SEMASS negotiations take international stage

By Chris Reagle

Thu Jul 02, 2009, 05:35 PM EDT

Rochester - The union representing Covanta Energy Corporation’s SEMASS employees have fired up their own incinerators by enlisting some help from across the Atlantic Ocean.

A resolution condemning Covanta Energy’s labor and environmental violations in the United States has been filed in British Parliament, according to a British Parliament Web site.

The Early Day Motion, filed by Member of Parliament John McDonnell, of Britain’s Labour Party, last month urged the British government to deny any Covanta application to build facilities in the United Kingdom unless the company “demonstrates full compliance with environmental and labor standards in all countries in which it conducts business.”

Covanta is actively pursuing proposals to build waste incinerators across Great Britain, including in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, in England, and northern Whales, as well as the north of Ireland.

“Covanta’s lawlessness in the U.S. risks earning the company a reputation as an international pariah,” Gary Sullivan, president of Utility Workers Union of America Local 369, said. “We are gratified to have the support of Mr. McDonnell and other Members of Parliament for Covanta workers’ struggle for justice.”

But Covanta officials have a different take on Local 369’s motivation for encouraging Britain to act adversely against Covanta’s plans to expand there.

“This is part of an ongoing campaign of misinformation being waged by Local 369 against Covanta to harm the company’s reputation to gain leverage during union negotiations,” Vera Carley, director of Corporate Communications for the Fairfield, N.J.-based waste disposal company, said. “While a common union tactic, we are nevertheless disappointed in Local 369’s ongoing efforts.”

“John McDonnell is a long-serving MP from the Labour Party, and he has very strong affiliations with and connections to trade unions. While we respect and encourage his right to look into Covanta’s history, we are disappointed that he has become a vocal critic of Covanta on the basis of information that Local 369 has sent to him and others in furtherance of their ongoing corporate campaign,” Carley said. “We strongly refute the union’s unfounded claims and have written to Mr. McDonnell – who we are sure has so far heard only the union’s side of the story and knows little about Covanta’s genuinely excellent track record in workplace safety and environmental compliance – in an effort to give him the facts about Covanta he is currently lacking.”

Carley maintains that Covanta has a strong environmental and health and safety record.

The British resolution comes on the heels of the termination in April of a proposed sale of Dutch waste management company Essent Milieu, for which Covanta was reportedly one of only two final bidders. Although the Dutch parent company cited low prices offered by the bidders as a primary reason for canceling the sale, Covanta labor and environmental violations in the U.S. had also become a focus of widespread controversy in the Netherlands in the weeks leading up to the abrupt termination.

 “As part of our dedication to continuous improvement and environmental excellence, we strive for zero-emissions exceedances,” Carley said. “Overall, our facilities have a 99.9 percent compliance rate.”

She said Covanta puts a strong emphasis on health and safety at its facilities.

“Twenty-nine of our facilities are part of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program. VPP participants develop and implement systems to effectively identify, evaluate, prevent, and control occupational hazards to prevent employee injuries and illnesses,” Carley said. “As a result, according to OSHA, the average VPP worksite has a lost-workday incidence rate at least 50 percent below the average of its industry. At SEMASS that percentage is 68 percent below the industry average.”

June 1, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued new citations against Covanta for “serious” violations of federal safety rules at its waste incinerator in Rochester, and proposed total penalties of $13,500. The agency cited seven violations of safety regulations, including an accumulation of fly ash on energized 208-volt electrical equipment, exposing workers to electrical hazards such as arc flash and blast.

The citations were based on an April 22, 2009, inspection requested by Utility Workers Union Local 369. The new citations against Covanta are available online at www.cjcw.org/notice/Citation_June1-09.pdf.

As noted in the Early Day Motion, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint charging Covanta with maintaining illegal work rules at all of its U.S. facilities.

“The company has been repeatedly cited by regulatory agencies in the U.S. for violations of environmental and job safety regulations at many of its facilities, and workers in Massachusetts have been unable to win a first contract with Covanta despite voting for union representation more than a year ago,” Sullivan said on behalf of the union.

However, Carley noted that the National Labor Relations Board has not charged Covanta with having committed any unlawful employment practice with adverse affect on any employee. Instead, Region 1 of the National Labor Relations Board has alleged that disputed language in an employee handbook could have been interpreted by employees to restrict rights protected by law.

“While Covanta believes that Region 1 has misinterpreted and disregarded the context of the disputed language, it voluntarily revised the language to eliminate any arguable ambiguity,” Carley said. “The issue will now be heard by an administrative law judge, and we welcome that review.

“Covanta has enjoyed a good working relationship with other unions representing our facility employees. In fact, prior to Local 369s recent charges there has never been a complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board against the company in its 20-year history. Typically, we have been able to work successfully with union representatives and, as a result, have been able to achieve 50 collective bargaining agreements with those unions. Those unions have also supported our efforts to implement VPP at our facilities to strengthen workplace safety. On the other hand, Local 369 has decided to use the health and safety of our employees as a negotiation tool. While we are disappointed, we are not surprised by the union’s tactics.”

The full text of the Early Day Motion and list of current signatories are available at http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=38786&SESSION=899.

For more information concerning UWUA, go online to: www.cjcw.org.

UWUA Local 369 represents more than 3,000 men and women in the utility and related industries throughout Massachusetts, and is affiliated with Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO.