kaddvd

03/24/23

Reps expresses assist for native union employees who allege that Fluor Marine Propulsion is inappropriately shifting jobs from New York to non-union amenities in Pennsylvania – leading to a probably important lack of union jobs in Knolls

Union says Fluor Marine Propulsion harms New York workforce by violating native 147 contract and undermining President Biden’s pro-union coverage

Schumer, Gillibrand, Tonko: FMP must reverse course and hold family-wage jobs and this vital work right here within the capital area

US Senate Majority Chief Charles E. Schumer, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and US Congressman Paul Tonko right now despatched a letter to US Secretary of State Jennifer Granholm calling on the US Division of Power (DOE) to take motion to contact the Worldwide Federation of Skilled and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) union Native 147 alleges that Fluor Marine Propulsion (FMP) is inappropriately relocating work carried out by members of Native 147 out of the New York metropolitan space.

“Fluor Marine Propulsion’s unfounded resolution to take jobs away from members of Native 147 and ship them to a non-union facility in one other state is completely unacceptable.” mentioned US Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer. “As a authorities contractor absolutely funded by the federal authorities, FMP has no excuse for relocating these jobs and undermining Native 147. KAPL has an extended historical past within the metropolitan space of ​​New York and has performed an vital function within the work of the DOD and DOE on marine propulsion and nuclear vitality – President Jimmy Carter even labored within the laboratory as a younger man whereas briefly with the Naval Reactors Department of the US Atomic Power Fee served. Defending high quality, family-wage jobs in New York like these has all the time been my prime precedence and I’ll proceed to work with IFPTE Native 147 till FMP reverses course and stops eradicating inappropriate jobs from the capital space.”

“Fluorine Marine Propulsion’s resolution to take the roles of Native 147 employees and relocate them to a non-union lab in Pennsylvania is a transparent violation of its contract with the union.” mentioned Senator Gillibrand. “FMP is a 100% federally funded contractor and this misguided resolution is opposite to President Biden’s insurance policies defending unionized labor. I urge FMP to reverse this ill-advised transfer and work with Native 147 to maintain this vital workforce within the capital area.”

“Native 147 and different unions have an extended, proud historical past of offering good, high quality jobs for hard-working individuals in our capital area,” mentioned Congressman Tonko. “The FMP’s unfair motion to take work away from the IFPTE union and ship it to non-union employees out of state is a blatant disregard for his or her contact with Native 147. Furthermore, this transfer goes towards the essence of Native 147’s work and deprives ours neighborhood high quality jobs. We urge the DOE to step in and uphold President Biden’s long-standing efforts to assist our unions. I stand by Native 147 and promise to maintain working to strengthen our unions and guarantee they’re empowered to make workplaces higher, safer and fairer.”

“IFPTE thanks Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Congressman Tonko for holding Fluor accountable for the wrongful switch of unionized jobs at KAPL to Bettis, the place that work is being carried out by unrepresented employees.” mentioned IFPTE Worldwide President Matt Biggs. “Not solely is that this a violation of Native 147’s contract, it violates the spirit and coverage of President Biden’s Employees’ Empowerment Taskforce, which calls for correct designation of labor represented by the union. We applaud and welcome the robust assist of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Consultant Tonko in demanding that Fluor, a federal authorities contractor, instantly reverse course.”

Lawmakers mentioned IFPTE Native 147 represents employees employed on the Knolls Atomic Energy Laboratory (KAPL), which FMP has contracted to carry out key work on the nation’s nuclear naval fleet. The union has a contract with KAPL for sure duties to be carried out by its members, and so they allege that FMP is quietly shifting this work from the union facility in Niskayuna, New York, to the Bettis Atomic Energy Laboratory, a non-union facility. in West Mifflin, Pa. Earlier than the FMP’s resolution to maneuver union jobs out of the capital area, IFTPE Native 147 anticipated to characterize over 80 union employees at KAPL. Now that the contractor is shifting this important work to Pennsylvania, IFTPE says 35 to 40 unrepresented workers are assigned to work coated by collective bargaining recognition, leading to a big drop in Native 147’s jobs in Knolls.

By transport this work out of state, in response to the union, FMP not solely violates their Native 147 contract, however the contractor additionally violates suggestions from President Biden’s Employee Empowerment Taskforce that federal businesses and federal contractors ought to work to make sure that the Union Represented Work is just not unduly shifted from union-represented employees to unrepresented employees. Though not a federal company, the FMP is a 100% federally funded contractor whose actions are in direct contradiction to the spirit of the Taskforce’s suggestions and the Presidential directive. Only a month in the past, KAPL knowledgeable the union that the FMP would shift extra union work from Native 147 members to non-union employees, which IFPTE believes will lead to as much as 7 extra union job losses in Niskayuna.

This problem comes as FMP’s contract with the DOE is about to be renewed this September at a price of over $17 billion. Representatives defined that they’ve campaigned for a number of years to have this program funded solely from the Departments of Power and Division of Protection budgets, and that this resolution was a aware resolution to make sure KAPL had ample federal funding to proceed its vital work and hold their workforce. Due to this fact, along with returning essential jobs to KAPL, Schumer, Gillibrand and Tonko are additionally calling on the DOE to work with FMP within the renewal course of to make sure the corporate retains its absolutely federally funded workforce in New York.

A duplicate of Schumer, Gillibrand and Tonko’s letter to the DOE seems beneath:

Expensive Minister Granholm,

We’re writing in relation to a matter delivered to our consideration by the Worldwide Federation of Skilled and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Native 147, representing Fluor Marine Propulsion (FMP) employees who function the Knolls Atomic Energy Laboratory (KAPL) in Niskayuna operated and West Milton, New York. It’s our understanding that KAPL is inappropriately relocating work usually carried out by native 147 union members from New York to the Bettis Atomic Energy Laboratory in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

It’s our understanding that Native 147 has tried to treatment this example with KAPL on a number of events, as early as April 11, 2022, when the union knowledgeable administration that the work had been assigned to non-collective employees at Bettis. Extra lately, on January 11, 2023, KAPL knowledgeable the union that the corporate (FMP) can be shifting extra collective bargaining work from members of Native 147 to non-union employees. The corporate claims that the motion of labor is the results of a brand new strategy to work orders referred to as the “Design Companies Enterprise,” which sees FMP and all Naval Nuclear Laboratories reminiscent of KAPL and Bettis as one firm. This assertion is true even though Native 147’s contract acknowledges that design modeling, drafting, graphic design, animation work, and different technical assist work have to be carried out by members of the negotiating unit.

FMP’s resolution to maneuver this work not solely violates Native 147’s contract, it additionally goes towards suggestions from President Biden’s Employee Empowerment Taskforce that federal businesses and federal contractors work to make sure that unionized work is just not unreasonably postponed by employees represented by bargaining items unrepresented employees. As you recognize, the President has accepted the suggestions of the duty drive. But FMP, a 100% federally funded contractor, continues to violate the spirit of the Taskforce’s suggestions and the Presidential directive.

This problem additionally comes at a time when FMP’s contract with the DOE was signed in September this yr at a price of over $17 billion ($8.5 billion over the past 5 years plus an extra $8.5 billion US {dollars} within the second 5 years) is to be prolonged. And this comes after a number of years of combating to defend this program and fund it solely from the Division of Power and Division of Protection budgets. Whereas there’s little doubt that KAPL’s devoted employees, together with these represented by IFPTE Native 147, are doing extraordinarily vital work for the taxpaying public, we stay involved that this contractor didn’t simply determine unilaterally and with out a lot oversight , works to relocate New York.

Due to this fact, we urge you to look into FMP and reverse course and return that work to KAPL. We additionally request that DOE work with FMP within the renewal course of to make sure the corporate will proceed to retain this absolutely federally funded workforce in New York going ahead.

Thanks to your time and a focus to this matter. Please don’t hesitate to contact my employees if in case you have any questions.

sincerely,

###