Glenn Camp, the president and assistant business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 29 in Pittsburgh, stated in court documents that Shell Chemicals is “actively pursuing” employees at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station who are looking to leave their jobs amid uncertainty surrounding the future of the power plant.
Morale at the plant is low, Camp said, because FirstEnergy has implemented a program that pays bonuses to managers, supervisors and other non-union employees, as an incentive to keep those workers at the company’s power plants.
The retention bonuses do not apply to any of the 380 IBEW union members at Beaver Valley. At least 20 members of his union are already scheduled for job interviews with Shell for potential employment at the cracker plant.
Camp also said in the court documents that he’s fearful about safety at the plant if his workers leave en masse in the coming months.
“Without retention payments for (union) employees, (FirstEnergy) may not have enough qualified employees to safely staff the Beaver Valley plant,”