LLNL - The True Story -

Anonymous said... I joined UC (LLNL) 28 years ago believing that medical benefits for my family would be provided. With my three children, two recently turning 23, and all still in college (one working on a Ph.D.), and with the less than inflation raises I have gotten the past few years, I was lucky to be able to pay their COBRA continuation coverage. On December 26, I received a letter from Kaiser letting me know that "your COBRA group coverage for you and your covered dependents is scheduled to end at 12:01 a.m. on 01/01/2008 (unless you become ineligible sooner)". LLNS management knows we are under a great deal of stress right now. Good management would have at least given a warning before letting my wife receive such a timely and alarming letter. Who is in charge of the benefits office these days (and how much do they make)? Of course there are phone numbers in the letters, and no one in the office to answer them. There is a web site, where you can enter your children...

It is not just at the federal level anymore... Read more

Now's not the time for LLNS to be putting people in the street. However, ask them if they care. Here's todays news . How many people at LLNL after Jan 31st, 2007 and until April 2008 will be in a situation where they'll have to sell a home that's worth less than they paid for it. That alone is not good, but not it gets worse. If you borrowed $600K to buy your home and then had to sell it for $400K for what ever reason you still have to pay the taxes on the $200K difference. What a deal for the banks and the federal government.

In the face of all that's happening to many of us I want to take the time to wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

This was sent anonymously to POGO: POGO ought to investigate the following: 1)DOE/NNSA offered 2 plans to LLNL employees in the privatization of LLNL on October 1st 2007: TCP1 and TCP2. Under TCP1, employees are separated from UCRP and their retirement is transferred to LLNS pension plan. Under TCP2, they freeze their retirement with UC.49% of them chose TCP1. Then, DOE activated the 3161 workforce restructuring plan, an open ended plan, designed to trim LLNL workforce in the years to come, starting in 2008. If the DOE disclosed their plan to activate such a plan, no one in their right mind would have chosen TCP1. LLNL employees feel cheated because any one of them can be laid off before they retire. 2)DOE/NNSA overlooked huge increases in costs, all known in advance: a.The new company’s management fee b.LLNL going from non-profit to private (taxes) c.Inflation d.Separation of LLNL from UC, lead to a smaller pool of people which lead to higher benefits costs e. More people than anticip...

LAYOFFS AT LIVERMORE LAB? More than "900" nuclear weapons program workers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could lose their jobs if the federal government goes ahead with a proposal to stop testing at a site in the Altamont Hills. The Site 300 test range near Tracy is slated to stop testing under the U.S. National Nuclear Security Agency's proposal to consolidate the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure. Lab spokesman David Schwoegler says nuclear weapons launching systems tests could stop by 2010, and high explosives tests could stop by 2015. Federal officials say that plan would lower security risks and storage costs by moving some of the work performed locally to a New Mexico lab and a Nevada test site. Schwoegler says the lab is exploring other uses for the facility before the agency makes a final decision next year.

Q. I stopped work at the end of last year at age 52. I don't expect to work again before I start my Social Security benefits when I turn 62. Will I still get the same benefit amount you showed for age 62 on the Social Security Statement that you recently sent me? A. Probably not. When we averaged out your 35 highest years of earnings to estimate your benefits on your Statement, we assumed you would continue to work up to age 62, making the same earnings you made last year. If, instead, you have $0 earnings each year over the next 10 years, your average earnings will probably be less and so will your benefit. You can use our Benefit Calculators to see how this will affect your monthly benefit amount. Q. Will my retirement pension from my job reduce the amount of my Social Security benefit? A. If your pension is from work where you also paid Social Security taxes, it will not affect your Social Security benefit. However, pensions based on work that is not covered by Social Security...

NNSA makes the Project On Government Oversight happy! Perhaps, they should take a closer look at how NNSA does it. details here

The Custodians had a meeting Thursday 12/20 where they were told that the 87 custodian head count will be reduced to 20! They were told restrooms will be cleaned only 2-3 times a week, and not much else. The contract janitors will start receiving their notices Monday, January 7. Happy holidays indeed. We’ve all read how LANL personnel have to empty their own trash. Now we get to learn how to do that!

The House and Senate passed the Omnibus bill on Wednesday. It now has one more stop: the president for his review and signature. Based on these projected numbers, the overall funding for the Laboratory appears to be approximately $100 million less than FY07. “This is the range we were expecting,” Director George Miller said. “While there are differences based on congressional priorities, this provides the clarity for us to move forward to meet our major program commitments and continue our workforce restructuring as planned.” The one area with a major change in direction is that all funding for RRW was eliminated. Congress did add a new activity, an Advanced Certification Campaign, to address some of the issues raised by the JASONs in their review of RRW. Miller also noted that Congress increased the funding for nuclear non-proliferation activities, which could provide an opportunity for growth. “Once the funding bill is signed into law and NNSA provides specific site allocation, I wil...

Energy Dept. agency reform pay system By STEPHEN LOSEY, FederalTimes.com The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration will move more than 1,900 non-bargaining unit employees to a new performance pay system in March. The five-year pilot program also will replace the current system of regular General Schedule step and grade increases with a series of three or four pay bands, depending on an employee’s occupation. Each pay band will encompass several GS grades and is intended to let managers set higher starting salaries and promote employees more rapidly based on their skills and performance. The pilot will cover engineers and scientists, nuclear materials couriers, young employees enrolled in NNSA’s future leader program, and technical and administrative employees. The program, outlined Dec. 21 by the Office of Personnel Management, could eventually be rolled out to all NNSA employees if successful. It is based on similar programs already in place for about 500 NNSA t...

Lawrence Livermore National Securitys Benefits and Investment Committee (BIC) has selected a trustee and investment manager to help administer the LLNS Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Since it was formed this summer, the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) has established operating and investment policies for the plan and selected BNY Mellon as the trustee and Watson Wyatt as the investment adviser. The BIC is made up of various members of the Laboratory and LLNS partner companies. The BNY Mellon is a leading asset management and securities services company that has more than $20 trillion in assets under custody or admin-istration and more than $1 trillion under management. Watson Wyatt is a global consulting firm focused on human capital and financial management and serves the worlds largest pension plans.The BIC has been developing the plan document and performing actuarial analysis in coordination with the University of California and NNSA/DOE to determine the amount of assets and li...

Plans have been made, the dates are set. So what's the RIFing Policy LLNS?

Benefits-value comparator assessment list approved by NNSA Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) received approval from the National Nuclear Security Administration Wednesday on a list of benefits-value comparator companies, to fulfill one of its requirements in maintaining its current Total Compensation Package (TCP-2). NNSA accepted LLNS’ request for an equivalent TCP-2 to Los Alamos National Laboratory back in July. That acceptance was conditional for one year, and required re-evaluation of comparator companies and analysis of the LLNS TCP-2 benefits compared to this list, as well as an analysis of benefits costs. The first deliverable for this reevaluation was a new list of comparator companies, to be approved by NNSA by the end of 2007. The current list of comparator companies includes companies comparable to the Laboratory. Eight of the companies are located or headquartered in California; four are located or headquartered in the greater Bay Area.“I am pleased with ge...

This is a large document but if you do a search using the words _Lawrence Livermore National Lab_ it will take you to every page that pertains to us. I suggest you look at pages 569 - 581 and note what projects are getting what level of funding. Of course this can all be altered at the directors level, but it's what you were slated to get. Congressional Budget Report 2008

Nuclear labs face weapon reductions, layoffs Plans reveal sites such may see 20 to 30 percent reduction in workforceBy Betsy Mason, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 12/20/2007 06:29:21 AM PST LIVERMORE The Department of Energy revealed draft plans Tuesday to consolidate nuclear weapons work at eight sites, including Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories, a move that could result in a 20 to 30 percent reduction in workforce and the closing of 600 buildings. At the same time, President Bush announced a 15 percent reduction in nuclear weapons, which along with a previous 50 percent cut that will be complete by the end of the year, would bring the stockpile down to 25 percent of the peak Cold War size. The smaller stockpile could be maintained by a smaller weapons complex, Thomas D'Agostino, head of the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a news conference Tuesday. "We must act now to adapt to the future and stop pouring money into an old Co...

An anonymous contributor received this letter from his/her congressman Dear xxxxxxxxx, Thank you for sharing your concerns about issues affecting Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) employees. I appreciate learning your views, and I would like to update you on my work related to the lab. As you know, LLNL recently completed a transition to new management. As part of this transition, federal officials mandated a new set of benefits packages for lab employees. Following this announcement, I received hundreds of letters, emails, and phone calls from lab employees raising important concerns about the proposal. Many employees expressed frustration that the benefits were less than those offered at other laboratories and also worried that these decreased benefits might hurt retention, recruitment, and morale at the lab. In response to the outpouring of concern I heard, I hosted a town hall meeting on July 2 to discuss the benefits package with lab employees and their families, and n...

Out of 52 voters, - 28 have never contacted their congress person in 2007 - 20 did it fewer than 5 times - 2 did it 5 to 10 times - 2 were a pest! The sad truth is - There were only 52 voters? When the blog was started, I expected a traffic jam! - 20 people would not even care if they were run over by a bulldozer.

Click here

We did it. Today is the first day of our new contract under the management of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. When we stood up the transition team in May 2006, my team agreed on three important measures of success: We would transition people, programs and processes without adverse effect on safety, security or programmatic deliverables. We would lead our colleagues through the transition and engage the workforce in embracing our collective future. We would establish disciplined and responsive communications with the workforce, the Laboratory Site Office. and the incoming M&Ocontractor. I am very proud to say that we measured up. There are so many people who ensured the transition went as smoothly as possible in a period of unprecedented change for our Laboratory. Thanks go not only to my team and the many employees who supported them, but also to the team at the University of California Office of the President who worked closely with us throughout the transition to sort ...

http://workingatlanl.blogspot.com

The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11 June 28, 2007 Please note how many years they project the war in the middle east may go one. This being the case I'll bet that budgets at LLNL and LANL will be reduced every year for the next ten years. If the budgets stay flat I'd be amazed having seen this information. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that additional war costs for the next 10 years could total about $472 billion if troop levels fall to 30,000 by 2010, or $919 billion if troop levels fall to 70,000 by about 2013. If these estimates are added to already appropriated amounts, total funding for Iraq and the GWOT could reach from about $980 billion to $1.4 trillion by 2017. This report will be updated as warranted

The story

How 2 Months Spending in Iraq Could Be Put to Better Use "The President is trying to masquerade as fiscally responsible by manufacturing a fight over $22 billion (roughly 2 months in Iraq) in investments that will make this a stronger and better country." Why is it that when we need funds to do something for the United States of America and its people we can never find it but we're able to spend $11B a month on a sand pit and its people that virtually will never do us any good. If we got just one months of this budget LLNL would be rolling in $ doe $, we'd still have our UCRP pension plan, probably still be under UC and have more work to do then we had people. What a total waste of my tax dollars. Now there's something for the general public to bitch about. This is truly a case of misappropriation of funds.

budget in limbo! how competent is our congress? LANL HEADLINES

I will be totally amazed if 900 people is all that LLNL has to cut between now and Oct 1st, 2008. If getting rid of 900 people can account for $300M dollars then each person much cost an awful lot to the programs. I'd sure like to see the expense breakdown on how they justify this cost and who they are since each of us cost a different amount. Would you like to bet ULM sucks up most of LLNL budget and yet they are untouchable.. Not logical in my books. Washington Post article House Democrats Pull Budget Offer The GOP Is Negotiating In Bad Faith, Obey Says

It looks like llnlthetruestory is coming alive. The article worked wonders. Now you may even get some good input. I wish you the best. Stay tuned to http://llnlthetruestory.blogspot.com/ Maybe making contact with jlscoob5@aol.com will help. He or she is the owner and it's my hopes they are more successful than the others. In the meantime please look into this: It looks like management will do anything to stop the truth from getting out. Check out who snooping for answers http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2007/12/vultures-are-circling.html

So ULM still denies that anything at LLNL is going to be outsourced. Do the people of LLNL understand what Russo's job is and has been for years. Just watch everything under his command get axed. Do you think we can catch ULM in another lie same as we did with the information given to use during the transitions that made people think everything was going to be the same. NOT ! Link here

Contributed anonymously: After reading the Contra Costa Times article, I still have questions. Lab directorGeorge Miller's salary was bumped $19,600 to $410,000, director of science and technology Cherry Murray's salary stayed at $337,000 and National Ignition Facility head Ed Moses' pay rose $18,000 to $330,000. And just like the rest of the employees, those raises have not yet gone into effect. And as for the managers who came in from Bechtel and the other managing companies, Miller said, "They are in the same salary structure as the rest of the laboratory." Does this mean $410,000, $337,000 or $330,000, who knows. You did notice they didn't give that information and having seen the attached official document of what the fanatsy four of LANL got I find it hard to believe that this ULM didn't get the same. I think it took almost a years to find out the FF's salary.

Article here

Article

at LANL and Oakridge! It does NOT make a difference who manages the Labs! Check it out!

Please post anonymously. I didn't find any recent post regarding this topic - everything seems to be focusing on the pending workforce restructuring actions at LLNL and LANL. This article offers a good perspective on how the LLNS (and LANS) TCP-2 401(k) match really stands up (or doesn't stand up) to what some private sector employers are starting to implement. Maybe we should push LLNS and LANS to add Devon Energy to the list of BenVal comparator companies? Check article here

Anonymous contributor: Of all the post I have read on both the LLNL and LANL blogs this one sums up the issues at hand quit well. I'll bet you never saw this "outstanding article" in the LLNL Newsline during the transition. I'll also bet that DOE / NNSA will censored this from the 3161 comments period, or it will never be seen by the public eye for review or consideration. Anonymous said... As Pink Floyd would say: Hello, is there anybody in there. We are desperately numb. Sounds like the NNSA anthem. NNSA must have seen the LLNL work force as a bunch of brain dead kowtowing cowards who they thought they could trample on with impunity as they employed their goose step tactics expecting everyone at LLNL to be too frightened to speak up and question their motives. What they found and awakened however was a sleeping giant who possesses the brains, intestinal fortitude and DC connections (skills attained while achieving tremendous technical and theoretical strides as the...

Each month, the Comp Directorate puts out a newsletter called Bits and Bytes, and AD Dona Crawford usually has a column in it. In the latest issue, she passed along the following info: "One of the updates I would like to pass along is that the anticipated workforce restructuring timeline George Miller presented at his Nov. 12 all-hands meeting was too aggressive. The Lab did not submit a Section 3161 specific plan during the week of Nov. 19, nor will we announce a voluntary/self-select termination option during the week of Dec. 3. These will be announced at a future date, and I will share the information as soon as I receive it."

This post is for comments strictly related to RIF news. What you know or have heard about who is getting laid off and why. Mention: - numbers - job categories - time frames - age groups Just the facts please; no speculation. Comments that do not comply will be rejected. Thank you for your cooperation.

Set copiers to make double-sided prints. Reduce or eliminate binder copies of reports. Reduce the number of color printers. Use alternative fuel vehicles within the Lab fleet. These are a few of the more than 100 suggestions that come in to the save-dollars e-mail at the Lab. The Directors Office set up the e-mail to solicit employees suggestions, following an announcement earlier this month that the Lab would go through significant restructuring in the wake of budget shortfalls. All suggestions go to a special kitchen cabinet led by Deputy Director Steve Liedle, to look for ways to reduce Lab operating costs. The committee will consider the various suggestions and communicate any actions via Newsline and News- OnLine. We are getting a number of worthwhile suggestions from our employees, Liedle said. I encourage employees to continue providing their input to help our Laboratory reduce its costs and become more efficient. While many of the suggestions will take some study by the committ...

The president of SPSE told us and we did not listen; excerpt for the last Newsletter: Message from the President—What We Know We are mere days away from a revolutionary change, both as a Laboratory and as a Union. The private-sector transition will give the Lab new management and SPSE a new relationship to the Lab and its employees. This time recalls moments in history when people have been challenged to redefine themselves, and even the most influential suffer from troubled sleep. Here‟s what we know: as of October 1st we as private-sector employees will be governed by a different set of laws than before. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) will replace the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) as the basis of our relationship to Lab management. Will we notice? For many of us—those who have never needed to press a grievance or protest the content of a performance appraisal, who have never sought and will never seek to publish a scientific paper that challenge...

Contributed by anonymous: The Laboratory is making some changes to its posting and hiring practices in the wake of workforce restructuring. Tammy Jernigan, associate director of Strategic Human Capital Management, announced the changes in an interdepartmental memo. All principal associate directors (PADS) will submit staffing/hiring plans to the Director’s Office to ensure the Lab proceeds cautiously with hiring activities. Jernigan said hiring will continue at a “very conservative" level and be monitored against hiring plans. The Director’s Office will review and approve external hiring requests, including supplemental labor personnel. A lateral or promotional hire of an internal employee on a posted position, which does not effect a change in the employee’s appointment status, requires approval at the PAD and Strategic Human Capital level. PADs have been given discretion to laterally reassign employees within the PAD in the same job family and pay grade, when it is necessary to ...

Input from a blog contributor.. thank you: Here is some information for all to review at will. It is a searchable .pdf file of all the Q&A that were on the LLNS website, you know the ones that they will not answer. Download pdf file here

Expect 600 contract and term gone by Jan 31st and in March 300+ FTE's. The numbers mumbled at the last meeting with SP was expect to see numbers like 2400 at each facility and then there is this. SP said two years ago I want that $2M used for EBA for projects and there will be no EBA lit after LLNS takes over. Well guess what. Now that in Dec we are going to have hundreds of HIS fellow engineers and scientist on the EBA list fully supported by the overhead funds the EBA list is not a "valuable tool". The tune really changes when it close to home doesn't it SP. But here's the kicker. Some FTE non degreed people are going to be booted and these engineers and scientist are going to be put in your place while they retain their ungodly salaries instead of being RIF'd. So there's justice for you. It even gets better people. Demographics is playing a part in this RIF. I just wanted you to know there are federal guidelines that must be followed and they are going ...

Hanging It Out Request: "I second the motion for a new topic regarding injustices, please Mr. Blog Master hear us out!!" No names please or post will be removed. Keep it simple if you can. This post has been paraphrased. In reference to a post where someone asked the people of LLNL to take their lickings and keep on ticking I have to say this. Before we being to you ask people to grow up and take responsibility for their own actions and to “go with the flow in the face of every changing times”, we need LLNS to resolve a few issues first. Lets talk about the injustice NNSA / DOE / LLNS have bestowed upon the people of LLNL throughout the years all of which many of us thought would be resolve within the first week of the take over by LLNS but to our disappointment nothing that LLNS has done has been to the benefit of the employee. It’s been all about “them”, who clearly display’s a “me, me, me” syndrome. I'll try to outline a few facts and keep it as simple if possible. Fir...

http://llnlthefinalstory.blogspot.com/ is gone. This Blog replaces it. I wish we could have continued it, instead of starting all over. Someone at http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/ labeled the LLNL blogs as flaky. The are a lots of inflammatory remarks by LANL people. They refer to us as "Livermites". See: http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2007/12/disappearing-llnl-blogs.html We are not interested in returning the favor. We want this BLOG to be a forum for exchanging opinions, passing on new information and exposing injustices, among many other things. We know what happens at LANL will likely be duplicated on a different scale at LLNL. So, it pays to follow news on the LANL blog. Here is an interesting article referred to by the LANL BLOG: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/nuke-labs-blast.html

Anonymously contributed: Obama clamps down on the 1st amendment. Yeah bubba. Lets do away with the Patriot Act II that everyone was worried about, and take it to the next level. We'll do one better. We'll take over the internet and assure we make everyone an emeny of the state. That is anyone who dare speak against the party in absolute power. http://www.cato.org/ Obama's Cyber Security Czar

Anonymoulsy contributed: American capitalism gone with a whimper 27.04.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0 It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists. Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters. First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education s...