Retired International Vice President Carol Landry headed the USW’s nuclear sector and was chair of the Atomic Energy Workers Council (AEWC) for five years. The International Executive Board appointed former Legislative Director Roxanne Brown, no stranger to nuclear issues, to Landry’s position. Brown began her new job on July 15.
Landry took over the union’s nuclear sector when USW International Vice President Kip Phillips retired in 2014.
When the AEWC continually had problems resolving contract, benefit and other workplace issues with the Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors, Landry spoke with then-International President Leo W. Gerard about how the council needed help breaking through the bureaucratic inertia to resolve the lingering issues. He talked with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz about how the union needed a high-level agency official.
Moniz appointed David Foster, a former USW District 11 director, to be his senior advisor and Natasha Cunningham to be the DOE labor liaison. Both helped the USW resolve many problems until the change in administration after the 2016 presidential election.
Landry also started meetings between the local unions at Idaho National Laboratory, the prime cleanup contractor, Fluor, and DOE.
She initiated yearly site visits to USW-represented nuclear facilities to help build solidarity within the atomic locals and facilitate greater communication between them. These visits gave the council the opportunity to meet the site’s local union members, tour facilities, and make known the union’s presence to the DOE and its contractors.
In her new role, Brown will oversee legislative, public policy and political matters, as well as leading the nuclear sector.
As legislative director, she experienced first-hand the politics involved with the DOE and its contractors.
She pushed for legislation on Capitol Hill that helped atomic workers and their families, and assisted members in getting meetings with key legislators and government officials so they could advocate for funding or specific legislation that affected their workplaces and communities.
Brown’s knowledge and experience with the DOE, its contractors, Congress and the AEWC will enable her to expand upon the progress the union has made in the atomic sector.