The federal program provides $150,000 in lump-sum compensation for nuclear workers who became seriously ill or who died on the job because of exposure to radioactive materials. Surviving relatives are also eligible.

“The money doesn’t bring people back, and you can’t put a price on a human life,” Wiggins added. “But I appreciate what the program is doing. If you are white collar or blue collar, it doesn’t matter. If you or your loved one suffered out there, you should be compensated.”

Workers or their family members may file claims at the Energy Employees Compensation Center at 125 Memorial Drive. The office is in the Barkley Center next to Milner and Orr Funeral Home and across Alben Barkley Drive from West Kentucky Community and Technical College.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. But staff is available for after hours appointments in the office or in workers’ or survivors’ homes.

The office has trained case workers to help nuclear weapons industry employees and their survivors with claims, said Stewart Tolar, project manager. He said the center works closely with several area unions, including PACE 5-550 at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184, IBEW Local 816 and Laborers Local 1214.

The program covers employees of the plant plus contractors and subcontractors and even workers who helped build the facility in 1950s.

In addition to the $150,000, the program pays out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by private insurance, Medicare or other programs.

Anyone wishing to schedule an appointment with a case worker or to find out more about the center may call (270) 534-0599 or 1-866-534-0599. The latter number is toll free.

“This is a very worthwhile program, and we need to be spreading the word in our locals and telling our friends about it,” Wiggins said.

Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page

Winings represents Kentucky on AFL-CIO bus trip

By BERRY CRAIG
KEA-NEA/AFT Local 6038

Any union member thinking about voting for George W. Bush should talk to Viola Melton Winings. “Just because you have a good union job today, doesn’t mean you will tomorrow,” she warned delegates at the May Area Council meeting. “I had a good job for 26 years, then one day it was gone to Mexico.”

Winings is a 66-year-old great-grandmother from Providence, Ky., who lost her job to outsourcing. The Steelworker represented the Bluegrass State on the AFL-CIO’s national “Show Us the Jobs Tour.”

The bus trip took Winings and 50 other jobless workers from every state and the District of Columbia to 18 cities. At each stop, they challenged Bush’s claims that his economic policies are helping the country.

The bus passengers didn’t rattle off statistics, though the numbers back them up. Sometimes fighting back tears, they told about losing their livelihoods.

More than 2.2 million paying jobs have disappeared since Bush took office. Many companies are shipping jobs abroad to cheap-labor countries, a process called outsourcing.

Winings said outsourcing cost her the best job she ever had. She worked at the Moen Hoov-R-Line plant in Providence in rural western Kentucky.

“We made everything that flushes a commode,” Winings said. “The company’s motto was ‘When you flush, think of us.’ Then they flushed our jobs right down the toilet.”

Winings said the plant closed without warning. “One day, they came in and told us our jobs were going to Mexico. There were 144 of us and none of us had any inkling it was going to happen. They were plain about it. They said we had worked hard but they were shutting the plant because they could make more money in Mexico.”

Winings also has visited Area Councils in Henderson and Owensboro. She can be reached at call at (270) 667-2504. She has a videotape of the “Show Us the Jobs” tour she is glad to show to unions in western Kentucky.