Union to represent workers on third nuclear reactor

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

UniStar Nuclear Energy, which is seeking permission to expand the Lusby plant; Bechtel Construction Company, which will be doing much of the construction work; and the Building and Construction Trades Department of AFL-CIO as well as another union, issued releases June 1 touting the deal. Bechtel has agreed to provide "fair wages, fringe benefits and good working conditions for all union workers" during construction, while the unions will enroll and certify enough skilled workers to meet UniStar's needs.

While the agreements only mention Bechtel, UniStar President and CEO George Vanderheyden said the same rules will apply to all contractors hired for the project. The agreement follows a national template, and "one of the reasons we follow the National Construction Alliance's framework for agreement is it allows other vendors that would enter to sign on, and that is our intent for this agreement," he said.

Similar agreements are common for large-scale construction projects, but UniStar is entering into this agreement earlier than normal to give the unions extra time to recruit and train the workers the project will need, Vanderheyden said. By entering into the agreement, UniStar essentially guarantees a certain number of construction jobs, allowing the unions to go out and recruit members to fill them.

"What this really means is that we wanted to enter into this agreement far earlier than has even been done in the past for new nuclear construction, and give the union a jumpstart on qualifying workers," Vanderheyden said. "… They'll commit to go recruit the workers into their training programs. It's kind of a normal process. If I can go forward and say, ‘We have these jobs [available],' people will be attracted [to the unions] just to work on new nuclear projects."

Some positions require highly-skilled laborers who may have to be brought in from outside the area, but most of the jobs can be filled by Maryland workers, Vanderheyden said.

Danita Boonchaisri, marketing and communications specialist for Calvert County, praised the deal.

"I know that [plant owner] Constellation has always said they're going to do their best hire local people where possible," she said. "Building something like a nuclear reactor requires specialized skills where they would have to go out of the county, but that they would hire local tradespeople where possible," she said. "This is just one more step in process of getting the project to come to fruition."

emitrano@somdnews.com