Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King Jr. -
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24 comments:
Dr. King was a 'regular guy' who stood up and made a positive difference. LANL staff has had similar opportunuties- which only a few have shouldered. On this day honoring bravery and peaceful pursuit of change- we should support those who fought on our behalf.
Cheers.
If you recall Dr. Clayborne Carson, founder and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, in his visit here in 1999 at a director's colloquium, that MLK, Jr held the belief that economic equality for African Americans was the foundation upon which the overall equality would rest.
When people see their economic foundation begin to crumble or threaten to collapse, it makes sense that they are going to invest their energy in trying to hold on to the economic stability if they can. Sometimes this might be better served by fighting it out with the threat toe-to-toe but we generally try compliance first. Unfortunately, our compliance became the early opportunity for sweeping changes that shifted power from the taxpayer to the private corporation with the blessings of the politicos.
Here is a thing that might matter to MLK.
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/munger/2008/01/a_cleanup_frenzy_in_oak_ridge.html
Bechtel is apparently using itself as a sole source provider for environmental cleanup at Oak Ridge. They will end up with contracts worth $8,000,000,000. Sure beats $70,000,000.
This is what the game seems to have been about since the beginning. IMHO.
FEAR==>ANGER==>HATE==>SUFFERING==>
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/\________________________________\/
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Rinse and repeat as necessary.
Even lowly garbage workers knew how to stand up for their rights back in 1968. There is a lesson in here for LANL staff if they care to learn it.
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AFSCME, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike
On February 12, 1968 — 40 years ago — 1,300 sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., decided that enough was enough. They went on strike to force the city to recognize their union, AFSCME Local 1733. The walkout capped a long history of mistreatment and disrespect amid shameful working conditions.
The strike was a defining moment for the modern labor and civil rights movements. Officially, the men were after rights and raises, but the signs they carried made clear that their struggle was for much more — dignity and respect.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support the striking workers. The evening of April 3, he delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to a packed room of strikers and supporters.
The next day, he was assassinated.
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A number of interesting but not good things are being done by Bechtel et al. at Oak Ridge.
For the moment, I am posting the links on
http://workingatlanl.blogspot.com/
because it is convenient for me.
The latest is outsourcing of pensions to Mercer.
Blogger Eric said...
Bechtel is apparently using itself as a sole source provider for environmental cleanup at Oak Ridge. They will end up with contracts worth $8,000,000,000. Sure beats $70,000,000.
This is what the game seems to have been about since the beginning. IMHO.
I take you are unaware that Bechtel is NOT part of the M&O contractor for ORNL? So, sorry, your conspiracy theory fails on this one.
Anonymous 1/21/08 3:07 PM,
Your "Even lowly garbage workers" characterization is insulting. However, I suspect that you are incapable of understanding why it would be. Let me enlighten you, sanitation workers work hard, raise families, send their kids to college and contribute to society. There is nothing “lowly” about any of those characteristics. Now it is true they may not be in your high income bracket but on the bright side they probably don’t suffer from the arrogance that your writing displays. Shame on you!
Sorry about that "lowly" comment if it offends you, 3:54 PM. I didn't intend to insult anyone. I was just trying to point out that those in a lower wage scale are capable of taking action to improve their lives. Chill out.
This one is for the idiot at 3:36 PM...
WGI Receives Subcontractor Honors
Oak Ridge, TN – April 15, 2005 --
Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC (BJC) has named Washington Group International (WGI) its ES&H Subcontractor of the Month for March. The award recognizes the company’s outstanding safety performance in the cleanup of Transuranic (TRU) Waste trenches in Melton Valley.
1:39 pm: "go Obama!
no way to BUSH CLINTON CLINTON BUSH BUSH CLINTON CLINTON..... BUSH?"
Obama can relax - McCain will take care of it.
"I take you are unaware that Bechtel is NOT part of the M&O contractor for ORNL? So, sorry, your conspiracy theory fails on this one."
There are three main facilities and contractors in Oak Ridge: ORNL (UT-Battelle, LLC is the prime contractor), Y-12 (BWXT, LLC is the prime contractor) and ETTP - the closed gaseous diffusion plant - Bechtel-Jacobs, LLC is the prime contractor). The three contractors have separate contracts with DOE (NNSA for Y-12). Bechtel-Jacobs is the contractor for EM activities which mainly are D&D of the old gaseous diffusion plant, but also include D&D of surplus sites at ORNL proper, such as the Melton Valley project mentioned in the Munger article.
Jacobs also signed a five year deal for maintenance of the National Ignition Facility and word around LLNL is that they are trying to take over maintenance of all LLNL facilities.
McCain is a hundred years old..... let's pick someone with brain cells.... NO MORE BUSHCO
So again:
"Bechtel is apparently using itself as a sole source provider for environmental cleanup at Oak Ridge."
DOE is using Bechtel as the EM provider. Eric's statement in quotes makes no sense.
Sorry that the quote does not make sense to you.
Reading the article, learning about Bechtel, reading about privatization of government facilities, and following the links may help.
Let us know what you find.
Ciao
"Jacobs also signed a five year deal for maintenance of the National Ignition Facility and word around LLNL is that they are trying to take over maintenance of all LLNL facilities."
As a point of reference, facility maintenance at LANL has always been provided by a subcontractor to the Laboratory (not DOE) - the Support Services Subcontractor (currently KSL, a partnership of Kellogg, Brown & Root; Shaw Environmental; and Los Alamos Technical Associates).
This post starts by talking about the bravery of MLK and then quickly digresses to arguing about who does cleanup at Oak Ridge.
All too typical. No wonder the LANL staff have no ability to fight for any of their worker rights.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
If so, then we've been dead at LANL a long, long time already. Our bones are bleached, that's how long its been. What a sad testament.
11:30 am: "This post starts by talking about the bravery of MLK and then quickly digresses to arguing about who does cleanup at Oak Ridge."
Oh, get a life. This is an anonymous blog with no (or almost no) content filtering. Half of the "digressions" probably come from some jerk kid in a basement in Iowa (or his intellectual equivalent in Los Alamos or Santa Fe. You were expecting Pulitzer quality??
Pinky et al.
Congratulations on passing the 300,000 visitor mark.
Hey, 8:10 PM, I doubt some jerk in Iowa is posting about which company runs the environmental contract out at Oak Ridge. Most of these posts are coming from people who work at the lab. Otherwise, they wouldn't bother to keep posting. The rest of the world could care less about LANL.
Here's another great MLK quote to ponder:
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King Jr. -
Thank you. And if you are the person who left the original quote which I made into a post, thank you for that one too.
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