Anonymously contributed:
I was one of at least 20 workers fired this week (June 19) from the LANS Waste Disposition Project (WDP). This program supports the disposition and transfer of nuclear waste from Area G to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Apparently there is at least a $5M shortfall of money, however we were not informed of any details or reasons for our terminations. There was no warning, just to get our personal belongings and leave the premises, immediately. I have been a contractor for 35-years and while I have been terminated for various reasons I have never been treated so inhumanely and unprofessionally by an "organization". We literally worked weekends and 24-hour shifts to move waste to WIPP and handled extremely dangerous and hazardous materials. We were the workers doing the "dirty jobs" behind the elegant science and technology that never gets any recognition.
There were no management meetings or information leading up to our terminations to give some indication that there were any budget issues. My general impression is that LANS (and DOE/NNSA) is trying to keep our terminations a secret. Good luck to you workers that remain at LANS.
16 comments:
Layoffs at LANL under LANS. Nah, how could that be?
LANS/Bechtel has been claiming they don't have to do any layoffs. Of course, if you trust the executive team running the for-profit LLC, you are being very foolish.
Maybe Mikey will mention this at his All-Hands on Monday (July 26th), but I doubt it. He seems to actually enjoy telling lies to the LANL staff.
"My general impression is that LANS (and DOE/NNSA) is trying to keep our terminations a secret."
Brilliant observation... and correct. If it got out that LANS was laying off employees at LANL, then it creates nasty political problems for the LANS executive team and for the local politicians. Therefore, they'll all pretend it never happened.
I actually saw Michael Graham (AD for the Environmental Programs) leave Anastasio's office minutes before Mikey addressed the staff today. Graham is the AD for the Waste Disposition Project (WDP) that fired people last week. It appears that Mikey had no idea Graham was firing people off just before Mikey's "everything is great" address. It didn't matter, Mikey did not mention one word about firings and budget issues in ADE. This tells you a lot about the lack of honesty and lack of credibility of this so called "Director".
What Mikey did announce was a 30% (that's right, thirty percent) increase in health insurance premiums next year. Joy!
Sorry for your loss. The labs are not the effective organizations they once were.
The Management norm is now lazy, sloppy, erratic and self-serving.
Where's are all of Mikey's supporters on this post? The truth is sometimes painful. They are the same ones that loved Nanos before he turned into a monster. They'll come around....
In addition to the 30% increase in salary deductions for health care, Mikey (LANS) also announced:
- Pension will be an additional $77 million in the hole for FY2011 (it was already $74 million short for FY2010!)
- Pension is estimated to be an additional $200 million in the hole by FY2012!
Given that the $74 million TCP1 shortfall for this year meant that 3% of staff salary is now being taken to support the floundering TCP1 pension...
* Count on another +3% of your salary being taken to cover the FY2011 shortfalls
* Count on another +9% of your salary being taken to cover the even bigger FY2012 shortfalls
This means you may be looking at a 15% salary cut by FY2012 to keep the TCP1 pension alive.
Even worse, it's not too far fetched to speculate that the new FY2011 9% "pension tax" placed on all projects at LANL to help cover the pension shortfalls might eventually rise to around 33% by FY2012. That will be an real project killer for LANL science.
Mikey had nothing good to say about the state of the TCP1 pension. The future of TCP1 is beginning to look mighty shaky.
Oh, and retirement medical costs born by retirees are also about to go way up for retirees next year. I expect LANS will probably drop all coverage for retiree medical (even for current retirees) within a few more years.
Not to fear, though, as Mikey says LANL is doing great now that LANS LLC is running LANL and frequent lab visitors have noticed that staff morale has really improved!
Sigh! ;-(
Look at LLNL new jobs website new make over. They paint LLNL as paradise.
What Mike forgot to mention at his latest All-Hands meeting at LANL is that *HIS* salary will most likely be going way up between now and the end of FY2012.
The "$1 million dollar man" will soon become a "$2 million dollar man" to catch up with the higher Director's pay over at Sandia. Likewise, his PADs and ADs on the LANS executive team should make out very well in the next few years.
The rest of you poor slobs at LANL? Not so well.
Livermore has jobs open now because the best workers are all being scooped up by Berkeley in droves.
Count on another +9% of your salary being taken to cover the even bigger FY2012 [TCP-1] shortfalls.
If your investment prognostications for your TPC-2 are this good, you'll be glad you get Social Security, too.
I am appalled by the mismanagement and lack of leadership and honesty by Anastasio "Stas" on the TCP-1 shortfall of money. Stas suddenly reveals to us (verbally) that there is at least a $100,000,000.00 dollar shortfall in 2011 and at least a $212,000,000.00 dollar shortfall in 2012. Is this shortfall what Tyler Przybylek considered "substantially equivalent", not likely.
Stas then states he is absolutely clueless about how this problem is going to be resolved; he actually knows TCP-1 participants will fund the burden of this. It is not by accident that Stas provides nothing written on viewgraphs or any written information on this. It is unfortunate that lab employees appear to care less about lack of employee rights and lack of representation with these limited liability companies (LLCs). The days of wine and roses are over, again!
LANS was extremely "clean" in the handling of these firings. This operation leaves no documentation or evidence. The management is also sworn to absolute secrecy. Following being recently forced out of my job by LANS I realized there was no written evidence, nothing, no letters, no memoranda, no e-mails, not even a yellow stickee. There were no meetings to indicate they were disposing of people. Also, the management who were involved in this, claim they have never seen me in their lives, they walk the opposite direction when they see me. Management are trained to the highest standards of subterfuge and deception. I wouldn't trust these guys to keep an eye on my goldfish for 1-minute for fear they would eat them.
TCP1 at LANL is in big trouble.
The interesting question that should be asked is... why did NNSA let UC get away with drastically under-funding this pension from the start? TCP1 at LLNL got a far more generous lump sum on its creation.
It's as if NNSA seems to delight in the idea of the destruction of the lab pension system at LANL.
"It's as if NNSA seems to delight in the idea of the destruction of the lab pension system at LANL."
August 8, 2010 12:10 PM
Yes, we do. (Captain D'Ag)
TCP-1 is covered by ERISA rules.
If the shortfall is more than a certain faction of the obligation, ERISA recommends that the employer make up the shortfall with increased contributions over a 7 year period. The Doe-heads will comply with ERISA as a matter of policy.
The shortfall can be made up by increased employer and employee contributions.
Guess which one the fat lying Wop is preparing the groundwork for.... and he'll collect a bonus when works it out.
Aren't scientists great! All about themselves.
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