August 8, 2005
Two white-collar units at a nuclear power plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, voted overwhelmingly to become part of IBEW Local 2286 in May, edging the plant closer to wall-to-wall representation.
Eighty percent of the eligible workers in the purchasing department at the Riverbend nuclear plant voted for the IBEW, and 70 percent of the workers in the planning group did the same. In all, the Beaumont, Texas-based local added 18 new members, said Business Manager Randy Albin. Local 2286 already counts 230 members among the facility’s employees working in operations, maintenance, electrical, radiation protection, chemistry, warehouse and drafting.
The two new units were concerned about schedules and overtime, health insurance benefits and respect on the job. Albin said many of the new units were former IBEW members from other parts of the plant.
"Some of these people come out of mechanical and trusted the union more," Albin said.
Albin said he sees big opportunities for unions to make organizing inroads at a time when companies are cutting health benefits and pensions. "To have something in writing and the chance to negotiate benefits, why would you vote against yourself?"
But 84 people in an engineering unit at Riverbend, the last eligible unit in the plant, declined to vote for the local in late July. Albin said he plans to re-approach the engineers in a year.
No comments:
Post a Comment