Bechtel, workers celebrate first year of pact

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Managers and laborers at the Nevada Test Site are working together to improve conditions and pursue new projects at the former nuclear proving ground.

The two groups gathered Monday in celebration of the alliance forged between Bechtel Nevada Corp. and Test Site workers a year ago.

"Sometimes we have a love-in," DOE's Nevada Operations Acting Manager Terry Vaeth said as the Southern Nevada Labor Alliance reviewed its first year.

The new partners face a daunting task to keep the Test Site vibrant. At its peak, the Test Site labor force reached 10,000 in weapons work during 1988. Today, that number has dropped to 2,779 with another 400 employees facing the ax next year. A nuclear testing moratorium has been in effect since 1992.

The Test Site's annual $1 billion budget has dropped to $272 million for 1997.

But Monday's celebration focused on finding partners such as private corporations and federal agencies to use the remote, Rhode Island-sized site. Proposals range from counter-terrorism work to testing dangerous chemicals to conducting weapons experiments, known as subcriticals, that stop short of packing a nuclear punch.

"This alliance is designed to be a magnet to attract other projects to the site," said Deputy Energy Secretary Charles Curtis, who attended the meeting at the Community College of Southern Nevada campus on Cheyenne Avenue.

The alliance wants Congress to fund such projects as solar energy, renewable fuel research and converting the gaseous spill facility to handle hazardous spills, he said.

What Bechtel Nevada managed to accomplish in a year impressed Deputy Labor Secretary Cynthia Metzler in a teleconference from Washington, D.C.

She noted that complaints had dropped from 200 in 1995 before the alliance to just one this year.

Metzler called the alliance "a shining example" of how teamwork works.

Worker Gabriel Kline said he actually sat down with managers and mapped out health and safety issues. Test Site workers now have the right to stop a job if there is a threat to safety. "We are some empowered individuals under this alliance," he said.

Hardrock mining has surged and demands could reach 500 workers a year. Regi Phelps of the alliance announced a two-week pilot program to train miners that may become a national model. The Test Site could become the training ground.

The alliance will be put to the test next year when 29 Test Site labor agreements expire.

"We'll have our work cut out for us in 1997," said John Mitchell, Bechtel Nevada general manager. "But I'm sure labor and management will continue to foster a spirit of cooperation and partnership."