Northrop Grumman workers near agreement
When the Northrop Grumman Corporation took over technical training operations Oct. 1 at NAS Fallon, its workers at the base were without a collective bargaining agreement.
With rumors of a strike swirling around the base, the president of the union representing those employees said Monday he believes a new agreement is "close" to becoming a reality.
NAS Fallon workers contracted through Northrop Grumman negotiated with corporate representatives for three days last weekend at the Holiday Inn Express in Fallon.
Although the union workers who attended the negotiations unanimously voted Friday to strike if an agreement could not be reached, IUE-CWA Local 117 President Larry Lecave said Monday he anticipates both sides are inching closer to common ground and a strike should be avoided.
In the event of a strike at NAS Fallon, Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Julie Ballesteros said the base's tactical training ranges would still function under "uninterrupted operation." According to Ballesteros, Northrop Grumman has already arranged to relocate technical employees contracted at other bases to fill the void of any possible picketing workers at the Naval Air Station.
NAS Fallon Public Affairs Officer Zip Upham said the base is treating the situation as a matter to be solved by Northrop Grumman and its workers and that range operations would continue as usual no matter what.
"From our perspective, it's an internal labor issue," Upham said. "The Navy expects the negotiations to continue until an agreement is reached."
Lecave said while Northrop employees' safety issues at the base have essentially been worked out with the corporation, the main obstacle left in the way of a new collective bargaining agreement is higher wages.
"We're so close to this thing," Lecave said. "The wages are the biggest hold-up. Once we get that hammered down, I think we'll have an agreement. We're basically boiling down nickels and dimes now."
Lecave said the three-day negotiations ended at approximately 2:04 a.m. Monday when corporate negotiators for Northrop Grumman declined to fulfill the workers' request for a federal mediator to enter involvement.
According to Lecave, the workers were scheduled to meet again Monday night to "get down to the nitty gritty" and draft a new proposal to submit to Northrop Grumman negotiators, who are expected to answer on Wednesday.
NAS Fallon has 160 workers contracted through Northrop Grumman. Lecave said more than 80 percent of those workers are union members.
Northrop Grumman took over operation of NAS Fallon's tactical training ranges in October from Lockheed Martin Systems Management. Northrop was awarded a five-year, $208 million contract to provide information technology services to five military bases, including NAS Fallon, in the West.
At this point, Lecave said he and the workers are simply doing "our best to negotiate at arm's length" with the Northrop Grumman Corporation.
"We're hashing out a handful of wages we'd like brought in now rather than later," Lecave said. "We had a bridging agreement in place for 90 days to get a new contract. The wages that are there now are below industry standards and we just want what's fair."
Ballesteros is also optimistic that an agreement will be reached soon and that the corporation's attitude toward its employees at bases across the country will not change no matter what labor disputes arise.
"We remain committed to our employees," Ballesteros said. "Regardless of what happens, we'll be committed to coming to a collective bargaining agreement."
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
With rumors of a strike swirling around the base, the president of the union representing those employees said Monday he believes a new agreement is "close" to becoming a reality.
NAS Fallon workers contracted through Northrop Grumman negotiated with corporate representatives for three days last weekend at the Holiday Inn Express in Fallon.
Although the union workers who attended the negotiations unanimously voted Friday to strike if an agreement could not be reached, IUE-CWA Local 117 President Larry Lecave said Monday he anticipates both sides are inching closer to common ground and a strike should be avoided.
In the event of a strike at NAS Fallon, Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Julie Ballesteros said the base's tactical training ranges would still function under "uninterrupted operation." According to Ballesteros, Northrop Grumman has already arranged to relocate technical employees contracted at other bases to fill the void of any possible picketing workers at the Naval Air Station.
NAS Fallon Public Affairs Officer Zip Upham said the base is treating the situation as a matter to be solved by Northrop Grumman and its workers and that range operations would continue as usual no matter what.
"From our perspective, it's an internal labor issue," Upham said. "The Navy expects the negotiations to continue until an agreement is reached."
Lecave said while Northrop employees' safety issues at the base have essentially been worked out with the corporation, the main obstacle left in the way of a new collective bargaining agreement is higher wages.
"We're so close to this thing," Lecave said. "The wages are the biggest hold-up. Once we get that hammered down, I think we'll have an agreement. We're basically boiling down nickels and dimes now."
Lecave said the three-day negotiations ended at approximately 2:04 a.m. Monday when corporate negotiators for Northrop Grumman declined to fulfill the workers' request for a federal mediator to enter involvement.
According to Lecave, the workers were scheduled to meet again Monday night to "get down to the nitty gritty" and draft a new proposal to submit to Northrop Grumman negotiators, who are expected to answer on Wednesday.
NAS Fallon has 160 workers contracted through Northrop Grumman. Lecave said more than 80 percent of those workers are union members.
Northrop Grumman took over operation of NAS Fallon's tactical training ranges in October from Lockheed Martin Systems Management. Northrop was awarded a five-year, $208 million contract to provide information technology services to five military bases, including NAS Fallon, in the West.
At this point, Lecave said he and the workers are simply doing "our best to negotiate at arm's length" with the Northrop Grumman Corporation.
"We're hashing out a handful of wages we'd like brought in now rather than later," Lecave said. "We had a bridging agreement in place for 90 days to get a new contract. The wages that are there now are below industry standards and we just want what's fair."
Ballesteros is also optimistic that an agreement will be reached soon and that the corporation's attitude toward its employees at bases across the country will not change no matter what labor disputes arise.
"We remain committed to our employees," Ballesteros said. "Regardless of what happens, we'll be committed to coming to a collective bargaining agreement."
Burke Wasson can be contacted at bwasson@lahontanvalleynews.com
