More than 400 unionized workers at the Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico ratified a new three-year labor pact Monday, the Atomic Projects and Production Workers, Metal Trades Council, said Tuesday.
“The Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted by a majority of the membership employed at Sandia National Labs who came out to vote last night,” the council wrote on its website. “The collective bargaining agreement is effective today, October 10, 2017 and through September 30, 2020.”
The deal would raise MTC members’ wages by five-and-a-half percent over the three-year contract and, in what the union called “the biggest change” in the new deal, tabulate overtime hours for members on a weekly basis instead of the current daily basis. The overtime change will be effective Jan. 1, the union said.
The council represents more than 400 personnel at Sandia, most of whom are responsible for care and maintenance of lab infrastructure. Workers authorized a strike Sept. 29 after the previous contract lapsed and negotiations between the bargaining committee and Sandia management deadlocked.
The strike did not happen, however, and workers remained on the job throughout additional negotiations last week.
“Sandia National Laboratories is pleased our union-represented employees have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement,” a Sandia spokesperson wrote in an email Tuesday. “This new agreement … is fair and competitive. The agreement enables the labs to continue meeting its important national security mission.”
National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, a wholly owned Honeywell subsidiary, manages the laboratory under a DOE contract worth more than $25 billion over 10 years, including options.
Sandia helps maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile by conducting high-energy-density physical experiments that simulate the conditions of a nuclear explosion in a controlled environment — something that allows the U.S. to maintain the potency of its nuclear-weapon materials without explosive tests. Sandia also examines existing weapons to ensure their non-nuclear mechanical and explosive components function as intended.
AECOM on Monday announced promotions for three of its executives, saying the moves were effective immediately.
Fred Werner is now AECOM’s president of major pursuits where he will focus on “large, complex bids,” AECOM said in a press release. Werner has about 40 years of industry experience, most recently as group president of AECOM’s design and consulting services in the Americas. He has held a number anagement posts within AECOM, including a stint as the head of its U.S. infrastructure group.
Werner’s latest post is a newly created position.
Steve Morriss was named to fill the post of group president, design and consulting services. Previously, Morriss was chief executive AECOM’s Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa (EMIA) region. He joined AECOM in 2011 from Mouchel PLC.
Lara Poloni will succeed Morriss as chief executive for EMIA. Poloni had been chief executive for AECOM’s interests in Australia and New Zealand.
None of the promotions announced Monday will have a direct, regular role with AECOM’S environmental management contracts with the U.S. Energy Department nor its other nuclear-related businesses, a company spokesman said.
