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Nuclear company Entergy suddenly cutting out health benefits for Pilgrim nuclear workers

The Louisiana-based Entergy is slashing benefits as part of a hard-line lockout, while inexperienced and lesser trained replacements try to manage the 40-year-old plant’s complex operations.

“Our members have literally risked their lives time and again to keep this community safe and to help Entergy make $1 million a day in profits,”

Entergy’s Countdown to Cruelty: 48 hours until Pilgrim Nuclear workers and families lose healthcare Just days after Supreme Court Upholds Healthcare for all, Louisiana-based Entergy Corp. set to end medical coverage for workers and families facing surgery, cancer treatment, childbirth and other healthcare issues

The Sacramento Bee, By Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 , Jun. 28, 2012 PLYMOUTH, Mass., June 29, 2012 —  Locked-out Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
workers and their families are bracing for a devastating blow as Entergy Corp. prepares to end their healthcare coverage at midnight on Saturday, June 30. Continue reading →

June 30, 2012 Posted by | employment, USA | Leave a comment

Pilgrim Nuclear power plant workers vote down contract, with safety concerns

Workers say the inability of Entergy to perform a safety drill is one more reason why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should shut down the plant while the workers are locked out. …

Nuclear Power Workers Vote Down Contract As Safety Questions Mount, In These Times, BY MIKE ELK , 22 June 12, On Wednesday, locked-out nuclear power plant workers in Plymouth, Mass., members of Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), voted down a proposed contract by a margin of 137 to 89. …..  UWUA Local 369 President Dan Hurley announced that the union had voted down the contract.

“The hardworking men and women who keep Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant operating profitably and safely have spoken loud and clear: They will not accept cuts to their pay or healthcare from a company making record profits and paying executives in the tens of millions,” said Hurley. “We urge Entergy to return to the bargaining table so that we can realistically address the very real concerns of our members.”… Continue reading →

June 23, 2012 Posted by | employment, USA | Leave a comment

Rapid growth in renewable energy jobs

Renewable Energy Sector Employs Over 5 Million  http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3234  4 June 12, by Energy Matters According to a recent UN report, the number of renewable energy jobs doubled globally between 2007 and 2011 and millions more will be employed in the sector over the next 20 years.

The shift to a greener global economy could see an additional 15 to 60 million additional job over the next two decades according to a study led by the Green Jobs Initiative; a UN International Labour Organization (ILO) project. Continue reading →

June 4, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, employment, renewable | Leave a comment

Wales would do better with renewables, tourism, than with nuclear power

Anti-nuclear group Pawb’s Anglesey job creation plans, BBC New North Wales, 1 June 12, The existing Wylfa plant has permission to operate until 2014  
One nuclear reactor to be closed
Talks to find Wylfa B investors
Firms drop new Wylfa nuclear plan
An anti-nuclear group has published plans on how it believes jobs can be created on Anglesey. People Against Wylfa B (Pawb) says the fact companies have pulled out of plans for a new nuclear power station shows the economic case is weak.

It proposes an offshore wind farm and the promotion of tourism instead……

At the time talks were continuing to find investors, after the company which was to build a new nuclear power station on Anglesey pulled out…..

Pawb says up to 3,000 jobs could be created on the island, and Dr Clowes said one plan being backed is a proposal for a massive offshore wind farm between Anglesey and the Isle of Man…..

The solar photovoltaic (using solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity) industry is increasing apace. These are seen as Cinderella-type industries… but they are real jobs, here today,” he added. Tourism could also be developed, he argued. He said the Welsh government had put “all its eggs in one basket” by backing Wylfa B and
saw it as the cure-all.

“Many opportunities have been lost,” he added…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-18292401

June 2, 2012 Posted by | employment, UK | Leave a comment

In Malawi, Namibia, Niger workers making trouble for uranium mining companies

Conflicts with unions and management may have even larger impacts in the future,

Uranium Miners in Africa Facing Labor Disputes, Business Insider, Resource Investing News        | May 16, 2012, Uranium mining companies are operating in difficult environments in many jurisdictions, facing challenges ranging from regulatory compliance,
environmental delays, rising costs, and labor relations. Over the last year, the labor challenges seem to have become more accentuated for African uranium mining companies, with several companies having reporting strikes. Continue reading →

May 17, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, employment, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Uranium | Leave a comment

Excessive radiation levels received, but 16 Fukushima workers have to stay on

How’s this for injustice to workers?   An illustration of  three things: the heroism of Japan’s Fukushima “liquidators”,  the nuclear industry’s ruthless lack of concern for its workers, and the desperate situation of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Workers with high radiation levels to stay at N-plant http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120427006236.htm Jiji Press 28 April 12, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that a total of 16 employees whose cumulative radiation doses have exceeded 100 millisieverts, a government-set limit, will continue to work at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. According to TEPCO, the 16 are engaged in equipment operation and radiation control and have advanced expertise and extensive experience at the nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year.

Following the accident at the plant, the health ministry raised the cumulative dose limit to 250 millisieverts for workers there. But this measure will expire at the end of April. The cumulative limits revert back to 50 millisieverts per year and 100 millisieverts over a five-year period.

As the 16 people are vital for containing the plant’s nuclear crisis, the company will keep them at work and take steps to reduce radiation levels at the quake-proof building used for its disaster response team, it said. With TEPCO taking such measures as covering some ceilings and floors with lead in the quake-resistant building, radiation levels there have fallen to 0.7 microsievert per hour from 1.6 microsieverts, according to the utility.

April 28, 2012 Posted by | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Many thousands of jobs created by USA’s renewable energy grants program

DOE: Renewable grant program was a big jobs creator Politico,  By ALEX GUILLEN | 4/6/12  A $9 billion Obama administration grant program for renewable energy projects has created tens of thousands of jobs, an Energy Department report out Friday concludes.

The report comes just one week after Speaker John Boehner slammed Energy Secretary Steven Chu over the claim and challenged him to provide proof of the jobs creation. The report — conducted by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory — concludes that the program supported 52,000 to 75,000 construction and installation jobs on average over the three years it was in effect. Continue reading →

April 7, 2012 Posted by | employment, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

10,000 new renewable energy jobs, in UK marine energy sector

 Positive Energy: Renewable Energy Sector set to Offer More Jobs, Report reed.co.uk,  LONDON, April 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Renewable energy sector could potentially offer up to 10,000 more jobs over the next eight years, predicts job site

Starting salaries are also set to rise in the industry Continue reading →

April 5, 2012 Posted by | employment | Leave a comment

Plenty of future work for Japan’s nuclear professionals – in shutting down the world’s nuclear reactors

concerns over where Japan’s nuclear professionals will end up. We believe, however, that this concern needs to be reframed. There are more than 430 nuclear reactors in the world, and one by one they will all reach the end of their service lives. Regardless of the future paths of nuclear policies around the world, there will be plenty of reactors that need to be shut down.

Editorial: Time to say goodbye to nuclear power, Mainichi Daily News, 7 March 12,   The illusion of nuclear power safety has been torn out by the root. The Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the great waves of March 11 last year made sure of that.. Continue reading →

March 8, 2012 Posted by | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Uranium mining threatens long term jobs in Virginia

New coalition urges a delay in uranium mining in Virginia, Washington Post, By ,  18 Jan A new coalition that wants to delay  — maybe indefinitely — mininguranium in Southside Virginia is taking a different tact: They aren’t talking about safety as much as the potential effect on jobs.

The Virginia Coalition and the Alliance for Progress in Southern Virginia urged the General Assembly Wednesday not to lift the state’s ban this year because it could harm their employees and the ability to attract employees and companies to the region. They were joined by a half-dozen Southside lawmakers including Sens. Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville) and Bill Stanley (R-Moneta) and Dels Danny Marshall (R-Danville), Don Merricks (R-Martinsville), James Edmunds (R-Charlotte) and Tommy Wright (R-Amelia). Continue reading →

January 19, 2012 Posted by | employment, USA | Leave a comment

Secrecy over poor conditions and pay for Fukushima cleanup workers

While the radiation at Fukushima continues to leak out, the same can’t be said about information regarding working conditions at the plant.

Fukushima secrecy over workers and conditions ABC Radio A.M. Mark Willacy reported this story on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 TONY EASTLEY: Still in Japan and the ABC has obtained documents revealing the lengths being taken to keep work at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant secret and to stop workers there from actually talking to the media. Continue reading →

December 9, 2011 Posted by | civil liberties, employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Japan’s second rate contract workers cop the brunt of nuclear radiation

contractors last year accounted for 96% of the harmful radiation absorbed by workers at the nation’s nuclear power plants. Temporary workers at the Fukushima plant in 2010 also faced radiation levels 16 times higher than did employees of the plant’s owner-operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., because contractors are called in for the most dangerous work, 

Japan’s ‘nuclear gypsies’ face radioactive peril at power plants Unskilled contractors make up most of the workforce and face higher doses of radiation than utility employees at Fukushima and other nuclear power plants in Japan. By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times December 4, 2011

 Reporting from Namie, Japan “….. Such unskilled contractors exist at the bottom rung of the nation’s employment ladder, subjecting themselves to perilous doses of radioactivity. Solicited from day labor sites across the country, many contractors are told little of the task ahead. Continue reading →

December 5, 2011 Posted by | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

What it’s really like to be a cleanup worker at Fukushima

Those on the lower rungs, say labour advocates, are particularly
vulnerable. They often have no corporate health, pension or redundancy
benefits. ….

the hardest work was done by the low-level labourers. They had so much rubble to clear, he says, that they often keeled over in the heat under the weight of their protective gear.
Taken out in ambulances, they would usually be back the following day.

Cleaning up Japan’s nuclear mess, The twilight zone, Its owner fears not just radiation leaking out of the Fukushima plant, but also bad news, The Economist Nov 5th 2011 | IWAKI | IT IS another world beyond the roadblocks stopping unauthorised traffic from entering the 20km (12.5-mile) exclusion zone around the
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. ….

The air of secrecy is compounded when you try to approach workers involved in the nightmarish task of stabilising the nuclear plant. Many are not salaried Tepco staff but low-paid contract workers lodging in Iwaki, just south of the exclusion zone. Continue reading →

November 4, 2011 Posted by | employment, Japan | Leave a comment

Employment prospects bright in renewable energy and sustainability

Focus on Renewable Energy May Be One Bright Spot in Today’s Job Market  Market Watch, HOUSTON, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The 2011 jobs market has certainly left much to be desired for many Americans. Rising jobless reports and a bleak economic forecast can make finding a career that feeds a person’s passion and their wallet seem beyond reach. However, for those committed to the environment, green living and sustainability, the outlook may be brighter than you might think, according to MXenergy, a Constellation company and leading energy provider.

“The focus on renewable and clean energy and sustainability has led to tremendous growth in these industries over the past several years,” says Marjorie Kass, MXenergy managing director of marketing. “All indications are that growth is expected to continue which will mean the need for trained, experienced personnel.”

According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, U.S. solar photovoltaic installation increased 64 percent between 2005 and 2010. The institute estimates that the U.S. already has more than 90,000 direct or indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar panels, with another 85,000 jobs in wind power.

Previously solar panel installation was too cost prohibitive for most homeowners. However many energy providers, including MXenergy’s parent company Constellation Energy, are now launching residential solar panel leasing programs making the transition to solar financially attainable to many homeowners for the first time.

“The increase in affordability and attainability through these programs is a benefit not only to homeowners but also to workers,” continues Kass. “As more people take advantage of solar leasing programs the need for licensed installers will increase as well.”…

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/focus-on-renewable-energy-may-be-one-bright-spot-in-todays-job-market-2011-10-14

October 15, 2011 Posted by | employment, renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Strike at Rio Tinto’s Rossing uranium mine

Strike at Rio Tinto’s Rossing mine, IOL, September 23 2011  Workers at Rio Tinto’s Rossing mine in Namibia on Friday started an indefinite strike at the uranium mine after rejecting management’s latest offer that was meant to settle a dispute over production incentives, a union official said.

“Workers have shot down the management offer. The strike has started as planned at 0800 (10:00 SA time) this morning,” Mineworkers Union of Namibia Rossing branch representative Ismael Kasuto told Reuters. – http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/strike-at-rio-tinto-s-rossing-mine-1.1143719

September 24, 2011 Posted by | employment, Namibia | 1 Comment

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