Until we hear anything new, here's the post that you may use to submit comments that contain any information about the current evolving RIF situation. I will be filtering all off-topic material from this post.
--Gussie
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2007
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- SUBJECT: Voluntary Separation Through SSP
- Window opens for voluntary departures
- Commentary: Let's get serious about the LANL debate
- Well, of Course They Did
- New Sorted RIF List
- GAO wants more oversight of nuclear labs By SUE M...
- And Speaking of Blogs
- Mike's Response to Allegations of "Fibbing"
- Comment of the Week, Thursday Edition
- Anastasio Caught in a Very Large Fib
- Udall pushes for LANL growth
- Sorted RIF Counts
- Self Select Program Target and Exclusion Information
- More work leaving LANL
- LANS' Standards of Conduct and Business Ethics
- And in Next Month's Mechanical and Engineering News,
- Editorial: Chávez demagogues LANL; Udall wants new...
- Concerns about loss of Flexible Spending Account
- Comment of the Week, Tuesday Late Breaking Edition
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- SUBJECT: Phase I of Workforce Restructuring to beg...
- Sent in by a reader
- Chávez Talks Job Cuts at LANL
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- U.S. SENATE RACE: Chávez rails at Udall over lab f...
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- Los Alamos National Laboratory director: Buyouts s...
- LANL Chief Hopes to Avoid Layoffs
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- LANL Paid Salaries Of $911M Last Year
- Richardson urges resolution on LANL funding to avo...
- Los Alamos Nuclear Lab Plans Layoffs
- Comment of the Week, Monday Edition
- Anastasio's November 19 All Hand's Meeting
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- Q&A From Today's All Hands RIF Meeting
- Post November 19 RIF News
- LLNS, LLC - "Flex Term" Notification Letter
- The Nuclear Disarmament Fantasy By HAROLD BROWN A...
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371 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 371 of 37146 total took the "Voluntary" plan at NSTec. No date for the involuntary axe at this time.
Heard at noon Pete Domenici said that the CR will have to be extended for 1 more month, Congress still does mnot have a spending bill......1 more month into the FY, could really cause problems if the cuts are deep....
$750K per FTE is OK. After all, DoE is paying the bill. If they wanna pay that much, who are we to complain?
750K? Like 750,00?...per employee? That can't be right.
"But, LANS can make the decision on whether or not an individual can participate in the voluntary RIF."
Do they have to give a reason? Given how arbitrary and petty the managers at LANL have been (historically speaking, of course), this has the makings of yet another lawsuit.
The DOE has mandated that LANS must keep the workforce informed about the upcoming RIF. And what do we hear from LANS?
A cone of silence.
I hear Division Leaders have been told that Nov.13th is still the big day. Maybe LANS royalty will speak to the peasants. Oh what an honor!
10/31/07 7:36 - You have hit that nail on the head, about the lawsuit. If what I hear is true about LANS using the ORC scores as part of the RIF process, good luck. We all know it has been subjective at best and has always been subject to changes by managment after those in the trenches submit the score. DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN.
I only hope those legal people and LASO folks that were here during the '95 mess, will remember.
Rumor mill says: next week there will be an incentive offered for years of service x 6 minus 4 = number of months of severance pay.
(Disclaimer: after trying to make this equation work with either:
(yrs x 6)-4 = m or,
yrs x (6-4) = m the result from either equation seems high, especially the first one - much too high. We wonder if "months" or m should really be stated as "weeks".)
Plus $20,000 education paid directly to the school of your choice.
LANL will offer to 700 people.
Rumor mill
these rumors are almost always wrong.
Where would the money come from to pay for the bonus?
Would every worker for NNSA be eligible or only long time LANL staff? Support staff? TSMs? Deadwood?
What about Bechtel folks?
in the case of LLNL the money for the severance will be the raise money that the Turd has decided to keep.
"Can LANS really prevent people from leaving the Lab if they want to leave?"
No. However...
"There are lists of people or groups of people who will not be allowed to "voluntarily" separate and receive a severance package."
My son, reading over my shoulder, just told me that all of the old farts like me should hold out until the incentive is a least a million dollars each.
Old farts, what do you say to this wise ass 14 year old?
Tell him you still remember when a million dollars was a lot of money.
> 750K? Like 750,00?...per employee?
> That can't be right.
Of course it's not right.
But neither is $450K per FTE, but that's what it is.
Needless to say, you have to figure out how much of the voluntary severance amount, whatever it is, is left over after they take out the state/federal's cut.
Thanks for all the comments about the 'voluntary' separation.
ERISA lawyers should make money from this one for years.
LANS had better hurry up and get finished with this year's RIF so they can begin planning for next year's RIF. It's going to take back-to-back RIFs over at least 3 years if NNSA plans of 30% workforce reduction are to be achieved.
As was pointed out in a response to another recent post, LANL's severance package is (correct me if I'm wrong) one week for every year for the first six years, then two weeks for every year beyond six, up to a maximum of 39 weeks pay. LLNL is one week for every year up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
Well, as of today, the Chief of Staff of EES Division stated that LANS has decided that, with respect to severance pay, all its empoyees started work on or after June 1, 2006, so about the most severance pay one might expect would be about 1.5 weeks. If true, this is sure to really piss off many folks, though I suspect a herd of attorneys will offer their services in the sure-to-follow class action suit.
To 11/2/07 3:24 PM, the catch is that virtually no one can get to the maximum of 39 weeks, because the RIF policy (AM 114) resets the years-of-service calculation as of October 1, 1987. In order to get to the maximum of 39 weeks severance, one would have hired on at the Lab about March 1, 1965. Not many folks are around who hired on at that time.
If you were already employed at the Lab on Oct. 1, 1987, your maximum years of service is approximately 20, so normally the severance pay would be 34 weeks. Unless, of course, LANS decides that all its employees began work on June 1, 2006.
> all its empoyees started work on or
> after June 1, 2006
But, but, bit... I took the "substantially equivalent" TCP1!
Well regardless of what some flunkie in EES thinks- the LANS LANL contract explicitly states that UC service credit is retained toward severance pay. ( And yes I read the contract. Online at LASO, Section H pertains to employees.)
Wonder if Bechtel credit counts? Or are infused Bechtelites ineligible...
To those who are smug that they took TCP2:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/
argus/localnews/ci_7349674
What is the link between that article and TCP2?
I don't think 9:53 understands the article. It has nothing to do with pensions.
A comment to 11/2 7:14pm.
The documents listed on the LASO site are the RFP not the actual signed contract (look at appendix Q for a chuckle).
Attempts to see the actual contract have been met with "those are LANS proprietary documents and will not be released".
Bottom line is: we don't know what the real contract says, we don't know what LANS is (incorporation documents are secret), we don't know what secret deals LANS and DOE made, we don't what TCP1 is.
Who said ignorance is bliss?
Let's see. From the Bush Plan May Cut Nuke Jobs post I find:
Integral to the plan ... a cut of 20 percent to 30 percent in the complex's 32,000-person work force.
Campbell would not talk about specific plans at the individual sites, but did say that the job cuts would not necessarily be shared evenly among them.
"Not every site will go down 20 to 30 percent," Campbell said. "Those are things that need to be worked out."
----------------
And from the Nuke Safety Official Praised Pantex post I find:
D'Agostino foresees stable employment at Pantex for several years as the plant grapples with a growing dismantlement workload.
"I don't see employment levels changing dramatically, either up or down," he said
---------
Well, it looks like some things are indeed being worked out. Looks like less cuts at Pantex, more at other sites.
"Bottom line is: we don't know what the real contract says, we don't know what LANS is (incorporation documents are secret), we don't know what secret deals LANS and DOE made, we don't what TCP1 is." (11:08 AM)
And the workforce is suppose to trust our new LANS management? No way!
Trust must be earned, and none of Mike and his buddies has come even close to earning it.
To 12:21,
I know a few of the mentioned items. I am willing to consider trading for information on other items.
Getting information on these items was very difficult.
Cheers,
P.S. As to posting what I know on the web, not a chance. The reasons for not posting are endless.
P.P.S. For my favorite heckler, you need to know this information more than anyone else does.
11/3/07 12:21 PM, here's a different way to look at it.
If your stockpile goes down in total number of warheads, but the DoD continues to require a variety of military charactieristics and delivery systems, then the plants should shrink and the labs should stay about the same size.
What makes you think this: " It's going to take back-to-back RIFs over at least 3 years if NNSA plans of 30% work force reduction are to be achieved." I don't see any reason they can't wack all 30% this year and get it over with. It is BS to do this year after year. Lets get this crap over with in FY-08. 30% this FY and 20% next FY. ten we are at the 50% work force they want. What the hell are the spineless people doing. Do the same at LLNL and all the other complexes and the job is done.
Folks, everyone laments that there is no info on the contract or the RIF/Voluntary separation etc. Why don't all you who are moaning check out the ammendments on the LASO contracts page (that have been updated as recently as 10/31) and read it for yourselves.
Check out: http://www.doeal.gov/laso/NewContract.aspx
and then go to the contract modifications:
http://www.doeal.gov/laso/ModContract.aspx
Check out the last couple of modifications....
Well, at least the Parent Company transferring employees (Bechtel, BWXT, etc.) don't get the same generous severance package as those LANL employees who transferred from UC on June 1, 2006 - they're capped at a maximum of 26 weeks of benefits, not 39.
For the specific contract language see Mod A029.
I also forgot to point to Mod A017 re: final transfer of assets from UCRP to LANS (for funding the TCP-1 DB pension plan - dated April 2007).
In my first skim reading of Modification A017 to the contract, I note an issue that I have not seen mentioned (perhaps people have and I have missed). If I understand the issue correctly, there is a concern that transfers from the UCRP benefits pot (Non-profit) to the LANS (For Profit) benefit pot for TCP-1 *has the potential* for being considered a taxable transaction under the IRS, and that if the IRS determines such in the future, despite some letter of clarification in 1997, LANS gives all the money back to UCRP so UCRP does not face a big tax bill... Again, this is a from a brief skim of the lengthy document...
"..LANS gives all the money back to UCRP so UCRP does not face a big tax bill."
And we are then left with what for TCP1 assets? NNSA's goodwill? Or how about a drastically reduced pension payout because the assets for TCP1 were never fully finalized from the UCRP transfer.
I suspect the TCP1 pension is on far shakier ground than most staff realize. The condition of TCP1 is much less transparent to the staff than the old UCRP pension and this is being done for a reason.
If LANL had workers like those at GM this sort of monkey business would never be allowed by the workforce. If you let management abuse the workers and the workers remain silent, then management will soon learn they can take away almost everything you've got. I wouldn't be at all suprised if the sheeple at LANL are about to be fleeced.
"TRUST" was the major factor that I used to determine if I was to go TCP1 or TCP-2. Logic and understanding of how undermining corporate America can be and then looking at examples like Enron and United. Then I saw PBGC, a path that LLNS and LANS can in fact take abolishing every dime you have without establishing a court case. I went TCP-2 and am very glad I got something out of the system for all my time and efforts. I did not trust LLNS then and I do not trust LLNA now. I would suggest that the ret of you understand your looking at a pit-bull in the face. For everyone that reads this you need to make sure your fellow co-workers gets this URL, reads the material at the links and prepares themselves for the future.
I sure hope the editor/ transition manager that wrote such outstanding articles in the LLNL Newsline prior to the transition who had such belief in the system and then consequently acquired a cozy position at the top with the rest of the LLNL cronies went TCP-1. PBGC will do you righteous..
Anybody who has ever dealt with contract law knows the "request for proposal" documents on the LASO website carry no legal weight. It is common for rfp's to have major modifications before they are signed. Where is the signed contract? The only legally binding contracts are the signed and dated modification documents. When dealing with a company like Bechtel you're wise to get everything in writing.
When I began employment at LANL 25 years ago, I accepted the fact that I did not have a "job for life." But, things were really quite different then. The director and Heckar and Browne who followed him, was a genuine scientist and showed consideration and concern for employees at all levels. You could speak with the directors in the hallways and on the ski slopes (if you could keep up with Hecker).
There seemed to be a Lab-wide shared objective of doing good work, be it science or in support of science. Managers were paid more than workers, but not that much more and we generally felt that they earned it.
You had this feeling that if there were to be a staffing reduction or any other unpleasant event, there would be some common sense a fairness. There was not a two-class structure of managers and workers.
But, this new LANS management is regarded as just a bunch of greedy thugs. There is a total disconnect with the workers. The managers are distrusted and dispised. This is not the type of work environment for people who are keeping the nation's nuclear weapons secrets.
As accurate as your descriptions of past and present managers may be, 10:50, it is a moot point to pine about the contrasts. We have what/who we have for management and they are here to stay for at least the duration of their contract (whatever that may be as it is unavailable for scrutiny).
Anyone checked this out lately?
http://www.paperdinero.com/Inventory.aspx
Care to explain the recent trends in single family and condo homes?
It doesn't make much sense, does it, 1:51. The only explanation that I can think of is that people are taking their homes off the market because they aren't selling. Does anybody know a Los Alamos realtor that they could ask about this?
In response to 2:35...
This information comes from the owner of homes-la.com. Here are the numbers in some more detail:
At the end of August there were 289 homes on the market in LA county. During September, 18 were sold, and at the end of September, there were 285 homes on the market. So 13 new homes were listed during September.
In October, 12 homes were sold, but there were only 257 homes listed at the month's end. So 285-12-257= 16 homes must have been taken off the market.
The "why" is anyone's guess.
"But, this new LANS management is regarded as just a bunch of greedy thugs. There is a total disconnect with the workers. The managers are distrusted and dispised." (10:50 AM)
Yes, yes, and yes. I thought it was bad under UC the last few years at LANL and believed that there was no way it could get any worse under LANS. Hopes where high with most workers when LANS arrived. The workforce believed that things would begin to improve.
To the staff's horror, things have now become much worse under LANS. Their leadership ability is non-existent. It appears they truly do not care about the low morale of the staff and are managing LANL only for the money. There is no trust at all between top management and the workforce any longer.
LANS appears to be actively helping to accelerate the destruction of LANL. What will soon be lost in terms of our scientific capability will be impossible to re-build once it is gone. Sadly, the country and our politicians could care less about all that is occurring here at the lab.
BTW, I noticed this weekend that Pakistan is becoming un-glued. Here we have a country with Islamic radicals (some who are probably hidden in the Pak military) and they have nukes! If Pakistan descends into anarchy, will these Pakistani nukes be secure? And if one gets "lost", will the US be capable of using our science-based nuclear stewardship developed at the labs to detect its entry into the US?
Think about that long and hard, Mr. Congressman, as you shout "Shut the place down!" during rants at the next set of Congressional hearings.
If a stray nuke ever goes off near a big US city like DC, it will be the whole country which gets shut down. It will be shut down for a very long time.
"If a stray nuke ever goes off near a big US city like DC, it will be the whole country which gets shut down. It will be shut down for a very long time."
I don't see where down sizing LANL or LLNL has anything to do with this. Neither national lab could prevent this from happening. I think the funds to run these places are going to be diverted to intelligence gathering at the same level or more than the cold war. Information is the name of the game not hardware. We've got that.
It's called non-proliferation, 5:21 AM, and LANL is a big player in it.
Things like innovative hardware that can detect a nuclear device in a cargo container (done at LANL).
Things like knowing about how to properly deactivate a rouge nuke (done at LANL).
You need to educate yourself a bit more before making such uninformed comments, 5:21 AM. The future of your nice American life style may well depend on what happens at LANL whether you like it or not. LANL is more than just a place that designs and maintains nukes.
A rouge nuke? I didn't know they came in pink.
only the ones from communist countries.
Not to mention an new project to develop a detection system for liquid explosives, which would allow us to take bottled water onto airplanes once again.
Yes, being done at LANL.
11:29 AM:
"You need to educate yourself a bit more before making such uninformed comments, 5:21 AM. The future of your nice American life style may well depend on what happens at LANL whether you like it or not."
My, aren't we full of ourselves? Are you not also living a "nice American life style"? It's nice to know that saviors like you are out there to protect us (unless you have to run to Home Depot this weekend).
Further explained in Science Daily, Oct. 6, 2007 (www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071002154017.htm).
Two paragraphs:
"Detecting Liquid Explosives On A Plane
After the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airlines with liquid explosives was uncovered in London in August 2006, there has been pressure on the airline industry, and Homeland Security, to find new ways to not only detect liquids in baggage and on airline passengers, but also to figure out what they are. Now, the DHS Science&Technology Directorate (S&T) is teaming with scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory to find a possible solution.
/---/
In late June, Los Alamos National Laboratory team successfully completed proof of concept of an extremely sensitive future screening technology. The new technology scans the magnetic changes of individual materials at the molecular level and stores them in a database, which then allows the differentiation and identification of many materials that may be packaged together or separately as they go through the screening process."
Good job - make sure you swallow all of the bogus claims of lanl science without examination.
Proof of concept is not equal to something that actually works.
Good luck searching for a new job if you get laid off. You're going to need it!
news.yahoo.com
/s/nm/20071106/bs_nm/
finance_summit_economy_dc
Wall Street Firms See Recession Nearing - Reuters, Nov 6
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The economy might be edging toward a recession in the wake of mortgage-related credit woes plaguing the financial markets, bankers and analysts said on Monday.
"I think that the risk of a recession is greater than people realize," James Dunne, chief executive of Sandler O'Neil & Partners, said at the Reuters Finance Summit in New York.
With home prices dropping, more people about to lose their homes due to unaffordable mortgages and sharply higher oil prices, the economy could be on the brink of slowing down, they said.
"I think there is a serious risk to the economy," Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, told the summit.
today at LLNL hazards control and epd divisions place some of thier employees on the eba list or rif list; do not know how many. big all hands meeting nov 12 to discuss lay off's. rumer is nov 16 is the day.
I guess the complete silence we're hearing from LANS and NNSA on the RIF means they've forgotten all about it and we can now go back to business as usual.
Thank goodness for that. I was beginning to fear that they might actually be planning to lay some of us off.
Anybody have some spare charge codes that I could use? The one my GL gave me ( CLULSS ) appears to be invalid. Same thing happened with the last one he gave me, too ( RFBAIT ).
Try this one, 10:21: URFUKT
Have any Los Alamos homes gone into foreclosure yet? I'm looking to retire from my job back east in DC and would love to snag a great deal on a mountain home. When do people think the real estate market out there will hit bottom? Are sellers willing to accept offers at 40% below asking price now or should I wait until summer before I start making offers?
11:05
If you are real, contact me (follow the links).
If you are just messing with people, you should be ashamed.
Question. Has any heard a rumor or know for a fact that the fantasy four from LLNL are hightailing it back to California because they are in fear of what may happen after the RIF at LANL. Please inform the LLNL people. They don't want then neither.
6:44 rumer is Miller is resigning do to stress and the great Mikey is comming back Jan 1 to save us at LLNL after the NOV. and December RIF. Mikey was seen at LLNL last week at bldg.132 walking around. also rumer is NIF is going to EBA a bunch of employees next week
That's friggin great. Mikey is going back. I wonder what we'll get at LANL next.
Poster 7:57 PM, just because Mike shows up at LLNL doesn't mean he is about to drop his position as Director of LANL. Your rumor is lame.
The reason Mike was there was to see about transferring many of LANL's current projects over to LLNL. Once they are safely held by LLNL then he will leave Los Alamos for LLNL, but not a moment sooner.
Ignore the "rumer" poster above. There is at least one commenter on here who has got to be the worst speller in the world, and these misspelled, poorly written missives tend to be nothing but bait to get people fired up with silly nonsense.
This person seems to be similar to the other one (or maybe the same) who excessively uses "STFU", particularly in the context of aqua regia...
Amazing isn't it how it's beginning to get pretty easy to pick out some of the posters on here?
Why is it that lab people are so afraid to speak out on topics? Here are LLNL people were afraid to send comments on the RIF Draft. Is there anything that can be done to break this culture of silence and fear?
12:28.
Yes, balls, but here is a shortage of them at the labs.
11/7/07 9:40 PM
Your getting George Miller. It's musical directors...
8:33,
You really do need to learn how to spell.
'You're' - contraction of "you are" - the correct usage.
'Your' - possessive pronoun - incorrect usage.
You should have said, "You're getting George Miller."
I can't believe you like sounding ignorant, but maybe you do.
Ok, children. No spelling or grammar wars here, please.
Those who choose to utilize 5th grade level grammar may, or may not find their comments rejected.
Those who choose to flame spelling or grammar mistakes will probably also find their comments rejected.
'Your' not going to like it, but I'll leave the previous comment, however, because 8:33 really does 'sound' ignorant.
-Gus
11/8/07 12:28 AM
They are afriad to speak out for good reason. I guess you have never disagreed with the "management line" and vocalized it. It does come with a price no matter what anyone says. Sometimes the price can be quite steep. Are you personally ready to pay that price? Is your family?
"They are afriad [sic] to speak out for good reason..."
They are afraid, period. LANL has demonstrated its collective cowardice from when Nanos showed up on the scene in 2004 through to the present. LLNL seems no different.
The only people at LANL who seemed to have any balls at all were Doug Roberts and Brad Holian with their blogs, and a few others, like Bernie Foy, John Horne, and Todd Kauppila, who all had to courage to speak out, publicly, in their own names against the bullshit that was going on at LANL.
The rest have proven themselves to be complete cowards. Let the new LLC contractors walk all over the employees, they deserve it.
11:15AM: sure we are all cowards. But did you ever work at the lab, during Nanos, now? Did you ever have the courage to speak out, publicly, in your own name against the bullshit that was going on against you? I don't think so. So what are you complaining about?
I'm not so sure I'd quickly pin the blame on cowardice alone. I am often shocked at how many coworkers have, since 2004, continued under the delusion that nothing was wrong, management was doing it's best, and that everything would come back to normal if we could just weather the storm and be patient.
I'd be inclined to believe more people are in this ostrich-like state of self delusion than simply being pure cowards. The perpetual day-care questions at all hands meetings (or the flexible work schedule topic) should be proof alone that folks have simply chosen not to pay attention to what is actually going on around them.
True enough, 12:06. But on the other hand, reality-avoidance is a type of cowardice.
You want government paid daycare, do you?
Unemployment benefits will pay YOU to stay at home with your kids!
When was the last verifiable time that the daycare question was asked? I recall it being a greater concern before the contract change and was much more likely in that 'go ahead, we have open exchange of ideas' and 'bring up those concerns that hinder your productivity' era.
12:06 pm:
"The perpetual day-care questions at all hands meetings (or the flexible work schedule topic) should be proof alone that folks have simply chosen not to pay attention to what is actually going on around them."
Well, maybe not EVERYTHING is "going on" around EVERONE. There are obviously pockets of organizations around the Lab where the work simply goes on, no one is seriously afraid of layoffs, and the management is truthful and trusted by employees. I have personal knowledge of several of these "oases" that are doing just fine. It's not head-in-the-sand, just a clear and appreciated work ethic. Plus, they don't read, or even necessarily know of the existence of, this blog.
NSTec involuntary RIFs are Tuesday, November 13th, with outprocessing Wednesday.
Any more rumors as to LANL voluntary severance details being announced November 13th?
True enough, 12:06. But on the other hand, reality-avoidance is a type of cowardice.
11/8/07 12:21 PM
Reality avoidance? I wholeheartedly disagree. You speak up, you are labelled, if you are not go in some other manner your career will not continue, you leave you have a bad reference.
Basically if you want to stand up against the unethical behavior you must be willing to be bent over and take it up the ass.
What if you have kids? Other obligations? That is what they prey on. Everyone has to speak as one to be successful?
Why is this so hard to do?
With RIFS coming, I thought I would put this quote up for comment.
"Another thing you should know is that you should take your office contents home, they can come in the last day and rip your badge off and march you out the gate without allowing to take your personal items with you from your office. They have done that to lots of people. "
11/08 10:04pm
I heard an AD announced to that organization the voluntary would be presented to a LANL all-hands on the 13th, beginning a 45 day notice period with the decision/redecision period ending Nov 28th, GLs in training Nov 14/15 on conducting the process, management approval of voluntary separations by 12/5 and separation date of Jan 2. If so, I am a bit stumped a notice of the all-hands wasn't issued Thursday (yesterday).
Good insight, 12:32!
I'm gonna start taking all my "personal" items home....
On Nov. 6th, Mary Neu (AD for CLES) sent an e-mail to her directorate that stated:
Workforce Update
There is still no news from DOE on the Lab's plan. The Director expects to give an update before Thanksgiving.
10:04, any idea of the numbers of involuntary at NSTec? Someone said there were ~50 voluntary.
11/9/07 7:46 AM
IIRC, 46 NSTec employees took the voluntary package (which is no different than the involuntary package). NSTec workforce reduction was estimated at 200 at this time. I don't know if the involuntary will be 200 minus 46 or what. I guess things will unfold next Tuesday. When the official post-RIF totals will be published, if ever, is anybody's guess.
The all hands announcement is supposed to be the week of Thanksgiving. What Cowards!
The ones who took the voluntary layoff are the ones who were afraid that they WOULDN'T get involuntarily laid off, I bet.
An interesting story out of DC. Apparently some Congressman asked Bodman if it was really a good idea to anger those who hold all the secrets to our nuclear defense. His response "uh..um..I'll have to look into that."
Only the best and the brightest in Washington.
I suggest you take the time to watch this short video from George Carlin on YouTube to better understand what is going on in America today. In fact, you should probably post this video on the front page of the blog. It pretty much explains everything:
George Carlin Exposes American Dream As Fraud
youtube.com/watch?v=vCojqV5dMkk
Word is 1,800 to go at LLNL (Just a rumor). What is factual is AD (which one I will not share) has stated publicly that there will be work force reduction soon.
The Federal government has a lot of workers who are approaching retirement age. My guess is that some of the older workers over at DOE HQ and NNSA would love to retire, sell their expensive DC home and get a deeply discounted price on a nice, big home up near the mountains of Los Alamos. The cuts coming to Los Alamos are being caused by the budget, but perhaps our pain is also being leveraged for someone's gain as a a part of future retirement planning. Retiring in New Mexico is all the rage back in Washington DC these days.
"Not to mention an new project to develop a detection system for liquid explosives, which would allow us to take bottled water onto airplanes once again."
Ah yes, the PI being Michelle Espy, whom you were all mocking a few short months ago.
"Retiring in New Mexico is all the rage back in Washington DC these days."
Source: The Journal of Anecdotes Pulled Out of Your Ass, 2007, Vol. 69, pages -1 to pi.
Michelle was mocked for being a PR shill, not for being a bad scientist.
Addn to 9:54 pm - and she was mocked for having her head up Wallace's ass so far that she couldn't breath. Espy was not alone - remember that D. Chavez was also mocked for this.
11/8/07 11:15 AM: "The only people at LANL who seemed to have any balls at all were Doug Roberts and Brad Holian with their blogs, and a few others, like Bernie Foy, John Horne, and Todd Kauppila, who all had to courage to speak out, publicly, in their own names against the bullshit that was going on at LANL."
What a crock! Others have spoken out before, but they have surnames too difficult for morons like you to pronounce, and their issues had to do with fairness and equity--issues most of the idiots posting here could care less about. These "home grown" heros have spoken out just as loudly and clearly as those you selective choose to acknowledge here, and they too paid a very heavy price for their courage. But they weren't focused on YOUR issues, or issues YOU gave a damn about so these heros aren't relevant to you and your ilk, are they? Of course not. This, once again, shows why the Lab is in such a state of disarray. Arrogance, selfishness, narrow-mindedness...all core competencies of the once great Los Alamos National Laboratory. What a shame.
LLNL All hands held on 11/12.
Dr. Miller said RIF of 500 flex term/contract people now and up to 300 career in the January/February time frame if not enough people leave through normal attrition.
The chosen 500 that LANS picks for their new "protected" employee class and exactly who they lay off will soon tell us a lot about what LANS values and the future of this lab. Watch closely.
> What a crock! Others have spoken
> out before, but they have surnames
> too difficult for morons like you
> to pronounce, and their issues had
> to do with fairness and equity--
Right.... I see.
It's all about one's surname.
Yup. We already know that the protected class will have "surnames too difficult for morons" like scientists to pronounce. Unfortunately for The Lab, and science in general, the majority of those with the unpronounceable surnames will be in the ranks of the bloated support orgs, living off of overhead.
Yeah, the poor downtrodden surname pronounceabilty-challenged have suffered greatly at the hands of the Lab management, been treated unfairly and unequitably, simply because of their surnames!
Don't you just feel sorry for them?
I'm sure gullible folks who were buying real estate right before the big bust of the late 1920's thought it was a sure thing. If your household finances can't afford to see a drop of 30% in your home's value over the next few years then you might be headed for trouble. I suspect there are already a fair number of people who are currently 'upside down' on their home mortgages in Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and ABQ. The situation looks especially dire in Los Alamos County where homes selling has come to a complete stand-still.
If at all possible, try to avoid putting you house on the market for at least the next 3 or 4 years in Los Alamos, else the 'mark-to-market' is going to be a real shocker to you. Getting out of debt is a good idea, but if you truly believe you will be hit with a layoff at LANL, you might consider doing a refi to a 30 year mortgage while you still have a job and can secure it with the bank. This will lessen you monthly housing bill by resetting the clock on the mortgage. Anything you save from doing this should be safely stashed in a 'raining day' savings account. Also, if you have some equity in your home, consider getting a home equity line-of-credit (HELOC) loan now while you still have a job. You can get loans over at LANB for up to $100 K without the requirement of a home appraisal if you have a lot of home equity built up. Having a HELOC doesn't mean you have to take any of this money. It just means you'll have ready access to low interest cash if an emergency arises. Think of it as a no-cost financial insurance policy.
BTW, from the looks of it, we are already in a nasty US recession or one is about to begin. Don't count of the US Government economists to admit to this until the recession is almost over. Stats from the government tend to be unreliable until they have been 'corrected' many months later. They are slow to detect what is really happening in the US economy. If you use your eyes and ears and you can see that an economic contraction is already well under way. Some of the latest data is showing that California, Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and Florida are in recession right now. Other states will soon be joining this list. Good luck to everyone during the difficult times ahead.
------
** Talk of 'Worst Recession Since the 1930s' - NY Sun, Nov 12th **
www.nysun.com/article/66268
------
** Recession Fears Grow as Inventories Swell - Reuters, Nov 12th **
www.reuters.com/article/
reutersEdge/idUSN1246297620071112
------
** U.S. Recession May have Already Started - Globe & Mail, Nov 12th **
www.theglobeandmail.com/
servlet/story/
RTGAM.20071112.
WBmarkets20071112133211/
WBStory/WBmarkets
------
Does anyone know what the status of the TCP-1 is? We were supposed to receive a statement outlining how the pension funds were doing, just as we did when it was UC. There is a heck of a rumor going around that the TCP-1 fund is in deep trouble because LANS invested the money in mortgage, which is why we haven't received a statement in almost 18 months since LANS took over. Anyone else out there hear about this?
Don't worry about TCP-1.
The DOE contract required it to be "substantially equivalent," remember?
I've heard that a lot of pensions were investing in CDO mortgage junk and handing money over to risky private hedge firms to juice up the returns. Seeing as TCP1 was under funded from the get-go, one can only speculate what LANS might have been doing with those assets over the last year or so. I would sure like to know. A full financial statement of some sort is long overdue.
What do you bet that soon after this year's layoffs are completed we'll be told that we are going to be required to kick a substantial portion of our salaries, say 8%, into TCP1? I think the odds for this are high.
If LANS is going to announce a voluntary termination program then this week would be an opportune time to do so, as people would then have the Thanksgiving Holiday to think it over and discuss it with their family.
Perhaps we'll hear something by the middle of this week.
Makes sense that the contributions for TCP1 will skyrocket soon. After all, there will soon be only half the people contributing to the same pension plan. Well, at least the older top management folks can retire nicely from the rake-in.
11/12/07 3:20 PM said:
"Yeah, the poor downtrodden surname pronounceabilty-challenged have suffered greatly at the hands of the Lab management, been treated unfairly and unequitably, simply because of their surnames!
Don't you just feel sorry for them?"
Don't feel sorry, just take the voluntary severance and get out of Dodge. A simple solution for you and for the Land of Enchantment. Of course, you can't pull a pig away from the trough, can you? It's too finanically rewarding to be an entitled scientist doing nothing at a national lab for much of your career but getting paid a ludicrous salary just for being among the so-called best and brightest. As the previous poster said so eloquently...what a crock! Maybe it's time for you whiners to get a real job. Move on with your lives, and let the rest move on with theirs. Get your biggoted asses out of Dodge!
No need to start a race war here.
I think it's a fact of life that the general population of northern New Mexico is heavily represented by people with Hispanic surnames and heritage, and that the general workforce of the Lab includes a lot of the local general population.
Scientists and Engineers have to be drawn from where they can be found, however. It's like that everywhere, not just here. Part of that drawing is the higher salary that scientists and engineers demand, else they don't come. If they don't come, the lab is out of business, and nobody has a job, not even the local general population.
If you like the halfway-decent paying job you have here at the lab (even if you're not a scientist or such) rather than the type of job you might have to settle for if the lab weren't here, it's probably not in your interest to characterize the lab's scientists as "entitled" pigs feeding at the trough while "doing nothing" for a "ludicrous salary."
Umm, even if it's true, which may be the case.
This is text, people. Copy and paste the surname. You don't need to be able to pronounce it. Who are we talking about?
From the, "Livermore Lab warns of layoffs" article, you find the statement, "The lab's goal is to protect scientific research positions, but it is not known if any scientists will be laid off."
It's unclear who is being quoted as saying that is LLNL's goal, but I haven't heard anyone at LANL make a similar statement stating it was LANL's goal.
11/12/07 4:52 PM
First actual practical advice I've seen on here. It'd be nice to have a sticky post near the top of the page so people have some idea of what they might be doing *now* if they might get trapped in a worst case scenario, ie engineer with wife at home and new baby, bought house last year, with credit cards/student loans, never had a real job anywhere else.
A good one is that many credit cards offer unemployment insurance (not free) but you need to sign up for it before you are laid off.
Example- Discover covers until your balance is paid, you return to work, or you reach the $10,000 master policy limit.
http://www.discovercard.com/discover/data/products/card_ins_info.shtml
Just be careful in checking the terms because some cards are more evil than others. I've made use of Discover's and can say it works.
Another is that if you use a regular medication instead of getting a one month supply get three months through Medco (United Health's mail order prescription plan). Then "lose" the prescription or slightly less dishonestly petition them to get even more right away because you think you might be traveling when your prescription runs out.
Go visit the dentist while you still have good coverage. Get any old fillings replaced ASAP.
I don't get the last name comments at all. Are you talking Wu, Smith, Lopez, Jones, and Patel or Wenzhou, Benicoeur, Azcárraga, Iacocca, and Subramaniam?
I've found a news story that pretty much describes exactly how people at LANL are blind to what layoffs are all about. Only this is UC Berkeley laying people off. People at LANL don't seem to realize that they'll get a much better deal being laid off by LANS than they would have through UC.
"I have four children. The youngest is only two. My wife and I have been working really hard to carry us on," Ugbaja said. "This is a blow. I didn't see it coming." ...
Still, Ugbaja and other employees have been left hanging.
Many have served the university for years, expecting retirement and medical benefits.
For some, including Ugbaja's unit, layoffs were not accompanied by severance pay. "
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=13131
BTW nonunion people received 2 weeks pay + 1 week per year served as severance. This is true of more recent UC layoffs as well.
8:15AM
You are so full of BS it is not even funny. I think it is time for you to shut up. The world will be a better place. I take it that you are one of those people that got fired for incompetence and now you are just bitter. Do not blame the rest of the world for your shortcommings.
"I've heard that a lot of pensions were investing in CDO mortgage junk and handing money over to risky private hedge firms to juice up the returns."
Dude, this is an understatement. Mortage junk is just the tip. See what happens when rule 157 goes into effect this week. You are going to see 100's of billions in writedowns. The economy is going to get nuked. Also comming up this week, the TICs numbers, measuring capital inflows. Last TIC numbers were off by several 100 billion (Chinease stoped buying our debt). Get ready folks, its going to be a rough one.
What I love about posters like 815am is they are the first ones to raise race and bigotry issues while at the same time practicing them to their fullest. Talk about a crock.
"People at LANL don't seem to realize that they'll get a much better deal being laid off by LANS than they would have through UC."
How is that? The severance package is the same as it was under UC, except for the newer employees that came to the Lab through one of the parent companies (they get what the other UC and fomer UC labs get - 1 week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks). Former UC LANL workers get - same as under UC - 1 week per year for first 6 years, then 2 weeks per year beyond 6, capped at 39 weeks.
2:21 PM wrote "Go visit the dentist while you still have good coverage. Get any old fillings replaced ASAP."
Well, I certainly am taking this approach - using legal insurance, health, and mental health insurance to the max before LANS pulls the plug on all. I advise others to do the same.
From 3:06 PM - "You are so full of BS it is not even funny. I think it is time for you to shut up. The world will be a better place. I take it that you are one of those people that got fired for incompetence and now you are just bitter. Do not blame the rest of the world for your shortcommings."
Actually, sounds like 8:15 AM is a LANL postdoc.
8:33pm
Get a life.
Actually, 8:15AM sounds more like a moron that never came closer than 500mi to Los Alamos.
OK 3:06 - You keep talking about "people that got fired for incompetence." I assume you mean fired from LANL, from the context.
Name one -- ONE -- person who has EVER been fired from LANL for incompetence.
Why is it taking both LANS and NNSA so long to come to an agreement on the layoff plans? This is getting ridiculous. At long last, can they do nothing right, not even a decent layoff plan?
Figure out a reasonable voluntary enticement and start the clock on the terminations so we can all get over this stressful period and get on with our lives, damn it!
"Name one -- ONE -- person who has EVER been fired from LANL for incompetence." (11/13/07 9:49 PM)
How about G. Peter Nanos in 2005? (Admittedly, it was a "soft" firing.)
From the "Nuclear Weapons Lab to Slash 500 Jobs" article within "LLNL Announces."
"Layoffs at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will mostly affect support and operations employees, spokeswoman Susan Houghton said Tuesday. She said the laboratory would try to protect scientific research positions, but added that it's not known whether scientists would be laid off."
Well there you go, a stated LLNL goal.
It's unclear on how this 500 figure and its composition links with LLNL's 3161 plan, voluntary, involuntary, etc. It almost sounds like these 500 don't fall under 3161. Has LLNL's Plan even been approved? What's LLNL's Big RIF Picture?
Then again, it's unclear on how the 300 or so contractors, as well as LTs now working at LANL fit into LANL's Big RIF Picture.
I don't think that you can say the Pete Nanos was actually fired. What he got was a platinum parachute.
Isn't Nanos being fired pretty much like Browne being fired?
It is sad, when looking through the comments above, realizing how many of them are equivalent to
"Fiddling while Rome burns."
Just a thought.
By contrast;
1) The lack of funding from DOE/NNSA.
2) The endless funding for the Iraq War.
"War At Any Price?, The Total Economic Costs of the War Beyond the Federal Budget, A Report by the Joint Economic Committee Majority Staff, Chairman, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chair, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, November, 2007."
First paragraph:
"Executive Summary
The long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the United States in many ways. For the American Armed Forces, the human toll has been profound: as of November 9, 2007, 4,578 American soldiers have lost their lives, and 30,205 have been wounded, many of them gravely. The damage to our international reputation at a time when the United States faces grave security challenges all over the world has also been severe. And the full economic costs of the war to the American taxpayers and the overall U.S. economy go well beyond even the immense federal budget costs already reported. These ´hidden costs´of the Iraq war include the ongoing drain on U.S. economic growth created by Iraq-related borrowing, the disruptive effects of the conflict on world oil markets, the future care of our injured veterans, repair costs for the military, and other undisclosed costs."
(Source://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/11/13/iraq.economic.costs.pdf)
I thought it was the Emperor that fiddled and most others pretty much just ate sh*t?
What a helpless feeling, sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop and not a damn thing I can do...and the clock just keeps ticking....LANL has fallen...
"LANL has fallen"
Ya think? LANL has been crashing into the ground for quite some time now...
"Has LLNL's Plan even been approved? "
Comment period on the general plan ended Monday, November 5th. It's anticipated the comments will be resolved and the final plan issued in the next week or so.
"Isn't Nanos being fired pretty much like Browne being fired?"
To me Browne looked like he was doing pretty well in the post-LANL environment when I ran into him last week at the airport - he looked younger than I remember towards the end of his days at LANL.
I've noticed quite a few posters on this and previous LANL blogs state that they really enjoy not being at LANL anymore. I can't wait to get out from under the NNSA's sphere myself.
Did Nanos get a platinum parachute or a plutonium parachute?
12:16 PM:
"It's unclear on how this 500 figure and its composition links with LLNL's 3161 plan, voluntary, involuntary, etc. It almost sounds like these 500 don't fall under 3161."
The LLNL 500 are subcontractors, to whom 3161 does not apply. LANL did this last year. LLNL is about 6 - 12 months behind LANL as regards transition and its effects.
6-12 months behind us?
Chant with me: We're number one, we're number one!
"The LLNL 500 are subcontractors, to whom 3161 does not apply."
Not true - a good number of the 500 will be Flex Term employees (6-year maximum term appointments). We are certainly not contractors. We work for LLNS directly, are in TCP-1 or -2, some are double-dippers, we get the same benefits as any other LLNL regular employee, except for severance (we only get 30-days notice or pay in lieu of notice). And yes, we are subject to 3161. And the WARN Act, which is a CA law REQUIRING 60-days notice. The 3161 120-day notice is only a goal. I'll bet LANL will act on a much shorter timeframe than 120 days, once their plan is approved. NSTec 3161 involuntary layoffs at the NTS were yesterday (tomorrow for crafts), and they are WELL under the 120 days. And if you read the resolution for NTS 3161 comments (on the NNSA website?) you'll see where the NNSA reiterated that the 120 days is only a goal.
So there you go - when you're notified you'll be laid off, you'll be given a few minutes to collect your personal belongings, be escorted from your office, and told where to report the next day to collect your final check. This will be nothing like 1995, where employees were notified well in advance of their last day.
LLNL has come out with a 2000 name potential RIF list so their workers know whether their jobs are at risk or not. LANS has done nothing in this regards. It would be nice if LANL staff were told whether their jobs were at risk or not before the Holidays.
Knowing you're on the list could affect your Holiday shopping. It could also help you decide whether to take the voluntary enticement or not. Most importantly, the list would help reduce stress in the rest of the workforce whose names aren't on the list. LLNL did the ethical thing by releasing this list and getting it out as soon as possible.
So, LANS, where is your list?
Did the dog eat your homework?
I want to apologize.
When the flex term idea was first hatched as a solution to the co-employment problems that the Lab had with long-term contracting personnel especially in Emmett's Laser Program, I thought it was a terrible and unfair idea. 2nd class status for anyone, especially forced on the unwitting by misusing the power of employment was unjust.
I thought this, but I did not speak out loudly.
Now hundreds will be discarded, not because of an emergency, but because the dolts at NNSA poorly restructured the RFP so that critical funds are wasted, handing them to Parsky, Riley and Stephen Bechtel and to state tax authorities with no benefit to the country's defense.
I apologize for not speaking out.
How can we have such poor leadership?
Poster 11:16 PM, don't feel too bad.
A lot of us didn't speak out when we had the chance over the last few years. Now we are paying the full price for our silence.
"NSTec 3161 involuntary layoffs at the NTS were yesterday (tomorrow for crafts), and they are WELL under the 120 days. And if you read the resolution for NTS 3161 comments (on the NNSA website?) you'll see where the NNSA reiterated that the 120 days is only a goal."
This is remarkable. LANS spent all of FY07 telling us that there couldn't possibly be a RIF coming and even if there was, it would be at least 120 days out because of 3161.
I gotta get on the NVOO website again...
"LLNL did the ethical thing by releasing this list and getting it out as soon as possible."
Where is the list published? I didn't see anything by COB yesterday (Wednesday 5:00 p.m.).
A quick refresher here. When did the the LANL and LLNL 3161 120 day periods start? What about LLNL's WARN period?
A potential RIF list of 2000 folks for LLNL is about what % of their regular workforce, 20-25%? That would indicate 75-80% are excluded from RIF consideration?
People don't speak out when they should because of fear. I spoke out years ago about workplace abuses at the Lab and have paid dearly ever since with marginal raises and work assignments that could be done by high school summer students. But over time you also do come to realize that speaking out against such abuses can save your health if not your soul, and contribute to instilling and maintaining a better workplace. I’ve since come to understand that without the few who are willing to challenge, accountability becomes little more than an empty promise. And yet without accountability, arrogance reigns supreme, and arrogance is what leads to abuse.
For the few brave souls who engaged the powerful forces behind the 1995 RIF, those of us still at the Lab owe you a belated debt of gratitude. I now realize your efforts led to the cancellation of two other rounds of layoffs that had been scheduled for 1996 and 1997. I now realize your efforts are what led to the Lab offering a voluntary separation incentive back then as well, which saved many more jobs in the process. You forced the Lab to comply with Act 3161 provisions back then as well, which undoubtedly eased the transition for those who lost their jobs. Those efforts back then have even kept the lion at bay, to some extent, to this day. And so as fearful as the workplace may be at Lab today, things would be far worse today had you had not done what you did back then. This is why I offer these brave souls my gratitude today, belated though it may be.
Today we remain silent for the very same reasons we did back in 1995. This is a choice we make as individuals, often rooted in circumstance and economic realities. Sometimes we have no alternative but to remain quiet in other words. But we should also not forget that those who do speak up are, in fact, our heroes. They're not the enemy. Fear is the enemy, as is the silence that it breeds.
As we approach the holiday season just remember that so long as we have our health and our families at our sides, we can and will weather whatever storm comes our way. Those who lost their jobs in 1995 have long since learned this lesson. It is a lesson we all must take to heart now, as the lion once again approaches for a kill.
Well, it's now Thursday the 15th and not a peep out of LANS has been heard about the promised pre-Thanksgiving meeting to inform us all about the upcoming RIF.
The silence and lack of forthrightness from our lab leadership continues to amaze me.
"the promised pre-Thanksgiving meeting to inform us all about the upcoming RIF."
Who made this promise and when?
This will surprise nobody, but the next All-Managers Meeting (Monday's) has been cancelled.
Several organizations are reporting that managers have been scheduled to attend lengthy mandatory meetings in the next few work days.
Probably means somethin's a comin' down the pike.......and soon.
Put on your life jackets and hold on to your hats, colleagues. It's gonna be quite a ride!
8:43am wrote "I spoke out years ago about workplace abuses at the Lab and have paid dearly ever since with marginal raises and work assignments that could be done by high school summer students."
Right. So you just hung around here this entire time because you like it or because you are incompetent or what?
Please. Your story is not credible.
5:20 - why is 8:43 not credible? It sounds supremely credible.
8:43 is credible except for the part about labeling the people that got riffed in 95 as some kind of heroes. All the ones I knew of where dead wood and should have been let go long before. The problem is that NO ONE documents the non-performers. You can thank HR for that one. The crazy ass performance exercise every year is a joke. Quite a few organizations let the employees themselves write up the appraisal and managers of people are to chicken shit to call people what they are.
"What about LLNL's WARN period?"
Notifications to ~2,000 Supplemental Labor and Flex Term employees at LLNL went out today - I'm expecting mine to show up in the mail Saturday. Of that, approximately 500 will be out the door.
The magic date is January 18th - the latest day for layoff (at least the first wave) is January 31st.
7:38 pm:
"The problem is that NO ONE documents the non-performers. You can thank HR for that one."
As a long-time Group-level manager, I can say that in my experience, HR stands ready to assist any manager with appropriate documentation of poor performance, and encourages it, including putting employees on performance action track as early as possible. Unfortunately, most Group Leaders are averse to confrontation or disciplinary action. One would like to believe that employees need a simple "nudge" to understand that they need to improve, and that with such (like a small salary increase compared to their peers) they will get the hint and do what is needed. Unfortunately, most poor performers are not that bright, and not that motivated. It is a very bad situation all around, and I know if no solution that will satisfy everyone that he/she has been fairly treated. How to avoid appearing heartless to a non-motivated poor performer (or simply an incompetent)?
re: 11/15/07 5:20 PM
I doubt you work at LANL or LLNL, either that or you are isolated from what is going on.
"I spoke out years ago about workplace abuses at the Lab and have paid dearly ever since with marginal raises and work assignments that could be done by high school summer students."
Yes, me too. I was doing well until I spoke out against workplace abuse. Since then I have either received no raise, or a pittance of what others were getting.
It is called a constructive discharge..they have no grounds to fire you, but they know you can only survive so long without a raise. So they play the waiting game.
I imagine they falsified reviews about you too, so you are down at the bottom and the first to be RIFed.
9:14 PM wrote "Since then I have either received no raise, or a pittance of what others were getting."
FYI folks, you get this when you are a female at LANL too.
As a long-time Group-level manager, I can say that in my experience, HR stands ready to assist any manager with appropriate documentation of poor performance, and encourages it, including putting employees on performance action track as early as possible.
8:31 PM - you are so full of shit and most likely are Tim Babick of HR-staff relations. HR is a worthless organization that adds no value to LANL and is a hindrance to GLs and more importantly out to damage any employee who questions HR...
Now, now, 9:51, don't forget about our friends at Lab Legal ...
Rumors are floating about that Division Leaders already have lists in hand with names of people targeted for layoff. How they went about compiling these lists is anybodies guess. LANS is giving out no new information on the RIF planning exercise. Info at LANL's workforce restructuring web site is getting very stale. Most of the posts at that site are from late September.
The truth is out there... somewhere.
Here's a rumor I received by email today:
"anonymously please....
Again, heard in the hallways....
The team that was working on the workforce restructuring is currently not doing so. Seems that there is still no agreement between LANS and DOE as to the rif plan. DOE is wanting LANS to use part of their management fee for any incentives that would be offered. LANS does not want to do that."
I know this is a difficult time for the staff but you need to have trust in LANS management that they are handling this RIF in a professional manner. They know what they are doing. After all, NNSA trusted them to run this lab. Listen to your management and follow all their policies. If in doubt about anything, ask your management. Don't be swayed by idle gossip in the halls. Work hard to make LANL better than ever.
Keep on keep'in on, people. And remember, LANS has the plan for making LANL grand!
Good grief, how many times are you going to post your "LANS is grand" crap here. Go troll somewhere else.
9:51 pm: I am 8:31 pm, and I can assure you that in my 17 years in Group management (not in HR), everything I said accurately portrays my experience. Believe it or don't - I don't give a shit. HR always gets a bad rap from employees who want to be treated as if they were valuable to the organization when they aren't.
Anonymous at 11/15/07 7:38 PM is partly correct, partly wrong. For the 1995 RIF, organizations did rank their people and an attempt was made to RIF the least productive individuals. So, it is true that many of those RIFfed were deadwood.
But, there were other organizations that just eliminated entire teams. In those cases, some very good employees were RIFfed. Selection of RIFfees was done on at the division level. With an organization as large as LANL it is impossible to compare individuals across division lines. So some very good individuals were RIFfed in one division while deadwood in comparable jobs were kept in other divisions.
Remember that LANL prevailed for four of the five plaintiffs in the lawsuit that was heard in Albuquerque. The sole plaintiff that prevailed was a white male in his mid-50s. It was only when the political appointees in the DOE and other government agencies got involved that LANL had to hire back a lot of the RIFfees.
Yes, the RIF fell more heavily on women and minorities because an attempt was made to reduce the overhead costs and the women and minorities are more heavily represented in the overhead organizations. Most of the really incompetent rehired RIFfees ended up in support organizations such as FM.
One tiny piece of good news went almost unnoticed yesterday. The new AD for Environmental Programs consolidated WS and ENV Divisions. The ENV DL, of course, is now a Senior Advisor to the AD(wouldn't want him to have to take a pay cut or do any real work).
But hey... this means we've gone from 75 Divisions down to 74!
Assuming that Mikey doesn't pull together an All Hands Meeting for Monday, this coming Thanksgiving week would be a nice, quiet time for employees to comb through their offices and start taking personal items back home. Separate out your personal textbooks and journals from Lab-purchased items. Copy all the files you might need to rebuild your resume and take them home for safekeeping. Be prepared. Senior management has been discussion some of the bad stuff that's happened to other sites when employees are allowed to stay onsite after receieving their RIF notices. Don't expect to be allowed to pack your office at a leisurely pace.
6:58 am said "One tiny piece of good news went almost unnoticed yesterday. The new AD for Environmental Programs consolidated WS and ENV Divisions. The ENV DL, of course, is now a Senior Advisor to the AD(wouldn't want him to have to take a pay cut or do any real work)."
Minor correction: ENV Division is not under ADEP, but rather ADESHQ. The individual you are referring to was actually DL for the Waste Services Division rather than ENV as you stated. Prior to June 1, 2006 - he used to be DL for the ENV Division.
All Hands Meeting called: Mon Nov 19, 1:15PM.
"11/16/07 10:33 AM"
Yeah, and Aguilera is now at TA-3. Watch what happens lab-wide to your formerly-reliable Utilities and Infrastructure.
"Remember that LANL prevailed for four of the five plaintiffs in the lawsuit that was heard in Albuquerque. The sole plaintiff that prevailed was a white male in his mid-50s. It was only when the political appointees in the DOE and other government agencies got involved that LANL had to hire back a lot of the RIFfees." Said 11/16/07 6:25 AM
People like 6:25 AM are so full of crap they only see one color--white. The point is people like him were probably the one's who carried out the moronic 1995 layoff as it was conducted. The folks who got terminated in that exercise in stupidity did, in fact, fight back. They did so heroically, though some like 6:25AM would obviously prefer not to characterize what they did in this way. Plus they can't stand the fact these folks were, in fact, vindicated in the process, or that the Lab was forced to rehire many of those laid off and was even forced to compensate some of them for being terminated due to their race (that too is a fact). And yes, the Lab was also forced to not proceed with the two additional rounds of layoffs it had already announced would occur in 1996 and 1997 (also a well documented fact). The problem perhaps for 6:25 AM and his ilk is that the demographic of the Lab did, in fact, become whiter in the aftermath of the 1995 layoff, but that trend was nipped in the bud when the planned layoffs for 1996 and 1997 were cancelled. Well Mr. 6:25 AM, perhaps it's time you recognized that you're no longer in Kansas (or wherever it is you came from), and the 1940’s did, in fact, ended about 60 years ago. So welcome to northern New Mexico, and to a new age where things are no longer perhaps quite as “black and white” as you'd prefer. Competence (as with incompetence) does indeed come in all shapes and colors, and in both genders. Just because the Lab’s leadership composition has never reflected this reality, and the 1995 layoff similarly did not reflect such doesn’t mean the rest of the world remains as narrow-minded and backwards as you and your cohorts who still want the Lab to be your personal cash cow to do with as you please. Perhpas it is true as some now say--the Lab has become a dusty relic of a bygone era...a dinosaur if you will whose time has come. It's attitudes like that of 6:25AM that makes me wonder.
10:58AM
I really doubt your sincerity on this issue. Also your arguments make absolutely no sense. In the United States and elsewhere the best way to improve equality for all people is to have a rational and honest discourse. You on the other hand are insulting, irrational, incoherent, highly biased, and dishonest. You are only trying to cause trouble for some kind of selfish reasons. Your poor logic is reminiscent of people like Chris Mechels.
One would think that with all of these managers someone would actually get something done.
ha ha ha ha ha ha gasp...
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