ML20149E718
| ML20149E718 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Seabrook  |
| Issue date: | 10/06/1987 |
| From: | Laughton D NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| OL-I-SAPL-001, OL-I-SAPL-1, NUDOCS 8802110248 | |
| Download: ML20149E718 (62) | |
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88 FEB -2 AB 3B UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICr Of SEUdll#Y ATOMIC SAFETY.AND LICENSING BOARD _ 00CKElig 5 BEFORE THE BRANCH IN THE MATTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ET AL L
I (SEABROOK STATION UNITS 1 & 2) i l
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f DEPOSITION OF DAVID LAUGilTOli This deposition taken by notice and subpoena at the law offices of Backus, Meyer & Solomon, 116 Lowell l
Street, Manchester, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, June i
16, 1987, commencing at 10:00 a.m.
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1 8802110248 071006 noyany pystic j
PDR ADOCK 05000443 472 p o O
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t JIM CONNELLY COURT REPORTING SERVICES 32 GAULT ROAD BEDFORD, N. H. 03102 t
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1 PRESENT:
2 For Public Service Co. of New llampshire Ropes & Grey 3
By:
Kathryn A.
Selleck, Esquire a
For U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
_ Office of General Counsel:
By:
Elaine I. Chan, Esquire 6
For Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
Department of the Attorney General 7
By:
Allan R.
Fierce, Esquire For State of New flampshire:
g Office of the Attorney General 9
By:
Geoffrey M.
Iluntington, Esquire I
10 For Seacoast Anti-Pollution League i
Backus, Meyer & Solomon l
By:
Robert A.
Backus, Esquire l
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)2 For Witness, David Laughton:
Christy & Tessier 13 By:
Robert Christy, Esquire l
14 Court Reporter:
James M. Connelly, R.P.R.
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STIPULATIONS I
8 It is agreed that the deposition shall be taken in the 9
first instance in stenotype and when transcribed may be used i
10 for all purposes for which depositions are competent under 11 New Hampshire practice.
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12 Notico, filing, caption and all other formalities are 13 waived.
All objections except as to form are reserved and 14 may be taken in court at time of trial.
15 It is further agreed that if the deposition is not l
16 signed within thirty (30) days after submission to counsel, 17 the signature of the deponent is waived, f
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r 3-WITNESS David Laughton ci 4
5 EXAMINATION PAGE 6
By Mr. Backus 5
7 By Mr.' Fierce 40 8
By Ms. Selleck 52
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By Ms. Chan 56 i
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11 I
i 12 MR. LAUGHTON DEPOSITION EXIIIBITS FOR IDENTIFICATION:
I 7
13 Number _
Description Page j
14 1
6/2/86 letter 7
15 2
R.
F.
Zapora letter of agreement 9
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7/10/86 letter 10 s
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Draft 55.
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t DAVID W.
LAUGHTON 2
(Deponent duly sworn by Mr. Backus.)
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INTERROGATORIES BY MR. BACKUS:
4 I, David W.
Laughton, on oath, depose and say as follows:
5 Q
State your name, please.
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6 A
David W.
Laughton.
7 0
Mr. Laughton, are you here pursuant to subpoena issued 8
by the NRC?
l 9
A That is correct.
I 10 0
Where do you reside, sir?
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11 A
Chester, New Hampshire.
12 O
Is there a mailing address there?
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13 A
Yes, 165 Old Chester. Turnpike, Chester, New Hampshire.
14 03036 i
15 0
And where are you presently employed?
16 A
By the Teamsters Union, Local 633 here in New Hampshire, i
17 The office is located in Manchester on 265 Haple Street.
f la Q
And what is your position with the Teamsters?
19 A
I'm the secretary / treasurer of the local, which is the 20 principal officer.
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21 0
How long have you held that position?
22 A
This is my fifth year as the principal officer.
I have t
23 been full time with the Teamsters here locally for eleven
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- years, L
2 Q
Now, as I. understand it, Teamsters Local 9633, of which 3
.you are the secretary / treasurer, is the local-that covers i
4 the state of New Hampshire.
5 A
That is correct, the entire geographic state..
i 6
Q Does it include any territory beyond the borders of the l
7 state of New. Hampshire?
8 A
No, it does not.
9 Q
Now, Mr. Laughton, there is included in the New Hampshire 10 radiological emergency response plan for Seabrook. station 11 a letter of agreement dated June 2, 1986, which purports E.
12 to be signed by you as secretary / treasurer of Teamsters 13 Local f633.
Can you identify that letter?
1 14 A
Yes, that is correct.
15 Q
Is that your signature on that letter?
i 16 A
Yes it is.
17 Q
And the other signatory is John H.
Sununu, Governor?
j 18 A
That is correct.
?
19 Q
Did you actually execute this letter in the presence of 20 Mr. Sununu?
21 A
Yes, I believe I did.
22 Q
Was that up in his office?
23 A
Just outside his office, where they swear in dif'ferent
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people and so forth.
I don't know what the room is 2
referred to.
It was done in Concord.
3 0
Was there any prior letter of agreement that was executed a
between you and the state of New !!ampshire pertaining to S
emergency planning for Seabrook?
6 A
No.
7 0
Has there been any subsequent such agreement?
8 A
No.
9 O
Is this letter of agreement, then, still in force so I
10 far as Local 633 is concerned?
11 A
Yes.
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12 MR. BACKUS:
Mark the letter for 13 identification, please.
14 (The Court Reporter thereupon marked 15 the letter dated June 2, 1986 as Mr. Laughton Deposition 16 Exhibit il for identification.)
17 0
Referring to what we have now marked as Exhibit #1, did 18 this letter go through any prior draf t before it was 19 agreed upon?
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20 A
I'm not sure of that.
I don't recall.
21 Q
Do you, Mr. Laughton, have any file that pertains to this 22 issue of Teamster personnel assisting an emergency plan 23 at Seabrook?
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1 A-Not for Seabrook, per se.
As the letter is written, it 2
isn't written -specifically for Seabrook.
3 Q
Do you have a file pertaining t'o this letter of agreement 4
or the subject of Teamsters assisting in civil defense 5
_ response in the event of emergencies generally?.
6 A
Yes I do.
7 Q.
Do you have that with you?
8 A
Yes I do.
9 Q
Can I just take a look at that?
10 A
Yes, sir.
Some of it is from you.
Do you still want 11 to see that?
t' 12 MR. CHRISTY:
I would like to point 13 out that the file he is producing was_ prepared at my 14 behest, or prepared upon my instructions to him, because 15 he did not maintain a file on this before.
I asked him 16 to put whatever documents he could find into a folder.
17 Q
Okay.
Now is that the document you have in front of you l
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18 as you are testifying, sir?
19 A
Yes.
I am not certain as to how I received this through 20 the mail.
I think it is in error, because it really is 21 not signed by the union, nor does it have anything 22 directly to do with the union.
But it is a letter of i
23 agreement between one of the employers that we have under
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- contract, R. F. Zapora.
I think that was sent to me.
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in error.
But, as it may pertain to the issue that we f
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are discussin'g, I brought that along, L
4 MR. BACKUS:
Okay.
Why don't we-5 mark that as the next Exhibit.
6 (The Court Reporter thereupon marked i
7 the letter of agreement with R.
F.
Zapora aus Mr. Laughton e
Deposition Exhibit #2 for identification.)
9 Q
If I could just take a quick look at what else'you have t
10 there --
11 A
I also have a letter that was sent by one of the business l
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12 agents who is employed by me to Nicholas Pishon, a field 13 representative for the New Hampshire Civil Defense Agency 14 in Concord, New Hampshire, and what it is is -- it is a 15 list of employers that we have signatory to contract 16 with this local union here in New Hampshire.
It gives 17 the nsme of the company, the address, the phone number, t
18 the person that we contact to do business with there 19 and the name of the shop steward for the purpose of 20 contacting them for whatever they need for emergencies 21 or disasters here in New Hampshire.
22 MR. BACKUS:
Let's mark that.
23 (The Court Reporter thereupon marked l
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1 the letter dated July 10, 1986 and signed by Richard
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Vachon, business agent, as Mr. Laughton Deposition 3
Exhibit #3 for identification.)
4
.Q Let's turn first to Exhibit il, the letter of agreement --
5 A
- Okay, i
6 Q
How was this initiated?-
i 7
A A gentleman from the Civil Defense, Mr. Pishon, who is 8
referred to in the letter of July-10, approached me 9
asking if the local union would be.willing to assist l
r 10 in disasters in New Hampshire.
I-told him I may be at j
11 liberty to answer that, but I didn't feel comfortable l
12 doing that until I spoke with our executive board and 13 the general membership.
14 Q
Do you know when Mr. Pishon approached you?
i 15 A
I don't remember the date, no I don't.
It has been 16 some time.
I would think -- I would be guessing, I q
n 17 don't know -- back in 1986, but I don't know exactly
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18 when.
It was obviously prior to the execution of the i
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1 19 document that is referred to as Iaughton's Exhibit #1 1
20 MR. BACKUS:
I would like to note 21 for the record that Mr. Huntington from the New Hampshire i
22 Attorney General's office has arrived.
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23 MR. HUNTINGTON:
Excuse the delay.
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Now, I take it that-prior'to Mr. Pishon contacting you 2
.to make this inquiry you have. described, there had been 3
no contact between Teamsters Local 633 and New Hampshire 4
Civil Defense regarding participating in emergency 5
response.
/6 A
Not to me, there wasn't.
7 Q
When Mr. Pishon came up and.'made this inquiry of you,
's did you understand from what he was saying.that a.part l
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of what you were being, asked to do would be to assist j
10 in responding to a radiological emergency at-Seabrook f
i 11 station?
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12 A
In part, yes.
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,0 He made that clear?
l 14 A
Yes.
15 Q
And you say that you didn't feel comfortable responding l
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16 because you wanted to discuss that with your executive 1
i 17 committee?
18 A
And the membership of the local.
j 19 0
Was that done?
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20 A
Yes.
21 0
And was it done with both the executive committee and 22 the membership generally?
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23 A
Yes.
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And when was this discussed with the :oxectitive. committee?
2
.A In May.
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A May ct'1986.
5 Q
Was there minutes of.that meeting kept?
l 6
l A
Yes.
1 7
0 And would thiae-a minutes reflect discussions of whether' 8
or not Tocal 633 should enter into.an agreement with 9
the state?
l 10 A
I am not utre that they would reflect that, because we 11 don' t normally keep minutes in that manner.
It may
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12 have reflected the communication or the document, 13 because perhaps I had the document at the time, which JJ brought'cause to discuss the issue.
15 0
And by the document, Mr. Laughton, would you be referria,g 16 to the letter of agreement?
h 17 A
Yes.
18 Q
.:o after Mr. Pishon spoke with you -- or was it at the 19 time, he had a draf t of this 3ctter that he' wanted 20 executed?
21 A
11 0.
He spoke to me and came back with it a.t another-time.
The first time he spoke to me, he didn't have 2p p 23 anything.
The second cime, he read something to me E
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1 that was a general draft, and he said that he would 2
address something that would be specific for our local.
3 That is what that is.
4 O
And what action was taken by the executive committee?
5 A
They moved'to go forward and execute the agreement.
6
-Q Was there any discussion of that action before the 7
action was taken?
8 A
I'm sure there was.
I don't remember exactly what the 9
discussion was, but I'm sure we had discussion.
10 Q
Was there any representative of the state there at 11 the time this vote was taken?
k 12 A
No.
13 Q
Did the executive committee act in response to a l
14 recommendation from you?
15 A
No.
16 0
was it discussed at more than one meeting?
17 A
I don't believe so.
Let me correct something -- when 18 I say, not more than one meeting, I don't think it was 19 discussed at more than one meeting of the executive 20 board.
21 Q
When would this meeting of the executive board have 22 occurred?
23 A
May 2.-
Let me also state, when I say it wasn't discussed a
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at the executive board,-I'm talking until, obviously, 2
just recently, because of the subpoena and so forth.
3 Q
All right.
I understand that.
4
.A Okay.
S Q
Do you have the minutes of that executive board' meeting 6
with you, Mr. Laughton?
7 A
No I don't.
8 Q
But they wculd be available, I take it --
9 MR. CHRISTY:
To a limited extent.
10 MR. BACKUS:
To the extent that 11 they discussed this matter?
12 MR. CHRISTY:
Pertaining to the 13 subject you are inquiring about.
Most of it will not 14 be produced voluntarily --
15 MR. BACKUS:
Nor will it be
.j 16 requested.
17 MR. CHRISTY:
Okay.
18 Q
Now, Mr. Laughton, you say this was also discussed with 19 the membership at some membership meeting, is that 20 correct?
21 A
That is correct.
22 0
When was that membership meeting?
23 A
May 4.
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Q-By the way, do these meetings occur in your union offices
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there on Maple Street?
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3 A
Yes they do.
4 Q
For the membership meeting, is there notice before.the 5
meeting of what the subjects to be dealt with at that' 6
meeting are?
7 A
No.
8 Q
So would it be correct that the subject of entering 9
into an agreement with the state for an emergency 10 response vote came up and was discussed and acted upon j
p all on May 4 with the membership?
12 A
That is correct.
13 0
When you say, membership meeting, does that mean any-la body who is a member of Teamster Local 6633 is invited 15 to attend these meetings?
16 A
Yes, as long as they are a member in good standing --
17 not only invited, but encouraged to attend.
18 Q
And how many members typically do attend these meetings, 19 or say this meeting, if you know?
20 A
It would vary.
I wouldn't dare say.
I wo'uld guess 21 somewhere in the vicinity of maybe two hundred.
22 Q
Is there a quorum requirement for action by the member-(O 23 ship meeting?
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1 A.
Yes.
2 0
What is the quorum?
3 A
Twenty-five.
4 Q
And how many members are there on the executive board?
5 A
Seven.
6 Q
Do you know how many of those attended the. meeting, the 7
May 2 meeting?
8 A
Seven, I believe.
I'm almost certain.
They don't miss 9
meetings.
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10 Q
And is this a typical way for the union to adopt a 11 policy, that it is first approved by the executive 12 board and then presented to the membership?
13 A
Depending on what the policy is.
There are certain 14 policies that don't need approval of both of them, but 15 I make a practice of letting them know everything that 16 is going on, so I try to, I certainly take it forward 17 even though I may not be obligated to by the by-laws 18
-- it is just a policy that I established and that I 19 follow, because I want everybody to be aware of every-20 thing that is going on.
21 Q
Speaking of your by-laws, pursuant to the by-laws of 22 the union, is this sort of thing, executing a document b
23 such as this letter of agreement, something that would
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Lbe-required.to be-acted upon by the membership?
'2 A
No.
3 0
In any event, as I understand it, before the.May14 4
meeting there would have been no notice to the general' 5
membership that this was.to be acted upon on May 4th.
6 A
That particular issue, no.
7 Q
And, would there be minutes of the membership meeting.
8 of May 4th?
9 A
Yes.
10 0
Would they reflect a vote on the issue of executing 11 this document, Laughton Deposition Exhibit #1 for
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identification?
12 13 A
Not directly.
14 Q
Would there have been a vote taken pertaining to this?
15 A
Yes.
16 0
There would?
17 A
Yes.
ig Q
Do you know what that vote was?
19 A
- Yes, j
20 0
What was it?
21 A
Unanimous to accept.
22 0
And how was the vote worded, if you know?
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23 A
It is off the floor -- a motion was made and seconded j
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to accept the communications, of which this was one.
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2 If'there was an issueaar somebody wanted to take issue,
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we would bring it under'another order of business and a-debate it and discuss it.
5 0
'Did the vote include authorization for you to sign this 6
on behalf of the local?
7 A
I am not certain of that.
I am not certain that.the 8
execution of the agreement was an issue.
The fact that 9
we were going to go forward with it was the issue.
10 Q
And, with it, we would be referring to the letter of 11 agreement, is that right?
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12 A
Exhibit fl.
13 Q
Exhibit #17 14 A
That is correct.
15 Q
Would this letter of agreement, in this form, but I 16 Presume without the signed signatures, have been avail-17 able to the membership at the time they voted?
18 A
Certainly, if they wanted it.
19 0
And would they have actually distributed it -- was it 20 distributed to the members in attendance?
21 A
I don't distribute the communications.
If somebody 22 wants a copy, or wants to look at it, we will make it i -
available to them.
I have no problem with that -- not
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that'I am obligated to, but I would do that.
2-Q Was there any discussion prior'to the vote as to whether 3
or not.this should go forward?
4 A
I explained the document.
There was no discussion off 5
the floor, or debate, I should say, off the floor.
It 6
was unanimous adoption.
7 Q
Did you make a recommendation that the vote be made?
8 A
No.
9 Q
Do you have any idea how many items would have been 10 voted on at that meeting of May 4th?
11 A
No I don't.
12 Q
I take it the minutes would show all votes taken at that 13 meeting.
14 A
I would certainly hope so.
I am not the recording 15 secretary, but I would certainly hope so.
16 Q
Do you know if, prior to the vote, this letter, the 17 text of this letter was read to the membership, or did 18 you just describe it generally?
19 A
I don't recall as to whether I read it or not.
I'm not 20 certain of that.
21 Q
And you say it was a motion from the floor to go ahead 22 with this?
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23 A
Yes.
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1 Q
Does your recording secretary, if he or she is doing 2
the job as is intended, take down exactly the words 3
of the moving person?
4 A
Probably not.
The recording secretary is a part-time.
5 person who is a truck driver and who does the best that 6
he can do.
7 Q
So there is no verbatim record of the meetings?
8 A
No.
9 Q
In any event, at the time you had these two meetings, 10 the May 2nd meeting with the executive board and the 11 May 4 membership meeting, you believe you had this
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12 letter of agreement ready for signature,
- 't right?
3 13 A
I believe so, yes.
14 O
And at no time do you recall any discussion between you 15 and anybody representing the state of New Hampshire 16 about the particular terms or phraseology used in this 17 letter of agreement, is that right?
18 A
I don't remember modifying anything, not that I recall.
19 But at the time it wasn't really all that significant 20 to me, the document, itself, I went through the proper 21 Procedures, explained it to everybody and everyone was 22 in agreement as to what we were doing.
23 Q
Mr. Laughton, looking at this letter of agreement that
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21 4yk-I we have marked as Exhibit'll here --
2 A
.Yes.
3 Q
It says in the first paragraph that1the parties here 4
have agreed that Teamsters Local #633, in the time of 5
natural or technological emergencies such as a fire, 6
flooding, chemical spill and industrial accidents at 7
the Vermont' Yankee or Seabrook Nuclear Stations, or 8
other emergencies, will provide emergency workers and 9
drivers as detailed under the terms of this agreement, 10 etc., etc.
When you presented this to the membership, 11 did you refer to radiological emergencies as being 12 included within the term industrial accidents at Vermont 13 Yankee or Seabrook Nuclear Power Stations?
14 A
I'm not sure if I said radiological emergencies or not, 15 but I said Seabrook.
16 Q
Okay.
17 A
Obviously, the membership is attuned to what Seabrook 18 is, a nuclear power plant.
19 Q
So you think the fact that the reference was to seabrook l
20 would have alerted the membership to the fact they would
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1 21 be asked to respond in a situation involving a possible l
22 release of radiation?
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23 A
Part of the thinking and the feeling, obviously, of the 1
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membership is they live in that area and certainly like:
I 2
to partake. in evacuat2ng if there was an emergency o'f 3
that nature.
a 0
When you say,.the membership lives'in that area --
5 A
Part of the membership.
Q Part of it?
7 A
Yes.
8 Q
Okay.
9 A
And some of the membership work at the station, so.they i
10 certainly would be willing to' drive most anything to k.
11 get out of there.
i 12 Q
Did the membership understand that the' terms'of this 1
13 agreement might require the members to drive not out of 14 there, but into there?
15 A
Well, I'm not sure that I agree with.the term, require, 16 because I don't think it requires the membership to'do 17 anything that they don' t choose to do.
It is a voluntary 18 type thing, so they are not required by this document.
i 19 to do anything.
20 Q
Well, the agreement does say, Mr..Laughton, that the 21 Local #633 will provide emergency workers and drivers i
22 as detailed under the terms of this agreement.
My 23 understanding is that you are saying that individuals i
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23
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who are members of the Teamsters Local are not, thereby, 2
required to respond if in their own judgment.they should 3
not do so, is that right?-
4 A
Individually?
5 0
Yes.
6 A
That is correct.
7 0
so the next paragraph, Local 633 will provide approxi-8 mately 1,500 personnel with at least a Light Commercial 9
License to drive major transportation vehicles as needed during major emergencies -- can you explain to 10 jj me exactly what you believe the membership, in having 1
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12 this go forward, was planning to do in the event of 13 a radiological emergency at Seabrook.
14 A
I can explain it to you in this way -- that when we 15 are approached to assist in a disaster within the 16 state, be it a flood, a forest fire or any disaster 17 that would affect the people of the state of New 18 Hampshire, that we were willing to assist in any way 19 that we could assist in that disaster.
While I under-20 stand and appreciate, as you address the issue of 21 Seabrook -- we, as a body of people, almost all resi-22 dents of New Hampshire are certainly concerned for
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23 New Hampshire, and we are certainly concerned to the
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I extent that we do numerous civic things for the state
'2 and the people in the state'up to and including, and 3
certainly not limited to direct monetary contributions 4
to the tune last year of in excess of $20,000 to the 5
Santa Fund alone here in Manchester, to the fact that 6
this past weekend we gave a trailer-truck.to the Boy 7
Scouts, we are going to move it every weekend with 8
camping gear, to the extent we do three outings a year 9
for the handicapped and retarded kids at Camp Allen, 10 to the extent that we have"a wheelchair basketball game 11 every year and raised $2,000 for the Independent Living 12 Foundation, we give to any charitable organization here 13 in the state, just about, that asks for~a donation up 14 to and including donating our hall -- that is donated 15 weekends for Little League because they have no place 16 to meet.
We just go on and on with different contribu-17 tions that we make.
At the New Hampshire State Park, 18 for example, and llampton, through the Army Corps of 19 Engineers, we got permission to build ourselves free a 20 concrete ramp for handicapped people in wheelchairs to 21 have access to the ocean for probably in some cases the 22 first time in their life, we take them there and take
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23 the park for a day, have a band, do a cookout all on
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1 our own time.
I have been doing that_ personally, myself, 2
for nineteen years, and all of the other membership --
3 we donate our time and efforts whenever and wherever 4
we can.
In this document, and in this instance our.
5 concern was with the people of the state of New Hampshire, 6
in any way that we could hel'p or assist in a disaster.
7 When the number of 1,500 comes up, as you can see 8
clearly, it says approximately, because I cannot guarantee 9
how many people would be available at any given time in 10 any particular part of the state.
Fdr example, if it 11 were Berlin, New Hampshire, it would be a little different 12 than if it were Manchester, because of the concentration 13 of our membership, but I know that we have, for example, 14 also hauled hay down south last year to help out the 15 farmers in their drought, and the International Union 16 is always quick to react and assist in a disaster.
I 17 didn't incorporate them into this or-the joint council 18 into this, which covers New England, I stuck with the 19 people here in New Hampshire, and the number of 1,500 20 represents less than half of our membership here in 21 the state, and it is an approximate number.
I would 22 think that it would vary from time to time, depending t
23 on the area and depending upon the disaster that is w
W I]
O 26 e
d pyn 3
1 being dealt with.
I don't think that the document 4
7 2
guarantees that we are going to provide and_ require
't 3
1,500 people to go to-evacuate Seabrook.
I don't read 4
it that way and did not intend it that way.
5 0
You have just told tus at some length about the charitable 6
activities that the union has done for many years in 7
many areas to the general ~ betterment of the community 8
and the state, and I guess I'm asking you, in your 9
opinion, then, this commitment made in this letter of-10 agreement is just in peace with those' other activities, 11 is that right --
(.
12 A
This agreement is designed to help and assist in any 13 disaster in this state that we can partake in in any 14 way we can do it.
Obviously, as I said before, it 15 would vary on where it was.
I mean, if the Merrimack 16 River was flooding in Nashua, and they needed help, 17 we would be there.
If they wanted us~to-put sand bags, 18 we would do it, or drive dump trucks, or bulldozers, i
19 or whatever else, or buses, or haul food in -- we would
~
20 do whatever we could do within reason, and we would be j
21 quick to react, and that is the feeling of our member-22 ship -- we want to help in time of need.
That'is what' r
23 we are, a non-profit organization designed to help out i
1 i
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1 the working people throughout the state.
That is what 2
we were looking to do,. help out in any kind of disaster, 3
not limited to Seabrook or Vermont Yankee.
a Q
So understanding that, Mr. Laughton, would it be correct, 5
then, that in the membership voting as it did, to go 6
forward with this agreement, it was not a particular 7
emphasis on driving vehicles into the Seabrook area in-8 the event of a radiological emergency --
9 A
Was there an emphasis placed on that?
10 0
Yes.
11 A
I would have to say probably not.
Was it mentioned?
(d<.
12 Yes.
Nas the emphasis put there?
I would probably 13 say no.
But, keep in mind, I think it's important, 14 also, that some of the people attending the meeting 15 are probably employed at Seabrook, at the power, plant, 16 and certainly, as I said before, they would be looking 17 to evacuate out of there without a problem, they would 18 be the first.
19 0
The last sentence of the agreement says, the New Hampshire
)
20 Civil Defense Agency will provide training to the Local 21 633 membership regarding potential emergencies in New 22 Hampshire.
Has such training been provided?
P 23 A
Yes.
i
)
I 4
28 ne 1
Q What was that training?
2 A
'I honestly can only.tell you my knowledge -- because I 3
haven' t dealt with that aspect of it.
As you will see 4
in Laughton Exhibit #3, it was turned over to Richard 5
Vachon to make sure Mr. Pishon had what he had to contact 6
the employers and do, first of all, get the employer, 7
to, in fact, agree to allow his employees to participate 8
and, secondly, to train them in whatever training that 9
was required.
I don' t know the extent of that training.
10 My understanding is that it has been, maybe, an hour 11 or two of training, and I don't know what that consists
(-.
12 of, whether it is a video, or hands-on thing with a 13 vehicle, or checking out their credentials -- I don't la know what that is.
I told them that I don't have time 15 to do that.
My time is better spent doing other things 16 than that.
We will help out, if you want to train, you 17 go and train, or get the employers to agree to partici-18 Pate, and we will provide the list and do it.
I under-19 stand there are some employers that are signatory, as 20 Laughton Exhibit #2 is one with R.
F.
Zapora.
I received 21 that in error.
I have not received the other employers 22 that are signatory, but I do have knowledge there are i
23 others.
How many -- I don't know how many, and to what
.)
29 n.
~
1 extent the training has been done, I can't answer that, i
a 2
nor could Mr. Vachon, as far as that goes, because I
,1 told him I don't want him participating in the training, a
either,oor soliciting agreements.
Mr. Pishon represents 5
the Civil Defense.
He can go tell the employer the 6
story, the same as he told me the story, and ask for 7
help, and I would assume in many instances he would 8
receive it and in some he may not, and I expressed that 9
to him in the beginning, that there may be some employers 10 that are going to give him the same thing they gave me 11 the first time I went there, probably the door closed 12 in his face.
13 0
You have mentioned, Mr. Laughton, this Exhibit #2 for 14 identification, which I think you'said may have come 15 to you just as a result of an error, since it is an 16 agreement between Zapora and New Hampshire Civil Defense, 17 is that right?
18 A
I was unaware of that document until, by advice of 19 counsel, I tried to put together a folder and find out 1
20 what I have regarding that, and that is where I dis-21 covered that.
I don't know how that came to me.
I am 22 not even sure it came to me.
It might have come to
(
23 Mr. Vachon.
So I cannot address how or why I have it,
[
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30
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I but I had it, and you wanted all the documents, so I 2
brought it with me.
3 0
Thank you.
Mr. Vachon is Richard Vachon, a business 4
agent who works for you, is that right?
5 A
That is correct.
6 0
I just noticed on this Exhibit #2, I noticed typed in, 7
we are committed to Defense Fuel Supply Center in a 8
national emergency.
DFSP Newington, New Hampshire.
9 Would you have any idea what that means?
10 A
Maybe I can help you.
I'm not sure exactly what that 11 means, but they are in the business of hauling fuel j
(:,
12 and oil on that type of thing, they are a tanker type 13 company, they haul strictly volumes of gasoline and 14 that type of thing, and he may be committed to assist I don't know if Pease Air Force Base or the Pc.'tsmouth 15 16 Navy Yard or somebody needed fuel, that he is committed 17 to haul fuel in a state of emergency.
I'm not certain 18 that is the answer, but that would be my guess.
19 0
From what you have said, I take it you say you believe 20 there are some agreements with employers of trucking 21 companies and Civil Defense, but you are not aware of j
22 the number of agreements or terms of them.
( '
23 A
That is correct.
All I have is Laughton Exhibit #2.
[
31 i
1 Other than that, I don't have anything, nor have I been 2
involved in it, or the local union.
3 0
You have mentioned, Mr. Laughton, going back to Exhibit
-4 fl, the reference to 1,500 personnel is about half the 5
membership in the state of New Hampshire --
6 A
Less than half.
7 Q
Less than half?
8 A
Yes.
9 O
It is described as 1,500 personnel with at least a 10 Light commercial License, is that correct?
11 A
Yes.
(
12 0
Would the other 1,500 also have at least a Light Com-13 mercial License to be Teamsters members?
14 A
Not all of them.
Well, I don't know exactly how many 15 do have Commercial Licenses.
But, for example, we are 16 very diversified, as you know, and I don't think the 17 high school principals that we have have a Commercial 18 License.
But all of the employees who are driving for 19 UPS or the employees that we have that we refer to as 20 under the freight agreement, the trucking companies 21 like Holmes, St. Johnsbury, Roadway, Gallo, and on and 22 on it goes, the general freight companies, all of them 23 have tractor-trailer licenses.
In terms of numbers, j
l
f3
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V V
32 I
probably over 600 people with freight and 500 people 2
at UPS,' and then you get all kinds of others.
The 3
construction industry,.we get into the warehousing a
like, for example, Cotter & Company, who distribute 5
all the True "alue hardware, we have drivers there, 6
they all have tractor-trailer licenses, or Silver Bros.,
7 the beer distributor, they have Light Commercial, all 8
the drivers have at least a Light Commercial, most of 9
them Heavy, a lot of tractor-trailer.
It will fluctuate.
10 Globe Distributors, also.
So, that is not anything 11 that we track locally, as to who has a license or what i
12 type of license, until they come in seeking employment, 13 and then we document it.
But we don't, for purposes 14 of our records, I couldn't key our computer and find 15 that information out.
16 Q
Do you happen to know what sort of license you need 17 to drive a school bus in this state?
18 A
You have to have a license for a bus, I believe.
We 19 don't have any bus companies under contract.
But I 20 believe -- as a matter of fact, the reason I say that 21 is, I just read a document that takes effect July 1, 22 and one of the exceptions was in New Hampshire, I 23 think you need a bus license, but I'm not certain of that.
G y/
' (J T
a 33 s
1 Q
The 1,500 mentioned, is that your approximation of 2
the ' approximate number of your members in New Hampshire 3
who have a Light Commercial or a higher category,-Heavy 4
Equipment License?
5 A
No, no.
I would think the number would be significantly 6
higher.
7 0
Where did you come up with the 1,5007 8
A Well, I figured that is less than half of our members.
9 Q
Just intended to be a very conservative number?
10 A
That is right.
Well, I don't know if it's conservative 11 or not.
It was a number I seemed to think was com-t 12 fortable -- less than half -- I would like to think, 13 if we had a disaster, if we could mobilize the people, 14 that we could get at least half of our membership to 15 participate.
16 0
I see.
So it is sort of just an off the cuff guess 17 as to the number of people with licenses of this type 18 that you thought might participate?
19 A
I don't know.
I would not say off the cuff guess.
I 20 would say that it is a judgment type of thing, and I 4
21 evaluated what I thought to be, you know, how many i
22 people have Commercial licenses, how many members we i
23 have, and I felt comfortable that at least half would i
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34 g.
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participate.
2 Q
Did the number come from you?
e
'2 3
A Yes.
4 0
Is it correct, Mr. Laughton, in order for your members 5
to operate buses, or vans, or' trucks, or vehicles other 6
than from their,own employers, that they would need 7
permission from the owners?
8 A
I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say.
9 Q
Well, assume that there was a request to act on this 10 letter of agreement, and you were asked to supply some ij number of drivers to drive vehicles into the Seabrook
(
12 zone, to bring but people who were pedestrians or had 13 some inability to travel out by their own vehicles --
14 would your members need to have permission from the 15 owners of whatever buses they were going to drive in?
16 A
If they were licensed, that is all they would need to l
17 drive the bus.
I'm not sure that I understand what 18 you are getting at.
If you are asking me about the 19 particular bus, does this grant them the right to drive 20 any bus -- certainly not.
I mean, somebody has got to 21 Provide equipment.
I don't know if they are looking i
22 to get equipment as well as people when they are 23 approaching the employer.
You would have to take that i
D j
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h.'-
35-
[ ::
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l up with Mr. Pishon.
I did not get involved in that 2
aspect of it.
3 Q
Mr. Laughton, since this letter of agreement was executed, 4
has there been any other discussion of the issue of 5
driving vehicles in civil emergencies in New Hampshire 6
with the membership?
7 A
Very little, except since my contact from you.
8 0
Has there ever been any. kind of a survey of the member-9 ship as to how many of the members would'actually 10 respond, of the numbers you suggested would be avail-11 able?
12 A
No.
13 0
You have mentioned a couple of times, Mr. Laughton, la some of your members, indeed, are employed at the 15 Seabrook plant, and you believe that in the event of 16 an emergency, a radiological emergency, that they would 17 want to be available to evacuata --
is A
That is correct.
19 Q
Did you understand, or do you think the membership
\\
20 understood, that heard about this agreement, tha'c the 21 intent of the New Hampshire Civil Defense plan is to 22 have them drive vehicles into the emergency zone in
(. "
23 the event of a radiation emergency?
)
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36 e,(
.)
A Would you repeat that, please.
I want'to'make sure 2
that I understand you.
3 MR. BACKUS:
I will rephrase it.
4 WITNESS:
Okay.
S Q
Do you think that the membership that was.present and 6
knew about this agreement that was presented on May 4 7
understood that one part of the. intent here was to 8
ha v.1 members of the union drive vehicles into the 9
Seabrook emergency zone in the event of a radiation 10 emergency?
11 A
I'm not sure that I could answer that, except to say 12 that Seabrook was mentioned as one of the potential 13 disasters.
I can't say that, you know, what if we 14 have a meltdown out there, are you prepared to drive 15 in there -- I didn't say that.
16 Q
Okay.
One other question about your 1,500 personnel, 17 Mr. Laughton --
18 A
Yes.
19 Q
In making that, did you, in your mind, make that figure lower than the actual numbers of members with licenses 20 21 because of a desire to only include people within a 22 certain geographical radius of Seabrook or Vermont 23 Yankee?
l
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?
(
37 1
7 1
A No.
When I came up with the number, I didn't do it' 2
based on any particular disaster, nor would I.
I 3
don't want to adress, although I am obviously forced a
to here, I don't want to address. a particular issue.
3 I'm looking at the overall well-being of the people in 6
the state of New Hampshire, and that is.where I came 7
up with it.
8 Q
Thank you.
9 A
Not for a particular incident.
10 Q
Let me just turn to F.xhibit #3 for just a second, Mr.
11 Laughton, the letter from Mr. Vachon to Mr. Pishon.
I 12 A
Yes.
13 Q
It says,
Dear Mr. Pishon:
As per our agreement, please la find enclosed our listing of people to contact in a 15 state of emergency and disaster.
Then the next thing 16 is several pages of company names, telephone numbers 17 and the person to contact --
ja A
That is correct.
19 Q
Just take the first one, Blais Distributors, Berlin, 20 New Hampshire and a reference to Mr. Blais.
Who is 21 he?
22 A
The owner, I believe.
It is a family affair.
I don't 23 know that he is the sole owner, but he is one of the
9 ft.
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family'of the people who owns it.
I'm not sure which 0
F. -
2 one.
3 0
And in the other cases here, are these all representa -
i 4
tives representing the' owner of these companies?
q, 5
A If you go column by coltimn, thefirstoneisthe$ompe.ny 6
and the address, and then the next one is the telephone nurberfortheNompany;kn the third column, when it 7
g says, person to t eoritact, that would be the person that 9
we do business with as labor representatives, not 10 necessarily the owner of the company, because, as you 11 see, some are large corporations and they're certainly
(~
12 not the owner, it's just the person to contact at the 13 company, and we included the stewards and their names la where available.
i 15 0
But the person to contact, I guess you're making it clear, 16 is a representative of the companies identified.
17 A
That is correct.
1 18 Q
And to what extent these persons have been contacted 1
19 and asked to agree that their equipment would be I
20 available to Teamsters.who are not employees, you don't 21 know?
- 22 A
That is right, and I'm not sure that they are being 1
C.
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23 approached about the equipment.
Mr. Pishon may have 1
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39
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'to answer that.
I don'tJknow the answer to that.
2 0
Lastly, I"show you a document entitled, Draft, Radio-i 4
3 logical Emergency Response Procedures, Business Agent, 4
' Manchester, New Hampshire Teamsters Local 633.
It 5
consistsfof,several pages.
I would ask you if you have 6
ever seen that.
7 A
No, I don't believe so.
8 Q
It says here on the cover, the scope of the Teamsters' 9
responsibilities includes but is not' liinited to con-l 10 tacting and matching Teamster drivers to the various 11 transportation providers identified in this document.
(:: ~.
12 Do you understand that to be part of your responsibility l
13 pursuant to the letter of agreement?
j 14 A
I would have to take a look at this.
No, I don't.
If 15 I am interpreting that properly, no.
I have not agreed 16 toudo that.
17' Q
Thank you.
Back to Exhibit #1 now, the third paragraph,.
l t
la Local G33 will provide general personnel support' from 1
19 its membership to assist State and local emergency 20 response' efforts.
What does that mean, in your under-i 21 standing?
22 A
For example, like I said, if there were a flood, and.
t..
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23 the.y needed us to stack sand bags, or if the.re were a 7
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i need to haul food, off-load food, warehouse it, 7
distribute it through your own' car or whatever --
F 3
that type of thing.
I don't know;all that that would l^
4 entail.
All I am saying is they'might need us to do I
~
5 anything.
Some of our guys-run bul1 dozers, and they-I might need that in the case of a forest-fire.: We have l
6 7
people who are pilots, and.they'might want something 8
in that area.
We have members who own helicopters, 9
and they might need something there.
I'm not sure.
[
10 Whatever we could do and get somebody to volunteer to it do, we would do that.
i l
12 MR. BACKUS:
That is"all I have.
13 Thank you very much.
Let's go off the record.
14 (Off the record discussion.)
15 INTERROGATORIES BY MR. FIERCE:
16 Q
Back at the membership meeting where this was explained, i
17 I just want to clarify it, it was not clear to me.
At
)
k 18 what point in the meeting did this come up?
As I have 19 been to various meetings of various bodies over the 20 years, there is a standard format that many meetings
- t follow with respect to the order of events, and they 22 often start by reading the minutes et the last meeting, l
23 and one of the things that happens early on is of ten a
~
--x----_ _. _ _ - _ _ - - - - - - _ - _..
(),
41
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,j i
discussion of any correspondence that has been received i
2 or sent, and then you go on to the regular order of 3
events in the meeting.-
I'm curious at what stage'this 4
particular item was discussed.
5
'A Under_ communications.
It came up under that, and if 6
there is any member that_ takes issue with any of the
~
7 communications, it is pulled out and put into the-form 8
of new business, and then brought up and discussed'and 9
acted upon under new business.
With this particular 10 issue, it was brought up under communications and ji generally spelled out by myself what it was.
Nobody
(-
12 took issue with it.
It was accepted as a communication, 13 and that is the way the minutes would read, that the la communications were accepted by the membership.
15 0
This was a communication that was being'sent by you, 16 isn't that correct?
17 A
It was received by me.
It was not signed at that time.
18 Q
I see.
Was it signed by Governor Sununu at that time?
19 A
No, it was an unsigned document at that time.
20 0
The membership meeting was on May 4?
21 A
That is correct.
22 Q
The executive board meeting was on May 27 k
23 A
That is right.
Normally we have the executive board
)
42 O
u.
I meeting on a Friday night and our membership meeting
(
2 on Sundays, because, generally speaking, Sunday is 3
the day that most of the members are available and a
not working.
Seeing we cover the entire state, we 5
like to have it on Sunday, and pay our stewards to 6
come from all over the state so that they can be abreast 7
of what is going on.
It is a state-wide meeting, and 8
that is why it is on Sunday.
9 Q
So at that evening meeting, as a result of the action to of the membership, you concluded that you were then 11 authorized to go ahead and sign this document, is that
(.
correct?
12 13 A
I think you have it backwards here.
14 Q
Explain it.
15 A
On the 2nd, which is a Friday night, the executive 16 board meeting, the document first came up at that 17 meeting --
18 Q
All right.
19 A
That was unanimously accepted.
On the 4th, which is 20 the Sunday, it is read off as a communication to the 21 membership, and I explained what the communication was, 22 and all communications were accepted as read.
It was
(
23 not brought up under new business.
If there were some-
.e o
o
'43
.c.
L, I
body who felt opposed or wanted to discuss it in any 2
further length, they would say,'would you bring that 3
communication up under new business, Dave, and'I would a
set it aside, and it would then be new business,
-5 discussed.in length'nnd voted on as a particular piece 6
of business.
y Q
But no member objected?
8 A
That is correct.
9 O
And at that point, was the-document signed?
I 10 A
No.
l 11 Q
When was it signed, then?
(s 12 A
I believe it was signed on the 2nd, when we went to 13 Concord.
I'm not 100% certain of that, but.I think l
14 that is where we signed it on the 2nd.
I'm not certain i-1 15 of that, though.
16 O
The membership meeting was on the 4th --
17 A
Of May.
18 MR. CHRISTY:
The 2nd of what month?
19 WITNESS:
Of June.
20 0
So it would have been June 2 that it was signed?
l 21 A
I believe so.
22 Q
Okay.
\\~
23 A
I'm not certain, though, where it was signed.
I think
O
.O 44 1
it was signed June 2nd.
If I remember-correctly, I 2,
think we signed it up.there.
As a matter of fact, I 3
remember I got to keep the pen.
He gave us a pen, and r
4 I got to keep it, with the-Governor's name..
5 0
As best you can recollect, can you tell me what you 6
said to the membership that evening on May 4th'as this 7
came up under the correspondence section of that meeting.
8 A
I would be hard pressed to tell you what I'said exactly.-
9 That is many meetings ago, and over a year ago, and I'm 10 not certain as to what I said.
I know what my under-
]
11 standing of it was, but I'm not certain.
12 0
Was this one of many other pieces _of correspondence 13 that had been received or was it the only one?
14 A
Well, I'm sure there were other correspondence.,As to 15 how many, I honestly wouldn't dare answer.
I couldn't 16 guess.
Some months there is a lot and some months not 17 so many.
But we always have correspondence, i
18 0
So it would have been referred to as, we have received 19 from the State of New Hampshire a letter --
I 20 A
I'm not sure how the minutes read --
1 21 0
or agreement, or how would you describe it?
22 A
The recording secretary would have read the communications.
i 23 Now, how he put this down as a communication, I am not 4
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45
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certain.
I really am not'certain.
I would have to 2
look at the minutes.
I would not dare answer that.
3 But, I addressed the issue.
-4 MR. CHRISTY:
Off the record.
5 (Off the record discussion.)
6 O
Now, can you explain to us what your role was and who 7
was running this meeting?
8 A
Okay.
Our meeting is run by the President.
He has the 9
gavel, he runs the meeting.
To his left is-the recording.
10 secretary, who reads in all of the. minutes, and commu-11 nications would have been read by the recording secretary, 12 and the President then looks to me and asks if there 13 is anything I want to say, and if I-think there is an 14 important document or something I want to expound upon, 15 that isn't covered in the heading of the communication, 16 then I will expound -- and I expounded upon this.
I 17 0
When you say, the recording secretary would read the l
18 correspondence, you don't mean that they would sit 19 there and read each letter word-for-word?
20 A
No.
21 0
They would describe it in more general terms, isn't 22 that correct?
k~
23 A
Well, for example, as I said, I'm not about to say that I
m a
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46
(
1 this is how it was recorded,'but, keep in mind, as I 2
testified earlier, that the recording secretary is a 3
truck driver and a part-time recording secretary, and he does the best that he can do, and in some instances a
5 what I will do for him is, I will highlight the document 6
as it addresses to a particular issue, so that he gets 7
that into the record.
Now, on this, he might have said-8 that there was a letter of agresment between the State 9
of New Hampshire and myself regarding a disaster, he 10 might have.
But I don't know what he put down.
11 O
What is the recording secretary's name?
(
12 A
Tom Thibault.
13 0
Is it possible that any reference to this letter of 14 agreement may have appeared in some publication, news-15 letter or informational bulletin that the union sent 16 out?
17 A
It might have been.
I would have to check.
There may 18 have been -- it might have gone out in the newsletter, 19 because there was a picture taken when we signed the 20 document in Concord.
I would have to check the news-21 letters.
I can't answer one way or the other.
22 0
You think it might be possible?
l i
23 A
It is possible, it is possible.
I hadn't even thought j
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about that in reviewing the file.
2 Q
Would it be possible for you, if there is such a document, 3
to provide it --
4 A
Certainly, if it's in a newsletter.
5 MR. CHRISTY:
If we can.
6 (off the record discussion.)
7 Q
I just have a couple of other things.
You mentioned at 8
some point, I think, a reference to high school princi-9 pals.
Are there high school principals in New Hampshire 10 who are members of your union?
11 A
The principals and the assistant principals in Manchester.
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12 0
Do you have any rough idea of what percentage of your-13 membership is not truck drivers?
14 A
No I don't.
I would not dare say.
I was not thinking 15 in terms of the ones who are not.
I was thinking more is in terms of the ones who would be.
17 0
Well, I'm wondering if ther2 are others besides the 18 high school principals who are not truck drivers.
Can 19 you think of any other categories?
1 1
20 A
There are some, yes.
Principals are only 31 members, i
21 and they are not incorporated in the number I gave here i
22 because we just organized them.
We do have Anheuser-l 23 Busch Brewery, and that is probably the largest single l
I
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48 1
group of people that may not be drivers.
But quite a 2
few of the people in there are, because, obviously, it 3
is such a lovely job, we have placed a lot of our people 4
there -- quite a few of which decided working there is 5
much better than driving a truck.
6 0
How many of the members do you have at that company?
7 A
This month we have 461, I think.
8 Q
Are there any other categories of working that are not 9
truck drivers?
10 A
There are some.
We have warehouse people in certain t,
11 areas that aren't driving trucks, but, there again, 12 they may have licenses, because often times a guy's 13 back gives out and the forklift looks better than la working the truck, especially the grocery business, 15 and they will go from driving into the warehouse --
16 so it is hard to give an honest answer as to how many 17 are drivers and how many are not.
I can't answer that.
18 We just don't have that information available to us.
19 0
Has there been any discussion at all inside Local 633 20 about this letter of agreement or the commitment that 21 was made to the Governor of the State of New Hampshire 22 since this letter was signed?
23 A
Just recently because, obviously, I have been subpoenaed
f LN h
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X) 49
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I to come here and so forth.
It hasn't been an issue 2
of controversy.
-3 Q
All right.
The arrangement, as you understand At, then, a
would be that you would not be contacted directly in 5
the event of such an emergency, but that.the various 6
company-employers, themselves, would be contacted, is 7
that correct?
8 A
That is correct.
9 Q
Do you know of any arrangement that would occur that 10
~would be different than that in the evening or on the It weekends?
k 1:
A Let me correct that for one point.
I may also be 13 contacted, but they would have to contact the employer, 14 because on any given day we do have people around the f
i 15 hall looking to go to work, so I'm sure I would be 16 contacted, but not for the purpose of knowing everyone.
I 17 But I'm certain I would be contacted, or I would assume 18 I would be contacted.
What would happen on the weekend, 19 is that what you asked me?
20 0
Evenings and the weekend.
21 A
I don' t know.
Most of our operations, or a lot of 22 operations go around-the clock.
So the evenings don't
(
23 play much of a bearing for us.
I mean, the trucking 1
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ha:r 3
1 industry goes seven days 'a week, twenty-four hours a a
2-day.
The Brewery goes seven days a week, twenty-four 3
hours a day -- not as man'y' people on the weekends as 4
during the week, but.they are still operational.
I 5
have no idea.
6 0
So in terms of contacting the person to contact that is y
on the list provided.by Mr. Vachon, the only phone' 8
number listed here is the business phone for the company,
^
9 isn't that correct?
10 A
Let. me take a look at it.
9 11 0
Except in some case where you have the steward's phone 12 number listed.
Presumably Seabrook, if there were an 4
4 13 emergency at seabrook or Vermont Yankee, this letter 14 suggests contacting the person in the column that is j
15 labeled, person to contact -- isn't that correct?
16 A
Yes.
17 0
And the only phone number listed is the telephone number i
18 for the company?
19 A
The buniness number, that is correct.
20 0
The business number?
21 A
Yes.
i 22 0
Is this list a complete list?
l 23 A
I don't know.
I i
i i
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51 p
1 Q
At least current at the time that the letter was written 2
of all the employers who have members in Teamsters Local 3
633 --
4 A
I would assume so.
But I have not reviewed it to that 5
extent.
I didn't send the document.
But I would pre-6 sume, if there isn't anybody on there, it's secretarial 7
error.
8 Q
I don't see the Manchester high school principals on 9
this list.
10 A
They were not there.
11 0
They were not added to this list?
(
12 A
They were not Teamsters when this was sent out.
13 Q
I see.
14 A
This is July 10, 1986, and at that time they were not 15 Teamsters.
But if there is not a company on there, 16 it is, I would say, a secretarial omission, that is all.
17 I would think that is a complete list, but I have not la reviewed it personally and verified that.
19 0
Let me just ask you, Mr. Laughton -- have you volunteered 20 to participate in the training that has been offered?
21 A
Individually?
22 O
Yes.
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23 A
I have not even been approached.
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1 Q
Have others in your office?
2 A
To my knowledge, no one has been approached in the 3
office.
4 MR. FIERCE:
That is all I have.
5 WITNESS:
That is why I couldn't 6
tell you what the training is.
7 MR. FIERCE:
Thank you.
8 MS. SELLECK:
I just have a couple-9 of questions, Mr. Laughton.
My name is Kate Selleck, 10 from Ropes & Gray, and I'm here representing the 11 applicant, the owners of Seabrook.
U 12 INTEROGATORIES BY MS. SELLECK:
13 0
one thing you said earlier, you mentioned the number 14 200 people at a membership meeting.
I didn't understand 15 if that was a typical Sunday meeting or the number you 16 estimate might have been at the meeting when the Seabrook 17 letter of agreement came up.
18 A
It will vary.
The membership meetings, depending, if 19 there is an issue, for example, if you were having a 20 nominations meeting, or if there were a se.ttlement with 21 a large contract like UPS, or we are in negotiations 22 with Anheuser-Busch -- personnel might come to inquire G
23 about that.
The May meeting sometimes is larger than r
53 i
I 1
the others because we suspend the monthly meetings in 2
the months of June, July and August.
But t ypically I 3
would think the meetings on average run between a 150 g
4 and 200 people.
I don't recall how many were at that 5
meeting, but I would think it was in that area.
6 0
You don't remember whether it was more or less?
7 A
No.
I have it recorded, but I would have to go-back 8
and check, because everybody is expected to sign in 9
and verify the fact that they are a member in good i
10 standing, so I could find out the particular number 11 at the meeting.
(
12 Q
You said that at this May 4 meeting no one objected to 13 the Seabrook letter of agreement --
14 A
No one objected to the letter of agreement for the j
15 Civil Defense between myself, or signed by myself and i
16 the Governor -- not the Seabrook letter.
17 0
I used that as shorthand.
18 A
I know.
That keeps happening here, and I want to make 19 sure we keep that clear -- it isn't just a Seabrook 20 letter.
21 Q
Do you know of anyone objecting since that meeting to 22 the idea of helping out at any kind of emergency at 23 Seabrook?
..J-O O
L i
s4 i
{.
N V':a 1
A I have not been contacted with any objections.
Ei 2
O You said a report of a letter of agreement might have i
3 been sent out in a newsletter --
l 4
A No.
I said that I may have put a photograph of the l
5 signing and something recording it into the newsletter.
6 The letter of agreement, itself, would not have been 7
contained in the newsletter.
8 0
would the gist of it be contained in the newsletter?
9 A
I couldn't honestly say.
I would rather wait until i
10 I take a look at the newsletter.
This hasn't been j
l 11 first and foremost in my mind, and I haven't looked
(
12 at the newsletter.
I can't comment on what I don't 1
13 know.
I would have to look at it.
I am not 100%
i 14 certain that it has gone in the newsletter.
I have L
15 to go back through'that.
I will be more than happy i
16 to make it available to you people if, in fact, there f
17 is anything pertaining to that in the newsletter.
l la 0
You will be forwarding that to Mr. Backus, and I pre-l 19 sume, Bob, you will be forwarding that --
l l
20 MR. BACKUS:
I will be happy to.
21 A
I will do whatever I can to cooperate.
I just don't 22 know where it goes.
t 23 MR. CHRISTY:
Uncle Bob will tell l
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3-55 5 ~(Q H
d.
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1 you, David.
2
. WITNESS:
That is what I figured.
3 Q
Assume for the moment that the gist of'the letter of 4
agreement is in the newsletter.
Can you tell me how 5
many people would get a copy of that newsletter?
6 A
The entire membership, as long as they haven't moved 7
recently.
8 MS. SELLECK:
Lastly, I think we 9
should mark as an Exhibit the draft that you used 10 earlier, Mr. Backus.
i 11 MR. BACKUS:
If you would like to,
(,, ',-
12 you certainly may.
13 MS. SELLECK:
Let's mark it as an 14 Exhibit.
15 (The Court Reporter thereupon marked 16 the draft as Mr. Laughton Deposition Exhibit #4 for 17 identification.)
18 0
Am I right, Mr. Laughton, that you testified that you 19 haven't seen this draft document before?
20 A
I don't recall having seen it.
I'm not saying that I, 21 maybe, didn't, but it certainly does not look familiar 22 to me.
(
23 MS. SELLECK:
I have no further
f e
56 2 -
.j
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i 1
questions.
Thank you.
2 MR. HUNTINGTON:
The' State of New-3 Hampshire has no questions.
[
~
4 MS. CHAN:
1[ have a.few questions.
5 INTERROGATORIES BY MS. CHAN:
I 6
Q Mr. Laughton, to your knowledge, have any more employers 7
on this list, Exhibit #3, executed letters of agreement 8
similar to Exhibit #2, signed by the representatives l
~
9 of Zapora Motor Transport?'
10 A
I have knowledge of some of.them having signed only I
11 because I checked with the business agents to see if L.
12 they had heard anything.
But I don' t know that they 13 have signed a similar document.
I have.no knowledge-l 14 of what the document that they have signed.is -- only 15 that they have been approached, and they have done some t
i 16 training of some drivers. That is all I know. I don't know i
17 to what extent, in terms of numbers of people or what 18 the document is that they signed.
But I know that 19 some trucking companies have signed it.
20 Q
And where would these letters of agreement be kept?
f'.
21 A
I guess with Mr. Pishon and the employer.
It has no
)
1 22 direct bearing on us.
It is nothing that I wanted, i
i 23 As I told you, the one from zapora, I received that 1
9
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4 57
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somehow by accident.
1 2'
Q Do you think Mr. Pishon would be the person-who would 3
know if letters of agreement have been executed with 4
people?
5 A
He would not know,'either.
There isn't anyone'in my-6 office that would know of'the agreement and what it 7
contained.
Mr. Vachon, much the same as anyone of.the 8
other agents, may know that some, that they have-some 9
kind of an agreement, some people have been trained:
10 at a particular employer, but that'is all they would 11 know, if they know that.
12 Q
By the people in your office, do you mean the people 13 listed as business agents on Exhibit'#37 14 A
That is correct.
Well, on Exhibit #3 -- you would 15 have to make a change there -- Mr. Arthur Blanchette 16 is no longer employed with us and hasn't been 'since 17 the end of Juit of 1986.
He certainly would have no 18 knowledge at all.
But the other four business agents 19 are still there.
Those are the people that I'm referring 20 to when I say, the people in the office.
21 Q
Do you happen to know if Mr. Pishon would have letters 22 of agreement?
i 23 A
I wouldn't know that.
It would just be an assumption i
l
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58
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4 1
on my part.
2 Q
Would a letter of agreement be necessary to confirm-3 the commitment ofian employer on your list, Exhibit a
- 3, to the commitment made by the union to provide 5
Personnel in case of a disaster?
f 6
A What I have told Mr. Pishon in the initial, or one-7 of the discussions that we had, was that I don't 8
control the employees.
The employer controls the-9 employees, and I used the example of-UPS, because they 10 are a large employer, six different locations in the l
11 state, most all the employees are drivers, and they 5.-
12 are a very efficiently run company, very demanding of 13 their employees, and I certainly couldn't commit what
- hey were going to do with their employaes, but that 14 15 that was an employer's decision, and he would have to 16 take that up with the employer, not with me.
17 Q
Are other commitments between the union and the employers 18 generally in writing, in the form of a letter of agree-19 ment or some other written form, other than contracts?
20 A
I'm not sure I understand the question.
21 Q
Are there any other commitments that the union makes, 22 that the employers have to also commit to?
t 23 A
Are obligated to?
O O
59 r
L:.
1 Q
Yes.
2 A
All of their obligations are incorporated in the contract 3
that they sign with us.
4 0
I see.
5 A-I could not obligate an employer or say that the employer 6
would be in agreement to'any letter.of agreement that 7
I signed with the Civil Defense -- it would not be 8
binding on them, nor was it suggested that it was.
9 0
This list of employers in Exhibit #3, do you know whether 10 this list represents some kind of oral agreement with 11 each of the employers on the list?
12 A
It represents no agreement.
13 0
This is just a list of employers?
14 A
That is correct.
15 0
Is that correct?
16 A
That is correct.
17 MS. CHAN:
I have no further 18 questions for the deponent.
Thank you very much.
19 WITNESS:
You are welcome.
20
.MR.
BACKUS:
No further questions.
21 I guess we are all set.
Thank you very much.
22
(.
Deponent i
23
)
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+
60 h,I 4
1 THE STATE OF 2
COUNTY OF
, SS.
3 4
Subscribed and sworn to before me this,
5 day of
, 19 6
-7 Justice of the Peace / Notary Public 8
My Commission Expires 9
10 11 t;.,
12 13 s
14 15 16 r
17 l
18 f
i 19 i
20 1
21 22
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2 3
4 5
CEREIFICATE 6
7 I, James M. Connelly, a Certified Shorthand Reporter-and 8
Notary Public of the State of New Hampshire, do hereby certify 9
that the foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of my 10 stenographic notes of the deposition of David Laughton, who 11 was first duly sworn, taken at the place and on the date
(
12 hereinbefore set forth.
13 I further certify that I am neither attorney or counsel-14 for, nor related to or employed by any of the parties to the 15 action in which this deposition was taken, and further that I 16 am not a relative or employee of any attorney or counsel 17 employed in this case, nor am I financially interested in 18 this action.
19 20
- 1 A k A,2&
F bame's M. ' Con n e l l'y, R.'P'. R.
Q 21 22
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T_INil:D S 14 1 :.5 NUCEAR REGI.I:_.CO:n' COMVISSION
,4 SAPL'S 1 - 5 IN THE MAMER OF:
DOOKET NO: 50-443-OL 50-444-OL Off-Site PUBLIC SERVICE COMPAtW OF Emergency NEW HAMPSHIRE, et al.
Planning iSeabrook Station, Units 1 and 2) hd w r,
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CONCORD, NH DATE:
OCTOBER 5, 1987 through DECEMBER 17, 1987 j
Heri:2;e Reporting Corpo 2 tion Olional heporter:
- 0 L 5tnr. N.W.
kaaruarmt D.C. 2000$
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