Contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth (FBP) said Monday it plans a voluntary separation program for up to 75 of its estimated 1,500 employees at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio.
The voluntary separation package is being offered to a mix of union and salaried workers, said Fluor-BWXT spokesman Jack Williams. Workers who exercise this option will leave the company on Jan. 31, 2019. “There will be no follow-on involuntary separations tied to this action in FY19,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Significant strides have been made in decontamination and decommissioning at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the company said, adding it will increasingly be focused on deactivation and demolition. The workforce reduction will allow Fluor-BWXT to align its skill mix with the remaining work, Williams said. Given the age and experience of the current workforce, the company believes it will draw significant interest in the voluntary separation.
The handling of the planned workforce reduction was criticized by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-689 President John Knauff said his organization, which represents more than 600 of the unionized workers, was not consulted prior to the program being rolled out. Knauff said the USW contract has provisions for a voluntary reduction in force, which are not being followed here by FBP. The union also disagrees that the workforce is too large for its existing tasks.
“As a standard practice of labor relations, Fluor-BWXT did have informal discussions with both the SPFPA [Security Police and Fire Professionals of America] and USW unions prior to the December 17th announcement,” Williams said by email Tuesday. There were also follow-up meetings with representatives of both unions Monday before the plan was announced.
Knauff, however, stood by his earlier assessment regarding the level of meaningful consultation with the union on the matter. A “passing conversation in the hallway” before Monday, and a rushed meeting on Monday, should not be characterized as collaboration, Knauff said.
In September, the Energy Department announced a second and final 30-month contract extension for Fluor-BWXT, valued at about $850 million. Fluor-BWXT started its 10-year contract, now worth $3. 7 billion, at Portsmouth in late March 2011. After a five-year base period, DOE divided the remaining five years into two 30-month options that now will keep the incumbent on the job through March 2021.
The 1950- vintage Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was used to enrich uranium first for nuclear weapons and eventually for nuclear power plants. Remediation began in 1989 under agreements between DOE, Ohio, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Fluor-BWXT contract includes demolishing and disposal of buildings, equipment, and ancillary facilities.
