KAPL talks are at impasse, security worker union says

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A union representing approximately 75 security employees at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory held an informational picket this week to draw attention to what it called an impasse in contract negotiations.

The picket was held Monday morning at the Niskayuna site by the Professional Security Employees Association Local #1.

The union and Bechtel Marine Propulsion have been in negotiations since May 15, but no agreement has been reached, the union said in a news release.

Two votes have been put to membership, but the union described the negotiations as at an impasse.

The proposals from Bechtel Marine Propulsion “fail to adequately address the concerns” of the union, according to the release. A representative of the union could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for KAPL, Gene Terwilliger, said the contract expired May 31 and the company has been in negotiations with union leaders since then.

“We’ve negotiated in good faith and will continue to do so,” he said. But he declined to detail any of the issues in the negotiations.

According to Terwilliger, the union represents about 75 employees at KAPL and the Kesselring nuclear training site in West Milton.

In February, an effort by the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers to unionize specialists and technicians at KAPL failed by an 87-166 vote.

About 140 of those workers signed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board asking to conduct the union vote. Workers cited a dissatisfaction with Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, which took over managing KAPL and Kesselring from Lockheed Martin three years ago.