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The Pilgrim Station nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Mass., is seen Thursday, June 17, 2004. The Pilgrim Station nuclear plant in will continue operating even if more than 300 plant workers strike next month during the Democratic National Convention, a plant spokesman said Thursday. But the head of the plant workers' union questions whether the plant can be operated safely without members of the Utility Workers Union of America, which voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, June 16, 2004, to authorize a strike. (AP Photo/ Robert E. Klein)AP/Robert E. Klein

Workers at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth are threatening to walk off the job this week if they can't settle a contract dispute with the company.

The Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 — which includes plant operators and radiation protection staff, among others, who make between $60,000 and $80,000 a year — is seeking better wages and working conditions, said David Leonardi, senior operations instructor and head of the union at the plant.

Twelve-hour shifts for operators are too long, and the turnover rate is high — the plant has lost 36 operators since December 2003, according to Leonardi.

"What we're seeing is a rash of small minor mistakes," he said. "It's because there are so many new people."

Of about 300 workers at the plant who are part of the utilities union, about 25 to 30 percent live on the Cape, said Leonardi, a Sandwich resident.

The workers will decide tomorrow whether to authorize their bargaining committee to call for a strike. Their current contract expires Thursday at midnight.

While the two sides will be negotiating throughout the week, and may come to a decision before the deadline, Entergy Nuclear Operations, which owns the Pilgrim plant and several others, already has a contingency plan in place to keep running in the event of a strike.

Entergy will bring in workers from its other plants, and will even set up trailers for upper-level staff members so they can continue to work without crossing the picket line, plant spokesman David Tarantino said.

"While we don't want to, we will be able to for a period of time operate the plant safely, because that's our highest priority," Tarantino said.

"If we felt we couldn't operate the plant safely, we wouldn't operate."

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will review that contingency plan, and will send additional inspectors to the plant if the plan does need to be put in place, spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

Union representatives said yesterday they plan to ask the NRC to shut down the plant if there is a strike.

The commission would likely do that only if there is an immediate safety concern, Sheehan said.

The regional power provider, ISO New England, is set up to cover these contingencies, spokeswoman Ellen Foley said.

"We are in regular communication with the power plants and we operate the system to cover both expected and unexpected outages," Foley said.

In 2003, workers at the Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey went on strike for weeks and the plant continued to operate, Sheehan said.

The same group of workers at Pilgrim went on strike in 1986, Tarantino said. That strike lasted for about a month, but it took place during a time when the plant was already shut down, according to published reports.

In the majority of cases, contract disputes at nuclear plants are settled before a strike, even if it's at the eleventh hour, Sheehan said.

Both sides said yesterday they hope to avoid a strike and reach a compromise before the contract expires.

"We are hoping to offer them a fair package that will meet their needs," Tarantino said. "It's just a matter of negotiating."

Stephanie Vosk can be reached at svosk@capecodonline.com.

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