Some 200 craft workers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California wrapped up a three-day strike on Thursday to protest what they called the lab management contractor’s unwillingness to bargain over a mandatory on-call policy.

The Society of Professionals, Scientists and Engineers (SPSE) Local 11 – University Professional and Technical Employees, Communications Workers of America Local 9119, AFL-CIO said Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), a team led by the University of California and Bechtel National, Reston, Va., engaged in an unfair labor practice by refusing to negotiate the terms under which hundreds of workers could be called in at a moment’s notice.

SPSE represents electricians, heavy equipment mechanics, sheet metal workers, welders, painters, laborers, riggers, plumbers, pipefitters, and trades helpers at Livermore. 

A LLNS spokesperson told Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor this week that “[t]he Laboratory continues to negotiate in good faith [and] [w]e believe that we have offered competitive rates and benefits, in addition to maintaining full employment and compensation during the pandemic.”

The union’s last collective bargaining agreement with the lab expired in 2019.