Contract negotiators from Indian Point nuclear power plant and its largest union have resumed talks to try to avert a strike by the plant’s largest union.
Holed up in the Hilton Rye Town since Wednesday for round-the-clock discussions on a host of issues including medical coverage and wages, the two sides talked until the early hours of this morning – past a midnight strike deadline – then agreed to resume discussions at 11 a.m.
A federal mediator had asked the union to stop the clock about midnight and representatives agreed.
“There are still some contentious issues that need to be worked out,” said Joe Flaherty, a spokesman for the Utility Workers Union of America, Local 1-2, which has 430 employees at the Buchanan site.
The union voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to strike the nuclear plant as of 12:01 a.m. today, when six years of wage and benefit agreements expired.
Flaherty has said that hourly rates of the union’s members range from $20 to $50.
He said the company has made a “small fortune” on the plant and should pay workers a fair wage.
He has repeatedly declined to discuss wage and benefit demands, but characterized them as the two toughest outstanding issues, especially medical benefits.
He said a settlement, with 90 minutes to go until the original midnight deadline, was still “very much up in the air.”
Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi said negotiations were continuing but declined to specify what issues remained unresolved. He said previously that management employees, all of whom are certified, would run the nuclear plants. On Sunday, the replacements worked shifts alongside union workers in case they were needed at midnight.
The two sides’ highest ranking representatives — Indian Point Site Vice President Joseph Pollock and Utility Workers Union President Harry Farrell — were involved in much of the negotiations Sunday.
Federal regulators expect to start 24-hour inspection shifts at Indian Point if the union goes on strike.
“We looked over Indian Point’s contingency plan and found it to be satisfactory,” said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan. “There is no problem with staffing the control room, but if there’s going to be reduced maintenance, we’ll have to be clear on how they’re going to accomplish that. We’ve dealt with a number of threatened or actual strikes over the years.”
Sheehan said senior managers can run the nuclear plants because most of them have come up through the ranks and in many cases have conducted a good portion of training of their subordinates.
“If the union does walk out, we’ll have inspectors around- the-clock for at least the first week,” he said. “If something’s not being handled properly, we can intervene.”
Sheehan said the most recent strike in the Northeast was six years ago at the Oyster Creek, N.J., plant, where workers stayed out for 11 weeks.
“There were some clashes with picketers, but the plant ran safely,” he said.
As reported by The Journal News.
