USW@Work: Volume 19, Issue 4

FEATURES

Nuclear Family

USW Atomic Workers on Course for a Prosperous Future

Anita Bevins is part of five generations of family who have worked at the Portsmouth nuclear site in southern Ohio.

For nearly 35 years, Bevins has worked at the site operating cranes and has trained hundreds of workers on crane operation. She works alongside two of her children, two grandchildren and two sons-in-law who are also employed at the plant.

As she looks forward to retirement, Bevins credits the facility with helping to protect U.S. national security, to ensure energy independence, and to build a strong, secure future for herself, her loved ones and her community.

“It has helped me raise my children,” said Bevins, one of about 900 members of Local 689 who are part of six units spread across the sprawling 3,777-acre site in Piketon, about 70 miles south of Columbus.

Local 689 is one of seven local unions that are part of the USW’s Atomic Energy Workers Council (AEWC), which represents a total of about 3,000 members.

The Power of Paper

Hundreds of Members Plot Future with New Bargaining Policy

As president of Local 1327, Jennifer Beard represents the production workers at Domtar’s paper facility in Ashdown, Ark.

This August, she got her first opportunity to join her USW siblings from across the industry at the union’s paper bargaining policy conference, where they set a new agenda for their industry and prepared to meet those goals with a schedule packed with training sessions and discussions on the future of their craft.

“We have to continue to produce quality products in a sustainable way,” Beard said. “And we must continue to be innovative by finding ways to produce products or ways to use our products that will set us up for a positive future.”

Mindful Bargaining

Unions Can Play Major Role in Addressing Mental Health

Union contracts can be a powerful tool in addressing mental health among members and their families, and USW bargaining committees must push for progress on that issue just as they would any other health care language.

That was the central message of a daylong educational program for rank-and-file USW leaders this summer at the union’s education center at Linden Hall in Pennsylvania.

For Mayson Fulk of Local 2699-09 in London, Ontario, efforts to improve workers’ mental health are a natural part of the work that USW local leaders do on behalf of all of their members.

“We are a health and safety union,” Fulk said, “and that includes our mental health and safety.”

Aside from simply providing affordable and accessible mental health care, unions can fight for language on numerous topics that can address members’ mental health needs, including limiting excessive overtime, providing adequate vacation time and paid sick leave, and ensuring safer workplaces free from danger.