ATLC Agrees To Two-Month Extension for Current Contract
NS&D Monitor
5/8/2015
The stretched-out and so-far-unsuccessful union negotiations at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant are apparently having an impact on Y-12 in Oak Ridge, the sister plant that is managed under the same contract as the Amarillo, Texas, plant. Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council in Oak Ridge, which has been waiting for the Pantex negotiations to wrap up so that the Y-12 negotiations can begin, confirmed that the ATLC’s negotiating team had agreed to a two-month extension of its current contract in order to give Consolidated Nuclear Security – the government’s managing contractor – more time to work on the contract with the Metal Trades Council at Pantex.
The union contracts at both Y-12 and Pantex were extended for a year in 2014 by B&W Pantex and B&W Y-12, the predecessor contractors at the sites, in order to give more time for Bechtel-led CNS to get comfortable in the new role and get to know the union leadership before negotiations on new contracts began. Y-12’s existing contract was due to expire June 22, but Jones said the ATLC had approved an extension until Aug. 21. Jones said CNS approached the Atomic Trades and Labor Council about the extension, and he said the union negotiating team approved the two-month extension on May 6. He said he expects the negotiations between the ATLC and CNS on a new Y-12 agreement will now probably begin in mid-June.
CNS took over management of Y-12 and Pantex on July 1, 2014 under a combined contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration. The bargaining agreement at Pantex expired in mid-February and the CNS management and the Metal Trades Council at Pantex have reportedly been negotiating since then without formal extensions. Clarence Rashada, the president of the Metal Trades Council, in earlier interviews indicated that the federal contractor’s proposed cuts in benefits at Pantex have been the central and most difficult issue. Rashada was not available for comment on the current status of negotiations. Neither was CNS communications director Jason Bohne.
