Now that Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) has “pulled the trigger” on what the United Steelworkers considers an improper reduction in force this week at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, the union expects to take its case before an arbitrator.
“We’ve already filed a bunch of grievances” that go before the company’s labor relations department, where the union expects to lose, “then ultimately will be appealed to an arbitrator,” USW Local 1-689 President John Knauff said by telephone Monday. The union also anticipates filing an allegation with the National Labor Relations Board accusing FBP of bargaining in bad faith, he added.
Fluor-BWXT suspended all operations for this holiday week. The union says the Portsmouth decontamination and decommissioning contractor is violating its latest labor agreement with the United Steelworkers, ratified by the union last December, by forcing about 660 union members to either expend two vacation days this week or take two unpaid days off.
Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth said its decision is valid under the USW contract. Union members are by contract entitled to two days off for the Independence Day holiday, which this year falls on Wednesday. Union workers, who typically work four-day weeks at the site, would have preferred working two 12-hour days this week, without having to burn two vacation days, Knauff said. The company believes a two-day work week would be inefficient.
A company spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Knauff estimated the entire grievance and arbitration process could take a year. If the union’s argument prevails, affected members could recoup certain lost pay or vacation days, the USW local president said.
