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jak się kończy antyzwiązkowa działalność Honeywell i zatrudnianie łamistrajków - wyrzucaniem radioaktywnych odpadów do rzeki

Honeywell International pleaded guilty in federal court March 11 to knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit at its southern Illinois facility, a felony. Toxic uranium byproducts were held in 55-gallon metal drums. Workers said the radioactive, corrosive slurry started eating through the walls of the drums within months.

The company paid an $11.8 million fine and will be on probation for five years. No managers were charged.

The violations occurred at Honeywell’s uranium conversion plant in Metropolis, Illinois, where the corporation locked out 228 Steelworkers last June. Union members say they blew the whistle repeatedly, alerting regulators to the hazards years before any action was taken.

The Metropolis facility processes raw uranium into components for nuclear fuel. Since the lockout it has been operated by scabs, some of whom were coached by managers when they took the tests that qualified them to run the plant.

For the locked-out workers, the episode reinforced their belief that the best defense they and their communities have is a vigilant union.

The fine stemmed from Honeywell’s decision to stack up 7,500 barrels of toxic byproduct from the conversion process around the plant, roughly the size of a football field. The facility is near the Ohio River, which workers feared could become contaminated if toxins leaked.

http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2011/03/union-blows-whistle-honeywell-fi...