Half of AECL jobs could be axed

Layoffs: Workers future in the province in limbo until more information is released in September

As union representatives tell workers to watch their spending and hold tight, the future of 140 Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. workers in Saint John is unclear.

On June 30, the Crown corporation announced upcoming mass layoffs that would terminate 40 per cent of the company's workforce after SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian engineering company, bought the ailing nuclear corporation from the federal government for $15 million.

However, union representatives said there won't be any news on who's safe until September.

The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates, based in Ontario, is the union representing nuclear technicians and engineers with the Crown corporation.

It is worried nearly half of New Brunswick's 140 workers, spread between the Point Lepreau project and a refurbishment training facility in Saint John, could be out of a job.

"We're losing half our technical work force," said union vice-president Michael Ivanco.

"We have 140 at Point Lepreau, so you can do the arithmetic. Probably half of them will be lost as well," he said.

Union president Peter White said SNC-Lavalin has announced a plan to cut 900 jobs from AECL, but said it isn't announcing who the layoffs will hit until September.

The two-month limbo period has workers anxious, Ivanco said.

"This period of uncertainty in between is just poison in the workplace," he said.

What effect the layoffs will have on Saint John's AECL centre of excellence, a reactor refurbishment teaching facility, is unclear.

White said the centre had been a "key" part of AECL future plans, but he said the union has heard "no word" from SNC-Lavalin on whether cuts will affect the centre.

"We would have expected that would be a key interest for them," White said. "But SNC has not told us if they intend to keep that plan or not."

Ross Galbraith, a union representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the SNC-Lavalin take-over shouldn't affect the 800 electrical workers at the Point Lepreau project.

He said although jobs for NB Power workers may be secure, loss of "critical talent" from AECL could slow progress on the plant's refurbishment.

"I don't see it having an impact on our staff," he said. "Our concern is can the AECL still support the operations at the station."

Kathleen Duguay, a spokeswoman for NB Power, said the sale of AECL shouldn't affect the timeline of the Point Lepreau overhaul.

Among the plant's 1,800 employees are its own staff of engineers, technicians and scientists. The AECL staff, she said, is responsible for re-tubing the reactors, a crucial part of the refurbishment project.

Duguay said SNC-Lavalin and AECL have said they are "committed" to completing the Point Lepreau project.

"It is my understanding that they will not do anything to jeopardize the integrity for them to complete the project," she said.

Ivanco, however, remains skeptical.

"You can't lay off half the workforce and not have an impact at Point Lepreau," Ivanco said.

Repeated attempts to reach AECL and SNC-Lavalin on Friday were not successful.