IBEW Local 949 (Burnsville, MN) Fights for Workers' Rights on the Job

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Prairie Island broke labor laws, NLRB says
By Chris Serres, Star Tribune

June 20, 2004 NUCLEAR0620

The operator of the Prairie Island nuclear power plant violated federal labor laws by failing to negotiate in good faith with its workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The NLRB said Nuclear Management Co., which operates the Prairie Island facility for Xcel Energy Inc., improperly withheld wage increases for workers who voted in favor of union representation and refused to participate in collective bargaining meetings with employees who wore buttons critical of management.

The NLRB also has accused Nuclear Management of withholding wage increases at the Point Beach nuclear plant in Twin Rivers, Wis., which the company operates for Wisconsin Electric Power Co. Nuclear Management operates six nuclear plants in the Midwest.

Company spokeswoman Maureen Brown said that Nuclear Management has done nothing wrong and that U.S. labor law obligates employers to maintain existing wages and benefits until a contract is negotiated.

The legal action is a boost for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The union has been locked in a bitter contract dispute with Hudson, Wis.-based Nuclear Management since late 2002.

"For the past two years, this company's whole strategy has been to delay, delay, delay and to frustrate workers' attempts to organize," said Vince Guertin, business manager of IBEW Local 949. The NLRB scheduled a July 13 hearing before an administrative law judge in Minneapolis.

Xcel Energy of Minneapolis handed over day-to-day management of the Prairie Island plant to Nuclear Management in August 2001. Nuclear Management has increased output at the plant, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given the Prairie Island plant its highest ranking for overall performance.

However, IBEW officials said working conditions at the Prairie Island plant changed soon after Nuclear Management took over. Some employees were asked to work longer hours for little or no extra pay, Guertin said. And employee performance reviews became more stringent, he said.

In January 2002, a group of workers at the plant contacted the IBEW and asked the union to help them negotiate a contract, Guertin said. Eventually, 135 chemists, engineers and quality-control specialists at the plant voted in favor of union representation.

Last year, Nuclear Management told employees who voted in favor of the IBEW that they would not receive agreed-upon wage increases and bonuses, a violation of U.S. labor law, according to the NLRB complaint.

The NLRB claims Nuclear Management also withheld wage increases for workers at the Point Beach nuclear plant eight days after workers there voted for union representation.

"Once a union is certified, the company cannot make unilateral changes in wages, hours and working conditions," said Randy Sawicki, business representative at IBEW Local 2150, which represents 115 workers at the Point Beach plant.

Nuclear Management disagrees with NLRB's interpretation of the law and intends to make its case before the administrative law judge, Brown said.

"It is our position that we acted appropriately and in accordance with labor law, which requires us to maintain the status quo, with regards to wages and benefits, until an agreement is negotiated," she said.

Guertin said he hopes the dispute is resolved quickly because morale at Prairie Island has deteriorated.

"We believe it's ill-advised to have disgruntled workers at a nuclear power plant, given the nature of the work involved," he said. "What the company has done has made an already stressful work environment even more stressful."

Last year, the NLRB brought 3,320 complaints against companies nationwide. The board cannot impose any financial penalties but can order employers to make retroactive payments to workers.

Chris Serres is at cserres@startribune.com.