shutdown during the week of July 4.
For its part, Fluor-BWXT said implementation of a holiday week shutdown complies with the company’s collective bargaining agreements and was formally communicated to union members in October 2017. But USW Local 1-689 President John Knauff said by telephone this week the union never agreed to a weeklong shutdown that would force workers to burn vacation time or go unpaid for certain days.
Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth’s schedule for most workers covers a 40-hour week consisting of four 10-hour workdays. Employees receive two scheduled paid days off for Independence Day, leaving only two scheduled workdays for the week. That “creates an inefficient working scenario,” according to a statement issued last week by Fluor-BWXT Public Outreach Manager Jack Williams.
“Many workers opt to take the entire week off creating scheduling, safety, and human resource challenges,” according to the statement. “In the past FBP implemented a voluntary shutdown for the July 4th week. Last year the decision was made, and policies updated, to adopt a holiday week project shutdown.”
The shutdown covers all “non-essential” employees, including bargaining unit members, the company added.
What FBP is seeking is a temporary layoff, albeit a brief one, Knauff countered.
“Please report any and all acts by the Company of persuasion, intimidation, orders or any other that are or may be causing you to take vacation when you don’t choose to,” he wrote in a May 21 letter to members of the local United Steelworkers branch. Treating the July 4 shutdown as a reduction in force could trigger certain financial obligations, such as severance pay by the company, he said.
The Local 1-689 president estimated the union has between 600 and 700 workers at the Portsmouth Site. According to its website, the contractor’s workforce includes more than 1,400 employees and about 500 subcontracted workers from other companies.
Fluor-BWXT has a $3.4 billion contract for decontamination and decommissioning at the former uranium enrichment complex. First signed in 2011, the agreement would run through March of 2021 if all options are exercised.
