December 15, 2015

WIPP Workers Approve New Contract

By ExchangeMonitor

A group of unionized workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico have approved a new contract with site contractor Nuclear Waste Partnership.

The contract covers the roughly 255 members of United Steelworkers Local 12-9477, trades and crafts personnel who conduct waste handling, facility operations, maintenance, radiological protection, and mining operations at the transuranic waste storage facility. About 1,100 workers are employed at WIPP in total.

Nuclear Waste Partnership said it could not discuss details of the new contract except that it is for a four-year period. The United Steelworkers did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported Monday before the results were known that workers were voting on a “last and best offer” from NWP that provided a 14 percent pay increase over four years.

“Nuclear Waste Partnership is pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with the United Steelworkers on a new contract,” the company said in a prepared statement Tuesday.” It took a lot of give and take on both sides to get the final issues resolved. We want to thank the USW leadership for their willingness to stay at the table so that a new contract could be negotiated. Now we can continue concentrating on restarting the WIPP facility.”

Waste storage operations have been suspended at WIPP since a vehicle fire and subsequent, unrelated radiation release in February 2014. The Department of Energy says it aims to reopen the site to new waste shipments by the end of 2016.

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