Test Site Contractor, Striking Plumbers Talk

LAS VEGAS — The main contractor at the Nevada Test Site returned to the bargaining table with striking union members Monday as more than 3,000 workers remained off the job in a month-old labor dispute.

Negotiators for Reynolds Electrical and Engineering met with members of the plumbers union and planned talks with some of nine other unions whose contracts have expired. But Reynolds spokesman Steve Leon said there is no word on when the company will return to the bargaining table with members of the powerful culinary union.

The culinary union asked last week for the company to enter into binding arbitration, but Leon said Reynolds still has not decided whether to turn the issue over to an arbitrator.