After reaching a new labor contract with Centrus Energy for dozens of employees involved in making enriched uranium at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio, a United Steelworkers union local is in negotiations with the landlord contractor for the complex.
Although the new Centrus contract, reached in March, only involves 40 people for now, the number could swell once the company starts to ramp up production of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), United Steelworkers Local 689 President Herman Potter told Exchange Monitor by phone Monday.
“This contract puts us in a strong position to recruit and retain talented workers to fill the new jobs that will be created if we are successful in securing the necessary public and private financing to expand the plant,” Centrus spokesman Dan Leistikow said by email. The four-year contract covers the period from October 2022 through October 2026, Leistikow said.
As for Steelworkers Local 689, it is now in talks with North Wind, which has the Portsmouth Infrastructure Services or “roads and grounds” contract, Potter said. It has been years since Local 689 agreed to a new contract with the landlord contractor and about 60 workers are affected, Potter said.
Insurance is an issue in the North Wind talks, Potter said. The policy currently in place is a “Cadillac plan” and it seems the contractor would prefer a less-costly option, the Steelworkers representative said.
North Wind did not espond to a request for comment.
The Steelworkers union is still awaiting long-term DOE resolution for two big contracts affecting the Portsmouth Site, Potter said. He referred to the environmental contract at Portsmouth. DOE recently said it plans to extend incumbent Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth for six months, through Sept. 1. A $5.87-billion Decontamination and Decommissioning Contract was awarded in July 2023 to Southern Ohio Cleanup Co., a joint venture of Amentum, Fluor and Cavendish Nuclear USA. But DOE plans to hold off on transitioning to the new joint venture until the long-delayed Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office’s Operations and Site Mission Support contract is awarded.
Some Steelworkers local 689 members now covered under the Portsmouth environmental contract would transfer to the dual-site operations and support contract once the two transitions take place, Potter has said.