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This BLOG is for LLNL present and past employees, friends of LLNL and anyone impacted by the privatization of the Lab to express their opinions and expose the waste, wrongdoing and any kind of injustice against employees and taxpayers by LLNS/DOE/NNSA. The opinions stated are personal opinions. Therefore, The BLOG author may or may not agree with them before making the decision to post them. Comments not conforming to BLOG rules are deleted. Blog author serves as a moderator. For new topics or suggestions, email jlscoob5@gmail.com

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Friday, January 29, 2010

Federalizing security contactors: good or bad?

Anonymously contributed:

Just what we need - a bigger, fatter bloated Security cow . If unions are so bad for nuclear security why not just do away with them?

Federal Diary: Federalizing security contactors might make our country safer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012804005.htm

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Privatization is the government way of transferring wealth from the middle class to the rich.

Anonymous said...

I hope Obama will look into getting the National Lab back to being managed by public organization!

Anonymous said...

Give me a break. Federalizing is the governments way of nationalizing every industry so they have full control of your wages, benefits and consequently your life, whereby you'll all be equal. The employees will have no incentive to compete with one another since there's no montary gain. I've seen this caliber of people this while working civil service and it's the very reason I left. If most of you haven't notice LLNL after the take over by LLNS has become the same way especially with the most current pay raises and for some (-) pay raises. You all need to watch your pay checks closely. The days of just being red-lined are gone.

Anonymous said...

January 29, 2010 6:52 AM

Obama and his clan could give a rats butt about the national labs. They want them all closed, haven't you gotten that word yet? They serve no purpose and are to expensive to run. Most ALL of what is done at LLNL and LANL, that's good for the nation, can be done at the universities and the private sector much, much cheaper. We actually do very little here compared to just ten years ago. It as one of my colleagues said, we are spiraling out of control and now in the vortex of the turbulent toilet ready to go over the hump.

Anonymous said...

"Obama and his clan could give a rats butt about the national labs. They want them all closed, haven't you gotten that word yet?" - 7:06 AM

Note to 7:06 AM, read the news. Joe Biden just announced a huge increase in funding for the NNSA labs over the next few years. Your comment is a dollar late and a day short.

Who's your daddy now? Obama rocks!

Anonymous said...

Hey,January 29, 2010 6:57 AM
There is a contradiction in what you are saying:
You say that under federalizing,the employees will have no incentive to compete with one another since there is no monetary gain.
then, you say that under LLNS, LLNL has become the same way.
So, is privatization leading to same result as federalization; ifs o, why privatize?

Anonymous said...

January 29, 2010 2:48 PM

He may be your daddy bro, and he's far from a rocker, more like a moron. So just sit back and live in your little make beleive world and wait for your daddy to bring you the funds you so dearly desire. Hope you have some anti-fungal spay because by the time you get the funds you'll be a mushroom, but then again there are a lot of people in the dark.

Anonymous said...

January 29, 2010 7:47 PM

LLNS has become like civil service because there's no monetary gain for doing a good job and no growth to be had. LLNS job seems to be focused on demoralizing the old employees so they'll leave, only to hire two inexperienced people at half the pay and then expect them to do the same quality work. Dream on LLNS, dream on. Heck, most employers can't find people with good work ethics as it is. The only reason LLNS is getting good work out of people now is because most of those doing the work are the old people. Once they're gone, which should be able 5 - 10 years, you'll get to witness a demise in productivity. The new employees are of a different breed in many, many ways especially in their mannerism, dress code and daily acts of defiance against authority, task schedules or for that matter even giving the employer an honest eight hour day. In my area, 50% of the work force carries the other 50% who're substandard employees and basically no-loads.

Anonymous said...

While the security unions are pushing this idea, their membership should really be wary of the fine print.

The GAO report also concluded this - "If protective forces were to be federalized under existing law, the current forces might face a loss of pay or even their jobs…

In addition, transitioning force members may receive lower pay as federal employees, according to our [GAO] analysis of two tentative federal pay levels for protective force positions …

Also, to reach federal pay rates that better approximate the contractor rates, transitioning contractor protective forces might have to wait many years. While most collective bargaining agreements allow protective forces to reach a position’s top pay rate after 3 years or fewer, federal guards could take much longer because the 10 steps within a GS pay grade have progressively longer periods of service between incremental increases. This step progression means reaching the top of a pay grade (step 10) could take up to 18 years…

if protective forces are federalized, OPM [Office of Personnel Management] officials told us that current members would not be guaranteed a federal job. According to those officials, current members would have to compete for the new federal positions, and thus they risk not being hired. Nonveteran members are particularly at risk because competition for federal security guard positions is restricted to those with veterans’ preference, if they are available. According to NNSA Service Center officials, veterans groups would likely oppose any waiver to this hiring preference. Thus, if the protective forces were to be federalized, the department might lose some of the currently trained and experienced personnel."

Anonymous said...

Anon February 1, 2010 8:11 AM makes some good points & I agree with much of what is stated.

However, I’ve yet to see any shrinkage of Federal employees, especially when it comes to those involving protection of SNM. Also, Fed’s benefit package is about double that of the Contractor employees. Any Congressman who supports cutting personnel who are directly involved in the protection of SNM would not likey be supported by his party or re-elected.

The union guards at PX are very supportive of Federalization & it’s not because they see reduced salaries or benefits. They see better wages, benefits & job security.

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