North America’s Building Trades Unions commend Southern Company for Vogtle project advances
In a statement this week, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) applauded advancements on the Southern Company’s Vogtle 3 & 4 project in Georgia, where the final major lifts for containment vessels have been completed.
It is a milestone for Georgia Power — a subsidiary of Southern Company — that leaves it with more housing for critical plant components. Vogtle 3 & 4 is also presently the largest jobs-producing construction project in Georgia, with more than 9,000 workers on site and the anticipation of more than 800 permanent jobs once construction is complete and the units go into operation. Of those workers, 7,000 are NABTU members, giving the organization a large stake in its success.
“The health and safety of our members and their families is always job number one,” said Sean McGarvey, North America’s Building Trades Unions’ president. “We commend the extraordinary measures taken by Southern Company at Plant Vogtle to go above and beyond the call of duty to keep our members safe and healthy. Together, with great partners like Southern Company, the building trades are doing whatever it takes to help our country during this time, and that includes ensuring we continue to safely operate, maintain and build new infrastructure to keep our nation powered and safe.”
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down work across the country, the project has continued to push forward thanks to what NABTU describes as precautionary measures to preserve the health of workers. These include an onsite medical clinic, free onsite services, and adherence to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. For the project, workers’ latest advancement was the placement of the Unit 4 containment vessel top head.
Construction is approximately 84 percent complete at this time and will continue in the days ahead.
