The facility’s plant manager sent a letter to employees today that gives a short update on the facility and its end markets, as well as the company’s general goals for the negotiations.
Honeywell Representative Peter Dalpe said the current contract expires August 1 at midnight, and negotiations will begin Monday.
Here is the letter in its entirety:
Next week, representatives of Honeywell and USW Local 7-669 will begin negotiations for a new contract for the bargaining unit, which represents 134 hourly workers at the Metropolis facility. The current three-year contract expires on August 1. The company will bargain in good faith to pursue a new labor agreement that is fair to employees while continuing to control costs and allow the plant the necessary flexibility to maintain the site’s competitiveness in a challenging global marketplace.
Honeywell has demonstrated its commitment to Metropolis by investing $177 million over the past 10 years in capital improvements, including more than $50 million in safety projects. This includes Honeywell’s 2012-13 investment of more than $40 million to reinforce the plant against natural disasters to comply with post-Fukushima standards. These investments allowed us continue to operate this facility and preserve some of the highest-paying hourly jobs in the region.
As you know, the Metropolis Works operation has not been profitable for more than a decade, with losses during that time reaching $300 million. Today, we face some of the most challenging market conditions in our history, with nuclear power generation at the lowest levels since 1999. This bad situation has been compounded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s practice of flooding the market for several years with uranium and UF6 from its extensive inventories at less than fair market value. This practice, which is being challenged in federal court by our marketing partner ConverDyn, has significantly reduced demand and driven prices down.
Throughout the bargaining process, I would ask everybody to remain focused on your jobs and work safely at all times. Your fellow workers, the community and our customers are counting on it. We will communicate important updates to you as they become available and post the same updates on our Metropolis plant website.
Jim Pritchett
Plant Manager
Honeywell Metropolis Works
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