A prolonged lock-out of United Steelworkers Local 669 workers at the Honeywell International Inc. uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Ill, may be coming to a close, according to the union, the company and federal mediators.
Workers have been locked out since August 2, 2014, which is when a three-year contract expired. But federal mediators and the company said on Saturday that a tentative deal had been reached. Company spokesman Peter Dalpe said that the union had indicated it would put a new contract up for a vote on either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
The Honeywell production facility is the country's only plant that converts uranium oxide into uranium hexafluoride, which is commonly known as “hex” and is used in the uranium enrichment process required to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service also announced a tentative deal had been reached. “Working under the auspices of FMCS mediators, the union and employer reached a tentative agreement after many hours of intense talks," the federal agency said in a statement.
Dalpe said that the company had made an agreement with mediators that it would not comment on the tentative contract
"At the request of the federal mediator who assisted in the bargaining this week, the company is not commenting on the specific terms of the proposed contract at this time, except to say that we are hopeful the agreement will be ratified,” Reuters quoted Dalpe as saying.