The first strike ever at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, the high-security laboratory off Long Island that conducts research on dangerous infectious animal diseases, has raised concerns among striking union members, workers still on the island and government officials about the center's ability to function safely and effectively.þþThe Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called to the center to investigate allegations of sabotage after the water pressure on the island failed to generate sufficient power, according to workers and scientists on the island and government officials. The insufficient water pressure meant scientists could not use the necropsy rooms, which are used to examine dead animals, according to witnesses on the island. Union officials said that the problem was the result of inexperienced workers' being rushed in to replace the strikers.þþOther concerns about the center, which is on an 850-acre island about a mile and a half northeast of Orient Point on the North Fork of Long Island, include the safety of operating the facility without a trained fire department, and that the replacement workers have not been adequately screened and do not have sufficient training to handle an emergency or even keep essential parts of the island running. However, scientists and striking workers said there was very little danger of a leak that could threaten nearby communities.þþSenator Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that she was going to ask the appropriate Senate committee to investigate how the strike was handled and to find out the qualifications of the replacement workers. ÿI am concerned,ÿ she said in a telephone interview. ÿWe don't know who these people are who are being put in as replacements.ÿþþMrs. Clinton also said: ÿWe are in greater need of the kind of research that is done there than we have been at any time. I am just bewildered at why it had to get to this point.ÿþþThe concerns come at a time when debate is heating up in Washington about the role of Plum Island and whether it should be included in the Department of Homeland Security.þþThe strike at the Department of Agriculture facility began on Aug. 13 at midnight, after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on wages and benefits. Plum Island employs about 200 people, both government workers and union members. The 76 striking union workers are members of the International Union of Operating Engineers and are employed by a government subcontractor, LB&B Associates, based in Columbia, Md. The workers on strike filled key roles such as operating the waste-water treatment plant and decontamination plant, and also served as boat operators and safety technicians.þþPlum Island is known to residents on Long Island's North Fork as Mystery Island and has long been the subject of speculation about the dangerous germs that are studied there. It was even mentioned in the film ÿSilence of the Lambsÿ as a place for the character Hannibal Lecter to retreat to under heavy surveillance once a year. þþBeyond the natural barrier of water, the center takes elaborate precautions to ensure that organisms do not escape from the island. While people in the labs do not wear suits with self-contained respirators, everyone who leaves the containment areas has to shower, scrubbing hair and nails and rinsing mouths. Nothing is permitted to leave the labs without being disinfected, even eyeglasses.þþThe only outbreak on the island occurred in 1978, when the spread of foot and mouth disease forced officials to kill all the livestock. There has never been a leak to the mainland.þþThe most serious problems on the island because of the strike appear to involve the water system. The island gets its water from a series of wells that feed a central water tower. According to witnesses on the island, at some point in the last week part of the pressure being generated was lost. Water is central to many of the activities performed on the island, especially the cleaning.þþRepresentative Rob Simmons of Connecticut said he was told that the F.B.I. had been called to the island, which is close to his Congressional district, to investigate.þþWitnesses on the island also confirmed that the F.B.I. was investigating allegations of sabotage.þþJacob Bunch, a spokesman for LB&B Associates, said, ÿWe are not going to comment on the F.B.I. investigation.ÿ The F.B.I. also had no comment, and a request to visit the island was denied by the Agriculture Department.þþRobert Borrusso, 42, has worked at the center for six years and is licensed to operate the waste-water treatment plant. He said that when he left work on the afternoon of Aug. 13, before a decision had been reached about a strike, the system was operating properly. ÿWhen I left at 3:30 the water pressure was adequate,ÿ he said.þþMr. Borrusso said that while the well system was not overly complicated, some things are not labeled, so an operator has to know his way around. ÿAs long as I've been there, none of the supervisors have operated this system,ÿ he said. ÿThey were the ones operating it last week and now they have people from I don't know where operating it.ÿþþAsked where the replacement workers were trained and how they were screened for the jobs they now fill on the island, Mr. Bunch said: ÿIn terms of training I will tell you that people are well trained or they wouldn't be there. I am not going to get into how they are trained.ÿþþHe also would not discuss the issue of security clearances.þþAn official with the engineers union in Washington said that he had been notified by the Department of Labor about a call from a replacement worker seeking help.þþÿThis person said they were sleeping on cots, working 12-hour shifts and not being allowed to make calls off the island,ÿ the official said. ÿHe described their condition as being held captive.ÿþþEd Brandon, the chief operating officer of LB&B, said the worker was not a hostage and had already left the island. Mr. Brandon insisted everything was running smoothly. þþA government official familiar with operations at Plum Island cautioned that while questions about the ability of the center to operate effectively were legitimate given the unusual nature of a strike in such a highly sensitive location, union workers had alleged safety abuses in the past to draw attention to their case. Until 1991, all workers on Plum Island were federal employees. In 1992, many jobs were turned over to private industry.þþÿA decade after that happened you still have smoldering resentment,ÿ the official said, adding that the situation exposed a bigger battle over the future of Plum Island.þþÿYou have a group of people striking on the island who are blissfully unaware that the whole operation may cease to exist,ÿ the official said. þþOver the past 10 to 15 years, the official said, the amount of money appropriated to keep the center running has remained about the same, while the costs have risen.þþÿThere are two missions on Plum Island,ÿ the official explained. ÿOne is research and the other is diagnosis, and both of these programs have been reduced over the years.ÿ It is striking, the official said, because ÿthere has never been a time when the government needed Plum Island more than it needs it today.ÿþþThe only other comparable germ-research labs in the country are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a United States Army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland.þþPresident Bush has proposed making the Plum Island research center part of Homeland Security. Last year, Congress appropriated $23 million to research design options for a new lab at Plum Island. However, nine months later, no design plans have been made and people familiar with the situation say that is because there is talk that the new facility, which could cost around $250 million, will not be built on Plum Island.þþResidents in the communities near Plum Island have become accustomed to their mysterious neighbor. Bob Burns, a trustee for the village of Greenport, who handles relations with the center, said there was not much anxiety in the community regarding the strike. ÿWe assume they will be able to manage out there, whatever is going on,ÿ he said.þþMr. Simmons said he has heard worries from people nearby. ÿI have gotten calls from constituents asking if it is safe,ÿ he said. ÿPeople worry about Plum Island under routine circumstances, so you can expect that they worry more when circumstances are as unusual as these.ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
