[img1]A UW contractor that has been accused of mistreating its workers and swindling them out of pay has entered into negotiations with a local union.

New York-based LVI Services Inc., has yet to sign anything, but one union official described recent talks as "fruitful."

"I feel confident in saying we will have an agreement put together in the next couple of weeks," said Doug Strand, an organizer for Laborers Local 242.

Strand wouldn't comment on the specifics of the agreement, except that it would be effective across Washington state and northern Idaho.

LVI was recently hired to decommission a nuclear reactor next to More Hall that hasn't been active since 1988. It was formerly used by the now-defunct Department of Nuclear Engineering.

The state appropriated the funds only last year for the removal, which should cost about $4.1 million, according to Norm Arkans, executive director of media relations and communications for the UW. Completion is slated for October.

Unions and student groups have attacked LVI for its record of worker safety and environmental violations, which have generated multiple lawsuits and fines. At a panel discussion held on campus earlier this month, a former employee reported the company encouraged him to work without proper tools or ventilation.

A recent episode of PBS's NOW showed LVI workers during the Hurricane Katrina cleanup getting shortchanged on their paychecks and living in cramped, substandard employee housing.

The Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), the pro-union group that organized the panel, tried to pressure the University into signing an additional contract with LVI that would allow its workers to unionize. UW officials opposed the contract, saying it would unnecessarily complicate the partnership.

With LVI already here and on the job, SLAP has started a petition calling for a third party to monitor safety and training for employees on the reactor site.

"It's a check on the workers' rights," SLAP member Rachel Taber said.

But Alan Nygaard of the UW Capital Projects Office said there are already two third-party monitors at the site.

"We don't let third-party people go on regular construction sites -- let alone ones where radioactive waste is present," " he said.

Some members of SLAP wonder if the UW's precautions are enough.

"Can we really trust them when they sign to this company to begin with?" Taber said.

The Daily was unable to reach LVI for comment.

Reach Daily reporter Jason McBride at [url='mailto:jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu']jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu[/url].