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Friday, November 4, 2011
Layoffs at NIF
Anonymously contributed (unconfirmed):
layoffs at NIF! couple of nif employees told me that 40 people went out the door on 11/01/11.
39 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I wonder if Moses let Parney know about this? Or is Moses operating his own Lab know as NIF?
Sneaky, but that's how the NNSA "for profit" corporate LLCs like to operate. It's part of their strong emphasis on a "business" culture rather than the labs' former "science" culture that respected research.
They'll have you with box in hand moving out the front door of the lab before you know what hit you. Fast, clean.... and ruthless.
Four out of ten people in my group were let go this week. I don't know the number over all, but rumors have at somewhere between 60 and 100. I really suspect this is due to some kind of mismanagement of funds. They were steadily hiring people until just a month ago, if not more recently. I know the layoffs were program-wide. It must have been a pretty good number, as I was told shot operations were scrubbed for several days because of it. I wonder if this is a sign that confidence in the project's mission is waning?
I really suspect this is due to some kind of mismanagement of funds. They were steadily hiring people until just a month ago, if not more recently.
November 5, 2011 7:58 PM
Great, LLNS mismanages funds and hacks working level people. I bet NOT ONE manager was let go due to this mismanagement. Another operating theme of LANS/LLNS.
Those huge increases to LLC upper management salaries during the last few years and the large number of newly hired upper managers from Bechtel have to be paid for someway.
We have the world's fastest computers, resources to solve the most complex scientific and national security problems, and we loose track of ~ $30 Million (i.e. salaries for ~ 60 technical staff). I thought LLNS/LANS was hired by NNSA to improve the efficiency and management at the Labs? What did I miss?
Perhaps it was a matter of counting the chickens before they hatched. Did NIF ramp up to meet a milestone expecting that congress would pass a budget, and when we wound up doing continuing resolution they had to scale back? Or they could have mismanaged the money, they've been know to do that in the past.
They better get some great results. If not, LLNL will vaporize faster than a hohlraum.
How on earth do 60 people cots 30 million dollars? They get paid 500k each?
November 6, 2011 5:48 PM
Yup! A well-paid LANL/LLNL/SNL scientist with salary ($160,000), benefits (vacation, sick leave, Holidays, matching 401K, health, dental, vision, life insurance, etc.), overhead (lights, computer, heat, supplies, etc.), and nuclear facilities (plutonium, waste, tritium, high explosives, etc.). And, that's not an overpaid LLNL/LANS manager! That's why no one wants to do business with us!
You can not layoff a single career FTE irregardless of WARN act or at-will assignment w/o DOE approval and public notice. Period!
If employees were laid off they have to have been slo, flex-term, or out sourced (I was in the lab's flexible workforce for several yrs before becoming career if that matters).
Post, clarify what the status off the employees that were laid off were?
I believe most of them were from contractors like Akima(formerly IAP, Bechtel, and Jacobs. They can let them go pretty easily. I believe some Lab employees were reassigned outside NIF. Would it really kill them to be upfront about what's going on?
Rumor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
umor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
November 8, 2011 7:47 AM
That may be, however, Congress is drafting legislation to "protect" the defense programs from the across the board cuts if the super-committee cannot "do their job". One thing for sure, is this would give LANS/LLNS another opportunity to "right size". I also guarantee most of the RIFees wil be 50+ or older.....AS ALWAYS.
Another sad day in America. Corporate greed run out of control. I'm sorry for the families that will have to go through the holidays like this. Typical, they dump the employees before they have to pay their holidays off.
"You can not layoff a single career FTE irregardless of WARN act or at-will assignment w/o DOE approval and public notice. Period!" - 8:50 pm
Wow, you must be a lab old-timer! The world has radically changed at the Bechtel-ized "for-profit" managed NNSA labs. Those old days are long gone. If someone doesn't meet Bechtel's strict "business operation" desires of the new management team then they are gone, career FTE staff or not. And don't expect to see any severance payout, either. They simply fire you.
The labs layoff that began in 2008 was after contract transition. If involuntary separation is under the policy definition of "layoff". It does requires DOE/NNSA concurrence:
What makes you think that DOE/NNSA provides cover for LANS employees? They are like the French handing their rifles over to the Germans. The only thing that the DOE/NNSA (France) will protect is their wine (PBIs).
Rumor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
November 8, 2011 7:47 AM
"Starting" a RIF list! I got news for you pal, LANS had a RIF list when they took control of the Lab. Knapp implemented his "list" in 2008 when he forced ~30 engineers out their jobs in W and WT-Divisions. LANS is ready, willing, able and excited to RIF people, on a minute notice. The question now is, are they going to implement it. Bring it on Knapp, bring it on!
The managers that were complicit and overtly participated in the down-sizing in W and WT-Division at LANS in 2008 were Bret Knapp, Terry Wallace, Craig Leasure, Scott Gibbs, Paul Wantuck, and Charlie MacMillan. This action was carried out surgically without any notice, process, or paperwork. The reason I bring this up is that all these "folks" were promoted for carrying out this action, remained at LANS, and will be the same folks who will act without conscious, heart, or feeling when they axe more people in the next RIF at LANS.
I was one of the employees targeted for layoff in 2008 because I WAS career. They left the less experienced flex terms in their job, even though they didn't have the skills to take over my poisition. So please don't think you are safe. Career means nothing. Logic means nothing.
LANS doesn't call a RIF a RIF. They call it "restructuring". It's the ONLY thing that Bechtel has brought to the "table" since running LANS/LLNS aside from "parking" their worthless managers in our chairs and parking lots.
If the Super-Committee fails to act in the next few weeks (which seems increasingly likely due to the partisan bickering), then the automatic cuts that will devastate DoD (and NNSA) won't start until Jan 2013. That's the way it was designed in the legislation.
However, it will be clear the cuts are coming before then so you can expect lab budget managers to begin taking layoff actions by either late next summer or the fall of 2012.
It seems unlikely to me that layoffs would be instituted during the middle of FY2012, as the effect of the budget cuts won't hit until the FY2013 budget. However, be aware the these automatic cuts will be accumulative with a continuation of the cutting in FY2014, FY2015, FY2016, etc. A decade of cuts would ensue and the NNSA would be looking at drastic downsizing.
If they are smart they would have everything ready to go Fall 2012 which would mean things would have to be in process the summer of 2012. My guess is they will do nothing untill possible the cuts actually hit and only then throw something together very fast and ill thought out.
The managers that were complicit and overtly participated in the down-sizing in W and WT-Division at LANS in 2008...
Was anyone walked out the door during this? Or were they reassigned to other part of LANL? Unless you have a printing press, the budget of W/WT is not time invariant.
You guys in the weapon program (X, WX, W, etc.) that work for Knapp better get ready for a good butt kicking. Knapp is the first to volunteer his people during a RIF. He's trying to make a name for himself and a bid for the Director job after MacMillan. He could care less about weapon capability and particular workers, who considers expendable trash.
You could easily cut at least 25% from the Labs' bugdet without laying off one person who actually does work. Just undo the LLCs + prune the top-heavy management structure. Oh, and don't forget to do the same to the NNSA. The productivity at the Labs would in fact skyrocket in this scenario. Something tells me though this isn't how the LLCs/NNSA will structure their layoffs.
You could cut 10% of expenses at LLNL by eliminating any job that has the word "deputy" in it. This is a remnant of the UC structure which is supposed to have been changed by LLNS. Instead,we got the LLNS bureaucracy superimposed on the UC bureaucracy. NO cleanup was done. Good job NNSA!
"Just FYI, the expression is "couldn't care less." Think about it."
Stop that. Putting down others is just part of the culture you have gotten used to, but it is by no means normal. It is dysfunctional to a workspace as well as a blog site.
"Just FYI, the expression is "couldn't care less." Think about it."
Stop that. Putting down others is just part of the culture you have gotten used to, but it is by no means normal. It is dysfunctional to a workspace as well as a blog site.
November 14, 2011 5:45 PM
What is dysfunctional to society in general is the loss of the understanding of language and its roots. If you don't understand why you say what you say, you are functionally illiterate.
If there are big layoffs at LANL you will know well in advance. At LLNL they wiped away nearly a quarter of the workforce and we knew it was coming for months. It was quite public and out in the open. They can't do more than 50 without notification of I think 30 days notice. So I would suggest quit worrying about secret RIF lists. If they are going to do it they will tell you then you get to enjoy some quality time wondering if they are going to lay you off on "the day". Unless you are a manager. They didn't eliminate any of them.
39 comments:
I wonder if Moses let Parney know about this? Or is Moses operating his own Lab know as NIF?
Sneaky, but that's how the NNSA "for profit" corporate LLCs like to operate. It's part of their strong emphasis on a "business" culture rather than the labs' former "science" culture that respected research.
They'll have you with box in hand moving out the front door of the lab before you know what hit you. Fast, clean.... and ruthless.
Well, I was laid off from NIF...anyone else?
Four out of ten people in my group were let go this week. I don't know the number over all, but rumors have at somewhere between 60 and 100. I really suspect this is due to some kind of mismanagement of funds. They were steadily hiring people until just a month ago, if not more recently. I know the layoffs were program-wide. It must have been a pretty good number, as I was told shot operations were scrubbed for several days because of it. I wonder if this is a sign that confidence in the project's mission is waning?
I really suspect this is due to some kind of mismanagement of funds. They were steadily hiring people until just a month ago, if not more recently.
November 5, 2011 7:58 PM
Great, LLNS mismanages funds and hacks working level people. I bet NOT ONE manager was let go due to this mismanagement. Another operating theme of LANS/LLNS.
You gotta wonder about the timing of this RIF. Moses didn't get the Lab Director job and within days he fires people on Parney's watch. Hummm....
Those huge increases to LLC upper management salaries during the last few years and the large number of newly hired upper managers from Bechtel have to be paid for someway.
We have the world's fastest computers, resources to solve the most complex scientific and national security problems, and we loose track of ~ $30 Million (i.e. salaries for ~ 60 technical staff). I thought LLNS/LANS was hired by NNSA to improve the efficiency and management at the Labs? What did I miss?
Perhaps it was a matter of counting the chickens before they hatched. Did NIF ramp up to meet a milestone expecting that congress would pass a budget, and when we wound up doing continuing resolution they had to scale back? Or they could have mismanaged the money, they've been know to do that in the past.
They better get some great results. If not, LLNL will vaporize faster than a hohlraum.
1:57pm,
How on earth do 60 people cots 30 million dollars? They get paid 500k each?
1:57pm,
How on earth do 60 people cots 30 million dollars? They get paid 500k each?
November 6, 2011 5:48 PM
Yup! A well-paid LANL/LLNL/SNL scientist with salary ($160,000), benefits (vacation, sick leave, Holidays, matching 401K, health, dental, vision, life insurance, etc.), overhead (lights, computer, heat, supplies, etc.), and nuclear facilities (plutonium, waste, tritium, high explosives, etc.). And, that's not an overpaid LLNL/LANS manager! That's why no one wants to do business with us!
You can not layoff a single career FTE irregardless of WARN act or at-will assignment w/o DOE approval and public notice. Period!
If employees were laid off they have to have been slo, flex-term, or out sourced (I was in the lab's flexible workforce for several yrs before becoming career if that matters).
Post, clarify what the status off the employees that were laid off were?
I believe most of them were from contractors like Akima(formerly IAP, Bechtel, and Jacobs. They can let them go pretty easily. I believe some Lab employees were reassigned outside NIF. Would it really kill them to be upfront about what's going on?
You can not layoff a single career FTE irregardless of WARN act or at-will assignment w/o DOE approval and public notice. Period!
Baloney. The trigger level for the WARN Act is 50 people per month. And non-employees (SLO, contractors, etc.) don't count against the 50.
Returning employees to their matrix home is also not a layoff, although it can end up causing one.
Could this simply be letting contractors go because some construction task has come to and end?
11:29PM
Thanks for the added info.
Irregardless?
Rumor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
umor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
November 8, 2011 7:47 AM
That may be, however, Congress is drafting legislation to "protect" the defense programs from the across the board cuts if the super-committee cannot "do their job". One thing for sure, is this would give LANS/LLNS another opportunity to "right size". I also guarantee most of the RIFees wil be 50+ or older.....AS ALWAYS.
Another sad day in America. Corporate greed run out of control.
I'm sorry for the families that will have to go through the holidays like this. Typical, they dump the employees before they have to pay their holidays off.
"You can not layoff a single career FTE irregardless of WARN act or at-will assignment w/o DOE approval and public notice. Period!" - 8:50 pm
Wow, you must be a lab old-timer! The world has radically changed at the Bechtel-ized "for-profit" managed NNSA labs. Those old days are long gone. If someone doesn't meet Bechtel's strict "business operation" desires of the new management team then they are gone, career FTE staff or not. And don't expect to see any severance payout, either. They simply fire you.
I agree that they can simply fire you.
The labs layoff that began in 2008 was after contract transition. If involuntary separation is under the policy definition of "layoff". It does requires DOE/NNSA concurrence:
http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2008/04/doennsa-approves-llnls-involuntary.html
It does requires DOE/NNSA concurrence:
http://lanl-the-rest-of-the-story.blogspot.com/2008/04/doennsa-approves-llnls-involuntary.html
November 9, 2011 11:47 AM
And DOE/NNSA will quickly rubber stamp the RIF as: APPROVED.
What makes you think that DOE/NNSA provides cover for LANS employees? They are like the French handing their rifles over to the Germans. The only thing that the DOE/NNSA (France) will protect is their wine (PBIs).
Rumor is that LANL may be starting a RIF list. This would not be unreasonable since the speculation is that they are worried about large cuts if the super-congress cannot make a deal. The other possibility is that even if the super-congress comes through that eventual budget cuts will still effect NNSA.
November 8, 2011 7:47 AM
"Starting" a RIF list! I got news for you pal, LANS had a RIF list when they took control of the Lab. Knapp implemented his "list" in 2008 when he forced ~30 engineers out their jobs in W and WT-Divisions. LANS is ready, willing, able and excited to RIF people, on a minute notice. The question now is, are they going to implement it. Bring it on Knapp, bring it on!
The managers that were complicit and overtly participated in the down-sizing in W and WT-Division at LANS in 2008 were Bret Knapp, Terry Wallace, Craig Leasure, Scott Gibbs, Paul Wantuck, and Charlie MacMillan. This action was carried out surgically without any notice, process, or paperwork. The reason I bring this up is that all these "folks" were promoted for carrying out this action, remained at LANS, and will be the same folks who will act without conscious, heart, or feeling when they axe more people in the next RIF at LANS.
I was one of the employees targeted for layoff in 2008 because I WAS career. They left the less experienced flex terms in their job, even though they didn't have the skills to take over my poisition. So please don't think you are safe. Career means nothing. Logic means nothing.
LANS doesn't call a RIF a RIF. They call it "restructuring". It's the ONLY thing that Bechtel has brought to the "table" since running LANS/LLNS aside from "parking" their worthless managers in our chairs and parking lots.
If the Super-Committee fails to act in the next few weeks (which seems increasingly likely due to the partisan bickering), then the automatic cuts that will devastate DoD (and NNSA) won't start until Jan 2013. That's the way it was designed in the legislation.
However, it will be clear the cuts are coming before then so you can expect lab budget managers to begin taking layoff actions by either late next summer or the fall of 2012.
It seems unlikely to me that layoffs would be instituted during the middle of FY2012, as the effect of the budget cuts won't hit until the FY2013 budget. However, be aware the these automatic cuts will be accumulative with a continuation of the cutting in FY2014, FY2015, FY2016, etc. A decade of cuts would ensue and the NNSA would be looking at drastic downsizing.
November 12, 2011 8:42 AM
If they are smart they would have everything ready to go Fall 2012 which would mean things would
have to be in process the summer of 2012. My guess is they will do nothing untill possible the cuts actually hit and only then throw something together very fast and ill thought out.
The managers that were complicit and overtly participated in the down-sizing in W and WT-Division at LANS in 2008...
Was anyone walked out the door during this? Or were they reassigned to other part of LANL? Unless you have a printing press, the budget of W/WT is not time invariant.
You guys in the weapon program (X, WX, W, etc.) that work for Knapp better get ready for a good butt kicking. Knapp is the first to volunteer his people during a RIF. He's trying to make a name for himself and a bid for the Director job after MacMillan. He could care less about weapon capability and particular workers, who considers expendable trash.
You could easily cut at least 25% from the Labs' bugdet without laying off one person who actually does work. Just undo the LLCs + prune the top-heavy management structure. Oh, and don't forget to do the same to the NNSA. The productivity at the Labs would in fact skyrocket in this scenario. Something tells me though this isn't how the LLCs/NNSA will structure their layoffs.
He could care less about weapon capability and particular workers, who considers expendable trash.
November 12, 2011 10:40 AM
Just FYI, the expression is "couldn't care less." Think about it.
You could cut 10% of expenses at LLNL by eliminating any job that has the word "deputy" in it. This is a remnant of the UC structure which is supposed to have been changed by LLNS.
Instead,we got the LLNS bureaucracy superimposed on the UC bureaucracy. NO cleanup was done.
Good job NNSA!
"You could cut 10% of expenses at LLNL by eliminating any job that has the word "deputy" in it."
Additional cuts by eliminating job titles containing: "special project", "assistant", "associate", "chief", "officer", "specialist", etc.
"Just FYI, the expression is "couldn't care less." Think about it."
Stop that. Putting down others is just part of the culture you have gotten used to, but it is by no means normal. It is dysfunctional to a workspace as well as a blog site.
"Just FYI, the expression is "couldn't care less." Think about it."
Stop that. Putting down others is just part of the culture you have gotten used to, but it is by no means normal. It is dysfunctional to a workspace as well as a blog site.
November 14, 2011 5:45 PM
What is dysfunctional to society in general is the loss of the understanding of language and its roots. If you don't understand why you say what you say, you are functionally illiterate.
If there are big layoffs at LANL you will know well in advance. At LLNL they wiped away nearly a quarter of the workforce and we knew it was coming for months. It was quite public and out in the open. They can't do more than 50 without notification of I think 30 days notice. So I would suggest quit worrying about secret RIF lists. If they are going to do it they will tell you then you get to enjoy some quality time wondering if they are going to lay you off on "the day". Unless you are a manager. They didn't eliminate any of them.
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