Striking Workers at USEC Uranium Enrichment Plant in Kentucky Say Management is Endangering Public Safety

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Striking Workers at USEC Uranium Enrichment Plant in Kentucky Say Management is Endangering Public Safety

The following statement is from the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical &

Energy Workers International Union:

TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE, Apr. 10 -/E-Wire/-- Members of local 5-550 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) , who have been on strike since February 4 at United States Enrichment Corporation (NYSE: USU) in Paducah, Ky., today stated that the company is undermining worker and community safety by its use of overworked management personnel and less-experienced replacement workers who lack security clearances.

The Paducah facility is the only operating uranium enrichment plant in the U.S.

"We fully expect that a combination of fatigue and lack of institutional knowledge of the plant's operations, coupled with scores of unknown persons now doing our jobs, could eventually take its toll and pose a direct threat to public safety," said Leon Owens, PACE local 5-550 president.

Among the problems PACE identified with the plant's current operations are:

--- Use of contract workers without security clearances who are performing routine maintenance; --- Management and replacement workers lacking compulsory safety training; --- Inaccurate schematic diagrams for the plant's electrical and steam systems that make routine maintenance dangerous when performed by contract employees unfamiliar with the plant; --- Management personnel experiencing fatigue from having to work as many 12 hours per day, six days per week on reduced crews; and --- Potential problems arising out of the transfer and shipping of radioactive materials.

"We are astounded that in midst of a war and a heightened security alert that the company's management has not engaged in serious efforts to end this work stoppage," said Gerald Johnston, PACE Region Eight vice president and the union's chief negotiator. "We take our shoes off and submit to a body search to get through airport security, but allow replacement workers into a nuclear plant without security clearances and even simple background checks."

Already there have been four safety incidents at the Paducah plant since the strike began. On February 4, the day the strike started, a forklift driver and truck driver allowed an overpack for a uranium cylinder to drop on the ground. On March 9, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspector caught a management employee sleeping while monitoring a production cell. On March 20, the NRC cited USEC for two "Severity Level IV" violations involving the failure to follow procedures used to implement criticality controls. Another NRC inspector on March 27 discovered a management employee absent from a control room.

"Escorts" accompany workers without security clearances. Although the escorts have security clearances, they have no knowledge of the work being performed and must watch several workers at a time.

"These so-called escorts are not experts and would not be able to determine if a replacement worker was engaging in sabotage or routine maintenance," said Rob Ervin, a 14-year instrument mechanic at the plant. "Escorts have also been found sleeping, and we know of one escort who is in his eighties."

In February, it was discovered that undocumented workers with false Social Security numbers were routinely performing work at Louisiana chemical plants and oil refineries, which along with nuclear facilities have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as potential terrorist targets. At a March 19 news conference, Governor Paul Patton of Kentucky identified USEC's Paducah plant as a "vulnerable point" for a possible terrorist attack.

PACE workers say the strike was forced on them after USEC demanded a doubling of health care costs paid by workers, no increase in pension despite the plan being over-funded, and greater job flexibility that union members believe will result in de-skilling of the work force and pronounced safety problems.

Hourly USEC employees in Paducah are at high risk due to exposure to radiation and other toxic chemicals. "We know we are sacrificing our bodies by working here, and health care, safety and pensions are highly sensitive issues for our members," said Owens.

"We believe that USEC officers are scapegoating their hourly workers for management's problems, and are putting the future of the company at risk by their unwillingness to seek a compromise," said Johnston.

USEC is the only plant in the U.S. still producing fuel for nuclear power plants. Its major customers include Westinghouse, Global Nuclear Fuel, Framatone and Mitsubishi.

Numerous problems and rising debt plague the company. Union members say that top officers have rewarded themselves with hefty stock options and bonuses while ignoring the plight of workers.

"The plant is running out of inventory to meet all its customer demands, and if we don't get back to work soon the company's financial and safety problems will be compounded," said Johnston.

PACE represents 320,000 workers in the paper, oil, chemical, automotive parts, grain milling, atomic energy, cement and industrial minerals industries.

PACE International Union

PACE Local 5-550 president, (union hall) 270/442-3668, (cell) 270/331-2935,

PACE associate director of communications, (o) 615/831-6782, (cell) 615/828-6169

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