Union Planning New State House Rally Against Entergy

UWUA Local 369 has scheduled a rally at the State House for Thursday as Entergy seeks a waiver from the NRC for its downsized fire safety crew at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.

The rally takes place at 1 p.m. June 28.

"Our members have spoken loud and clear – they will not accept cuts to their pay or healthcare, especially from a company that is making a million dollars a day from Pilgrim Nuclear and paying its executives tens of millions of dollars," UWUA Local 369 President Dan Hurley said in a press release. "The community has spoken also: they want the most highly trained workforce back on the job
 and ensuring the safe operation of this plant. It’s time for Entergy to choose safety over profits."

According to the release, the rally is in response to safety compromises that Pilgrim has made in the three weeks since the lockout of union employees began.

Here's what the release claims:

Short staffing during the lockout has forced Entergy to downsize the critical Pilgrim Nuclear fire brigade – forcing some workers to double up on critical safety jobs designed to be performed by two people. The move raises concerns about the plant’s preparedness for and ability to protect the community in the event of a terrorist attack, fire or other emergency. The risk of nuclear meltdown from fire hazards is about equal to that of all other potential risks combined.

While Entergy was forced to seek a waiver from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its downsized fire safety crew, the company has repeatedly failed to follow NRC protocol by not properly documenting and identifying workers on the fire brigade shifts. In addition, Entergy canceled a quarterly safety drill that is considered the backbone of Pilgrim’s emergency preparedness routine – touching off harsh criticism from elected officials and community leaders. And a replacement worker, in a published interview, called the competence of Entergy management “pretty low” and said the company misled replacements and assigned them to jobs for which they weren’t trained.

The union and Entergy have been negotiating for two months on a new contract. The existing contract expired May 25, was extended until June 5; when it expired union workers were escorted off the premises. Aproximately 220 workers have been locked out of their jobs for 21 days.

The two sides are at odds over healthcare, safety and staffing issues. Union leaders brought a contract to its membership to ratify June 20, but members refused to accept the contract and the lockout has continued. The contract would have cut employee health coverage and other provisions accordig to union officials.

The ALF-CIO has joined the locked out employees in the picket lines.

"Entergy has a long history of being an employer that is more concerned with profits than the safety and wellbeing of workers and our communities. To
 slash health coverage for workers who face such high risk on the job is appalling," Steven Tolman, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said. "Now is the time to come together and say enough is enough. We must not let Entergy continue to take advantage of workers and their families who keep this plant running safely while the company continues to make hundreds of millions of dollars annually."

The union recently filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Entergy. The charge includes allegations that Entergy management made coercive and  threatening statements to workers prior to  the early June contract vote in an attempt to influence the outcome. The charge also includes allegations that Entergy-employed security forces are attempting to intimidate picketing workers by video and audio taping them outside of Pilgrim.

Entergy officials have not yet replied to our requests for a response to the union's claims. We'll update this story when they do.