FirstEnergy Solutions got a $150 million-a-year bailout from the state of Ohio and then proceeded to all but declare war on the workers in two of its nuclear power plants, including the Beaver Valley facility.
Veteran nuclear plant workers would lose traditional pensions if a bankruptcy court agrees with the latest FES restructuring plan.
FES is hoping to emerge restructured from bankruptcy in a way that negates its labor contracts with the unions at Beaver Valley as well as at Perry, near Cleveland. It smacks of opportunism and bad faith. Specifically on the chopping block are the pensions that had been promised to workers. Unions contend that commitments in current labor contracts should carry forward following bankruptcy but FES has said it intends to renegotiate and that pension benefits are likely to change and dramatically.
The Ohio General Assembly’s vote to save family-sustaining jobs at Ohio’s two nuclear plants — Perry and Davis-Besse — earned some Democratic backing, enough to push the bailout measure to completion. Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, near Oak Harbor, was not included in FirstEnergy Solutions’ legal filing.
FirstEnergy Solutions is repaying that Democratic and labor support by what amounts to an attack on the unions in two of its facilities.
Ohio state Rep. David Leland, a Columbus Democrat, questioned whether the bill would have passed if the company’s full intentions had been known.
Mr. Leland said: “They waited until after the billion-dollar bailout occurred until we found out about it.”
Supporters of the FirstEnergy bailout say the company’s position is all part of the dance that companies in bankruptcy go through: nothing to see here.
Ohio state Rep. Lisa Sobecki, a Toledo Democrat who supported the bill because some of Davis-Besse’s trade union workers live in her district, seems to believe the company will negotiate a new agreement in good faith. Let’s hope.
First Published: August 16, 2019, 10:30 a.m.