Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 304 at Wolf Creek say there are a host of reasons why they had an information picket outside the facility Wednesday.
Spokesman Aaron Unruh says Evergy wants to eliminate a 3-percent performance bonus as part of the negotiations. He also says the utility is working towards possibly cutting union staff.
Fellow union representative Nathan Mefford says Evergy is unwilling to have the same work-from-home policies for union workers that it has for non-union workers or management staff. The same holds true for parental leave.
Still other issues from the union’s perspective include potential changes to how overtime or outages are paid.
Evergy has not commented directly on the Local 304 concerns, but it says it “is committed to continue offering a compelling salary and benefits package while managing costs to keep customer rates affordable and competitive.” The utility also says it plans to continue negotiations after reaching agreements with the union on “multiple items” the past several months.
Union members say the original plan was to negotiate a master contract between Evergy and all its unions, but that effort broke down after a roughly nine-month process so the union has been conducting its own process with Evergy for better than two months. The union accuses Evergy of denying its requests with no further discussion or of re-proposing utility demands and presenting them as new ideas.
8 pm Wednesday: IBEW Local 304 has information picket outside Wolf Creek as contract negotiations continue with Evergy
Members of a Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station union held an information picket Wednesday as contract negotiations continue.
About 125 members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 304 picketed outside the nuclear facility, saying the contract process with Evergy has been “slow and not very productive” despite Evergy being in a period of what the union calls “record-breaking profits and unprecedented inflation.”
One concern for Local 304 is Evergy’s alleged decision not to implement a work-from-home policy for union employees until negotiations for all its unions are finished, even though non-union workers and management can work remotely. Local 304 also says Evergy is not giving the same amount of parental leave to the union as it does to management.
Evergy has not commented directly on the Local 304 concerns, but it says it “is committed to continue offering a compelling salary and benefits package while managing costs to keep customer rates affordable and competitive.” The utility also says it plans to continue negotiations after reaching agreements with the union on “multiple items” the past several months.
