Westinghouse Electric Co. has locked out 172 members of the boilermakers union in its Newington factory in New Hampshire, setting the stage for tough negotiations in the coming months with unions in the Pennsylvania towns of Cranberry, Warrendale, Churchill and Blairsville, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday. The Cranberry-based nuclear firm, which filed for bankruptcy in late March, said it offered “a fair contract given the business conditions,” according to spokesperson Sarah Cassella, “and we are disappointed the Boilermakers were not willing to accept the offer.” Duane Egan, chief steward for local 651 at Newington, sees it differently: He said the company leaned on the bankruptcy during negotiations, saying that a bankruptcy judge wouldn’t allow Westinghouse to meet the union’s demands. Other union members reported that Westinghouse is trying to bring union employees in line with its non-unionized workers, who have seen their pensions frozen, their severance pay slashed and their health care costs increase in recent months. Similar issues are likely to surface this summer when Westinghouse goes to the negotiating table with 155 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at its Blairsville plant, which makes components for nuclear fuel. Westinghouse has 713 union employees across its operations, according to the company’s bankruptcy documents, a sliver of its total workforce, which numbers around 11,500 worldwide.
