Nine Mile Point nuclear workers in Oswego County strike after labor talks fail

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/nine_mile_point_nuclear_worker_1.html


David Lassman / The Post-StandardStriking workers represented by IBEW Local 97 begin picketing at midnight on the road outside the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plants owned by Constellation Energy in the Oswego County town of Scriba.

Published: Saturday, July 09, 2011, 12:14 AM Updated: Saturday, July 09, 2011, 7:11 AM
Mike McAndrew / The Post-Standard By Mike McAndrew

Scriba, NY -- Today, for the first time in four decades, workers who operate two nuclear power plants in Oswego County went on strike.

At midnight Friday, when a shift ended at Nine Mile Point Unit 1 and Unit 2, Constellation Energy Nuclear Group managers relieved union co-workers at desks throughout the plants.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97 called for 460 workers to go on strike in the plants owned by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group after a final contract negotiating session lasted just minutes Friday morning.

CENG will temporarily run the two reactors in Scriba with management workers, said Jill Lyon, a company spokeswoman. “... We are prepared to safely run the facility,” Lyon said in a statement issued hours before the company’s contract with the IBEW expired.

Local 97 represents 590 of the roughly 1,000 workers at the plant, including control-room operators, radiation-protection personnel, emergency-response workers and others, said Theodore Skerpon, Local 97 president. About 460 of the workers will be on strike. IBEW-represented security officers are not permitted to strike.

CENG has spent the past year devising its contingency plan and training managers to step in if necessary, Lyon said.

FULL story at link.