John Bradburne, former President, Fluor Fernald
WC Monitor
3/13/2015
This past Monday morning a Fernald union leader passed away. Gene Branham, who was a member of a Teamster’s local in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, lost his long battle with cancer. Gene worked at Fernald for more than 50 years, and for much of that time served as an officer including the president of the Metals Trades local which represented the operations, maintenance and support workers at Fernald.
Gene was not exactly a diplomat in his dealings with those who managed the Fernald operation—U.S. Government representatives and management companies alike. He pictured himself as a tough John L. Lewis style union man and he spent his life at Fernald honing that persona. He felt that taking this approach made it possible for him to get the best he could for the workers he represented and that included himself. If anyone in management, or in the body of workers he represented, disagreed with his style they were immediately viewed as trying to sabotage his efforts and started paying the price. He fought hard for the represented work force in the Metal Trades local and a lot of the time did not mind where the punches landed.
When the U.S. government decided it was to time to stop operations at Fernald, environmentally remediate the 1000 acre site, and return it to a pleasant nature preserve Gene joined the movement towards closure, somewhat reluctantly at first, but he did join it. The various forces that caused a final closure of Fernald including FRESH (Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health ), the CAB (Citizen’s Advisory Board), the State of Ohio and U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy were allied with the workers who were tasked with bringing about a safe and efficient end state at Fernald. Gene Branham led his union workforce down the road to closure and the rest, as they say, is history.
We will probably not see a union leader like Gene again at least in this life but we will never forget the person who would not rest until he achieved his goals. He was my friend. I will miss him.