06.17.04

Cantwell Questions DOE Official on Changes to Hanford Workers' Pensions

Cantwell stands up for more than 10,000 Hanford workers; secures pledge from Assistant Secretary to meet to discuss issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) questioned Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary Jessie Roberson about changes in the pension plan for some Hanford workers. DOE has introduced plans for a new, two-tiered pension system that requires companies that win contracts to contribute to the current pension plan only for the first five years of the contract. After that, the system changes to a market-based plan under which the contractor has no obligation to continue contributing to the workers' pensions.

"People want to know that the work force is being taken care of and that they are not going to be shortchanged," Cantwell said. "Why would you tell employees who have worked for years at the Hanford reservation and all of a sudden say to them, ‘Sorry, but you're out of luck?' It's unacceptable to leave these workers and their families out in the cold."

Cantwell secured a pledge from Roberson to meet with her and follow up on her objections to DOE's plan.

The change in pension funding could affect more than 10,000 workers at three projects at Hanford – the Fast Flux Test Facility Closure Project, the 222-S Analytics Services Projects, and the River Corridor Closure Project – for which DOE is actively pursuing new contracts.

The average Hanford employee is 48 years old. The five-year provisions in each of the Requests for Proposals (RFPs) that have gone out for the three sites would not carry these employees through retirement age. They would have to start over again with the new contractor's pension plan, which, decidedly, does not provide continuity for the incumbent workers. Cessation of the current pension plans could be devastating for more than 10,000 Hanford workers.

In the past, DOE has tried to justify a change in contributions to employee pension plans because the nature of the work at these sites has changed from "clean up" to "closure" status. Yet the work at DOE facilities in Colorado (Rocky Flats) and Ohio (Fernald) have been designated as "closure projects" – and not "clean up projects" – and employees in both locations are not being subjected to a similar five-year cut-off. Irrespective of whether the work is termed production, cleanup, or closure, the materials being handled, the work locations, and the dedication and expertise of the workers has not changed.

Cantwell has been working on this issue since earlier this year. On March 25, 2004, she sent a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham asking that he reverse course on the RFPs and eliminate the sections related to contractors only needing to contribute to employee pension plans for five years.

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council, Washington State Labor Council, and the Hanford Advisory Board, which is made up of local government, environmental, and business interests, public health, public interest, tribal, and university representatives, also support such a change.