430 Workers Leaving LANL
By Raam Wong, Albuquerque Journal Staff WriterA total of 430 employees will leave Los Alamos National Laboratory next month— a figure that's short of the 500 to 750 positions that the lab has said ultimately need to be cut for budget reasons.
Los Alamos will now assess its flexible work force— made up of regular employees on limited-term assignments and subcontract workers— and make any necessary "adjustments," lab director Michael Anastasio said Friday in an employee memo.
The lab is in the first of two phases of a work force restructuring plan. The second phase could involve involuntary layoffs of regular employees if not enough cost savings is found through phase one's voluntary departures and the changes to the flexible work force.
"Although we have made good progress toward avoiding an involuntary separation, Phase I is not yet completed," Anastasio said in the memo provided to the Journal.
Anastasio said 495 employees had applied to leave, though 65 later changed their minds. Official last days will come Jan. 10.
Employees who leave the 11,000-employee lab voluntarily or not will earn a severance package based on their years of service and qualify for unemployment compensation benefits.
The job cuts are necessary because of rising operational costs under the lab's new corporate manager and flat revenues.
Anastasio said in his memo that at the end of Phase I, managers will evaluate the number of people leaving the lab, skills needed for the future and the latest budget information before determining what further action is needed.
7 comments:
There are people who have done the math and realized that they are better off being laid off by LANL than taking the SSP.
So, take hope: there really are people out there who have worked it out and are going to extract every last dime from LANS, and make this process as painful for LANS as they possibly can.
In other words, not taking the SSP does not always indicate lack of clue, in fact, quite the opposite.
First LANS has to lay folks off because of the budget. But the budget is adjusted, maybe, so now LANS has to lay folks off because of the GRT and management fees. But the management fees are not based upon the number of employees. So LANS gets paid as much for managing fewer employees? Doesn't that affect the GRT?
As I prepare for the holidays, I wonder if my home, which I purchased over 30 years ago and planned on selling after May 2008 when my last child graduates from high school, will sell for what it has been appraised for? And I wonder if not, is this the fault of LANS or the down turn in the housing market in general?
I wonder what Los Alamos County and Los Alamos Public Schools are thinking when they plan on housing developments that will make selling my home difficult if not impossible.
I wonder about Los Alamos County trying to encourage the development of more retail when they are so anti small local businesses.
I wonder how much money LAPS will really make from the Trinity Site development and if they are lying when they claim that it will make them free of DOE support.
I wonder if the next generation of children will get the education they deserve once LAPS becomes dependent upon the Trinity site development and are obligated to pay off various debts before educating our children.
I wonder if my children, grandchildren, and their children will understand how privatization of our national labs has made them less safe.
I wonder why more citizens are not expressing their concerns about education and safety.
I wonder if anyone really cares about more than preserving their LANL jobs.
"I wonder if my children, grandchildren, and their children will understand how privatization of our national labs has made them less safe.
I wonder why more citizens are not expressing their concerns about education and safety."
I wonder where we will all be next year at this time. I am trying over this holiday break to ween myself away from my life I have built here. I am working with my teens so that the "move" will not be so painful. It is hard to be positive when my life, my home and friends are being left behind. I am part of the "flexible workforce" and my days in N New Mexico are numbered. I have been here 12 years, and I should have known that the changing of the guard would equate to the demise of the life as I know it. I am sure that this RIF in PH-2 has nothing to do with quality of work that was produced by all of us, it has to do with expendable (they think)numbers. We "fexible workforce" contribute and produce far more than LANS thinks. They will notice our absence at the table.
10:57, you will be missed. I cringed when I read about the flexible workforce being "adjusted" as if a tailor was letting the waistband out on a pair of pants.
"I am working with my teens so that the "move" will not be so painful."
I left over one year ago. It was a great move for me and my family (including teens). I enjoyed my 13 years at Los Alamos, but I don't see much interesting work there in the near future.
This can be a good life lesson for your children. In this economy you need to be able re-locate. Loyalty to "company" is gone.
NNSA and LANS think they can do whatever they want without negative consequence. We'll see I guess.
Good luck.
"10:57, you will be missed"
"This can be a good life lesson for your children. In this economy you need to be able re-locate. Loyalty to "company" is gone."
Thank you, and this is why we stayed so long. The unity of the LANL community accompanied by interesting work made it so important to be here. That is gone and will not return. Just good memories and good experiences that we leave with.
Had a call this morning, I believe I'll take it.
Bless us all.
God bless you, 10:25 AM. I hope you prosper and grow with your new position.
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