Union job fight boiling at DOE cleanup sites

The US DOE is facing a growing jurisdictional dispute over which unions will perform the majority of clean-up work at its facilities. Unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO Metal Trades Council representing operations employees at the sites believe they have a fundamental right to work. Unions in the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Dept. insist that they have a clear mandate under federal labor law and the Davis-Bacon Act. The issue has heated up in recent weeks at the policy level and is boiling in a contentious dispute at DOE's Fernald site in Ohio