The Independent
June 13, 2013
Lab Employees Opt for Early Retirement
A
total of 399 employees are leaving the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory. They opted to participate in the Lab's voluntary separation
program.
Their last full day at work was June 12.
Up to 600 employees would have been allowed to take part.
With the exit of 399 employees, the Lab's work force dropped from 6200 to 5800.
No
specific jobs were targeted for elimination. All career employees were
eligible to apply for the voluntary reduction program. Those who applied
had until last Monday to rescind the decision.
Lab spokesperson
Lynda Seaver said whether or not further reductions will be determined
once the fiscal numbers for 2014 are known.
The draft budget
reduces funding for the Lab by $100 million, about an eight percent
reduction. Seaver said the debate is still going on as to specific cuts.
However, NIF is one of the programs that will face reduced funding.
Once the Lab receives its final 2014 budget, it will reassess its situation, Seaver says.
In
the press release announcing the voluntary separation program, Lab
Director Parney Albright stated, "Although there remain a number of
unknowns about how the budget request for FY14 would flow down to our
Laboratory, it is clear the budget proposal will face an uphill battle
in Congress this summer, with continuing debates about reducing federal
spending, a possible FY14 sequester and the debt ceiling."
Following
completion of the voluntary reduction process, the Lab will examine the
skills of its remaining workforce and balance that against funding for
2014.
The Lab is still faced with challenges with regard to the 2013 budget. Funding was reduced 10 percent by sequestration.
Seaver
said that the payroll could be reduced by 10 percent by giving
employees every other Friday off. The every-other-Friday furlough days
are paid like holidays, at the reduced rate.
8 comments:
One thing which bothers me is that LLNL told the press before telling employees. I didn't see that 399 number or any other number in Newsline, and it first appeared in the director's report today, June 19, 6 days after the VSP.
And then some press reports show misunderstandings. As usual, my most reliable source of information has been the rumor mill.
Something is wrong when the employer goes out of their way not to communicate with their employees.
I found the "furloughs are like a paid holiday" comment both insulting and absurd.
I also found that PR spin absurd.
More accurate: "furloughs are a 10% across the board pay cut"
Also, reading about the results of the VSP in various *newspapers* (old tech delivery system) before hearing anything from LLNL was, once again, another case of putting spinning to media above communicating with employees.
June 21, 2013 at 3:05 PM
Now you know why this blog, even though a lot of people hate it, is more important than anything you have at LLNL or LANL. Since the take over by LANS and LLNS this blog and the people who use it have accurately predicted what ULM never wanted you or the public to know and it's been about 98% correct. The best you people can do is keep it alive, keep talking and keep posting, call it like it is and let everyone know the facts. You are never going to get this type information from management. They are not your friends. Better yet, give this URL to all the your local newspapers and news media's to review daily and let them work for you just as the news media does for all the candidates they back.
I agree with this assessment. My friends and I learn more about what's going on at the Lab through this blog. You just have to sort through the comments and make your own evaluations. The comments on this blog reflect the sentiments of those who have left the Lab and those who are still there.
Yes, please keep posting your opinions, comments and whatever the latest news you hear. This maybe the only source of information we can learn from since the management never tell us the truth.
It's one thing to do PR that is essentially propaganda.. It's quite another to do PR badly. That is where LLNL is. Doing it badly, almost as if they are intentionally trying to piss off the employees through badly executed messaging. They are either not good at what they do, or they just don't care, a reflection of how they actually feel about the vast majority of the employee population.
LLNL ULM has made it clear yet again that they have nothing but total contempt for the employees. Post-VSP, they can now realize their dream of turning the place into a concentration camp.
Give ULM and PR some credit. PR for an audience of PhDs is really hard work since scientists are trained to have healthy levels of skepticism and are able to shred illogical statements and any bs. Any PR they do is bad unless it involves relatively inane topics.
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