Secretary-Treasurer Henson Talks to Valley Labor Report on Labor's Fight to Keep TVA Serving the Public, not Profits
This past weekend, IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson discussed IFPTE and other Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) unions' efforts to defend the TVA as a public utility that serves the region, provides good jobs for the Valley, and keeps electricity rates affordable.
IFPTE Sec.-Treas Gay Henson talks to Valley Labor Report to discuss labor’s fight to keep TVA public and serving the people of the Tennessee Valley, not private profit.
Segment starts at 42:50 mark.
She was joined on the radio program by David Rutledge, Assistant Business Manager for the Southeast Council of the Laborers union (LiUNA), and Chris O’Keefe, Business Manager and Secretary-Treasurer for the Ironworkers Local 384, to talk about the signals that the Trump Administration may move to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority and the harmful impacts to working families and businesses in the region.
Henson described some of the impacts of privatizing TVA. Were the TVA to be privatized, “The rates would go up 10 to 15% on day one and they’ll go up more than that over time to 30-40%,” Henson said. “That’s a big difference for somebody just barely making it paycheck to paycheck,” she added, noting that, “It’s an impact on people that some of these politicians don’t understand.” Privatizing TVA would also remove local accountability, harm environmental stewardship, and hurt economic development for the region, Henson said.
IFPTE members at TVA are represented by the Engineering Association (EA/IFPTE Local 1937). Henson, who has worked as a health physicist at TVA and was EA president before being elected IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer. She has played a key role in building relationships with regional lawmakers, TVA leadership, and labor and community coalition partners.
Henson and IFPTE understand the TVA workforce, which is unionized and highly skilled, and the growth in the workforce that is needed for TVA to execute its goal of building the first Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and scaling up clean nuclear energy so that the region can extend affordable energy for the public and local industry throughout the 21st century. To that end, Henson told listeners, “We are capable of building what’s needed for the future.”
The most effective way to defend against privatization of the TVA is for the people of the TVA states and service area to contact their Members of Congress and tell them to oppose TVA privatization and keep TVA working for the public. Said Henson, “People are going to have to raise their voice, or you’re going to be paying the price.”
TAKE ACTION! “Hands Off TVA! Tell Congress to Oppose TVA Privatization -- Keep TVA Locally Run and Locally Accountable”
TVA works for the people of the Tennessee Valley, with a mandate to deliver reliable and affordable electricity to 10 million people in parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA serves the public by delivering power to the people of the seven-state service area, protecting the region’s natural resources, and supporting economic development of the Tennessee Valley.
Though TVA is government-owned, it funds itself by selling electricity and raising additional money through bond sales, the same as a privately-owned utility. It does not take in any federally appropriated funding.
TVA’s 9-member board of directors is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In recent weeks, President Trump has removed several members of the TVA board, leaving just 3 members on the board, and has now sent 5 board nominees to the Senate. This would be a massive overhaul of the TVA board and could change TVA’s public service mission and even result in the privatization of TVA – selling TVA to the private sector would raise electricity rates and could harm service reliability, delay investments in clean energy, and change TVA’s foundation of economic development for the people of the Tennessee Valley.
America built TVA from the ground up in 1935, and TVA has delivered safe, reliable, efficient electricity for the Tennessee Valley service area for the last 90 years. Today, TVA is uniquely qualified to build America’s first Small Modular Reactor (SMR) or new advanced large-scale nuclear plants.
TVA workers are ready and able to move us into the future. We have the expertise and knowledge. TVA leadership is working in partnership with unions to power our 21st-century economy. We are ready. We do not need to be fixed! We need to be unleashed to do what we know how to do.
Tell Members of Congress that America has a tried and true gem, a national treasure, in TVA.
Let’s protect our low power rates that affect every working family in the TVA service area from 12-15% rate increases. Let’s protect those who have served the Valley residents and businesses, those who have lived and worked here for nearly a full century.