Contributed by anonymous:
Good sources indicate that approximately 200 people have signed up for the VSSOP as of 2/15, most of them in the first few minutes after 8 AM on Tues., 2/12. Seems logical, since it's first come, first served.
No doubt a few will get cold feet, and some may end up not being eligible because of caps; perhaps a few more will get fed up during the last week and sign up before the deadline. Nevertheless, it appears as if the OP will fall way short of the 700-750 desired.
This is not good news for ULM. Add to that GM's estimate of the FY09 budget on Newsline last week (another $67M shortfall). The mechanisms for an involuntary layoff are not good. Should be an interesting next two months.
41 comments:
Poses a number of interesting questions.
* If a involuntary reduction takes place, can a person volunteer to take it?
* Does this preserve the unemployment benefits?
One nice thing. Some DOE leatherbrain wrote -- in the DOE summary report about the 1996 LLNL voluntary severance (much the same terms as this years)-- that it was too generous, that the same conditions (350-400 takers) could have been achieved for less cost. Another excellent DOE analysis. Nice to know that DOE human resources, and DOE contract management types continue their perfect record. Always wrong.
Good thing DOE doesn't do anything of national importance,
Ok, so George tried it the DOE way, on the cheap, and DOE gets exactly what it paid for. Another nice mess to lie about.
Good folks are already leaving positions that will be hard to fill with good replacements, even with much higher salaries.
If involuntary separations occur, the myth of secure employment will be debunked. Present and future employees will want full market compensation, rather than taking less with the understanding that security means less risk.
Like a corporation losing a AAA bond rating, DOE will pay more for the same employee, because it has decided to become a more risky employer (Smooth move DAgostino, that BS degree from Noshow Tech is really helping you now. Must have slept through the risk/reward lecture in Macroecon.....)
So in the long run DOE will pay more for less. qjq
DOE really has it's nose stuck in the keyhole.
Good folks looking and leaving quickly, those less demanding and more comfortable sticking around.
Higher salaries for the replacements. Yahoo!
Hearing 25% in a few days of looking. Time to test the waters?
Under DOE constraints, the LLNL organization is no longer a successful innovator, or a careful analyst, but rather a tenuous reactor, misreading events and trying to catch up.
What will B113 try now that it has shot the incentive silver bullet?
Will it think realistically about the next step or just react again?
A successful incentive that works is better in the long-run than an involuntary that undermines the confidence and financial security of the entire workforce.
Since this opening ante didn't work, will they up the ante or drink the involuntary kool-aid?
We are the best and brightest and this is the best they can offer us?
Meanwhile, this is what factory workers are getting:
Friday, February 15, 2008
Ford introduces two new buyout packages
Under the first program, workers would receive a lump-sum payment of $50,000 and five years continuation of existing health-care benefits.
Under the second program, they would receive a lump-sum payment of $50,000 and seven years of catastrophic health coverage only.
The new packages offer $50,000 to non-trade workers and $70,000 to skilled workers
I think the 1996 program was two weeks of pay for each year, so I’m sure DOE thought it was too generous. I don’t know what the maximum was. It also included up to $10K for education. Education could include almost anything, such as cooking classes. Not sure about medical benefits.
Even better, GM "Workers with 10 or more years on the job who agree to voluntarily leave can take a cash buyout of $140,000 "
Note: LLNL/VSIP/1996 "There were 272 separations through VSIP"
(see Page 50, http://www.lm.doe.gov/documents/3_pro_doc/7_history/annual_reports/1998/fy1998wt_sec2.pdf
VSIP/96 incentive: 2 weeks per year. VSSOP/2008: 1 week per year = NO 'INCENTIVE' what so ever !
Offer of VSSOP was merely something LLNS had to do before RIF (they are REQUIRED to offer a voluntary separation package ... no requirement on the 'value' of package ... just an offer.
Wonder if they have a cap/quota, and will that cap/quota be reached (NOT) ???
"Cutting Y-12's payroll
B&W offered the voluntary departure package today, and not everyone is thrilled with the offering, which is less than the severance package for those who leave involuntarily (layoffs)."
It could be worse. Glad I don't work at Y-12.
"Y-12 seeks 300-400 job cuts, offers incentive package
By Frank Munger
Originally published 01:20 p.m., February 18, 2008
Updated 04:26 p.m., February 18, 2008
OAK RIDGE — The government’s contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant hopes to reduce its payroll by 300 to 400 employees to ease a budget crunch, and the company today announced a voluntary separation program to encourage some of its salaried workers to take early retirement.
The incentive package for voluntary departees, however, is less than what’s provided to laid-off workers, and that didn’t please some Y-12 employees.
Instead of getting a week’s pay for every year of service, which is the severance package offered to laid-off workers, the employees who accept the voluntary-separation plan will get 70 percent of that total.
“It was disappointing that B&W management at Y-12 decided to cut our (voluntary separation plan) benefits, when other facilities — Sandia, Livermore and Los Alamos — get their full amount,” said Matt O’Hara, who has worked at the Oak Ridge facilities since 1979.
He was referring to the three design labs that, like Y-12, are part of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and facing personnel cuts.
“We are the only facility in the country that gets our severance pay cut, and we don’t even get a cost of living on our pension plan,” O’Hara said today.
Bill Wilburn, a spokesman for B&W, said the package for voluntary departures was approved by the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s not yet clear how many departures B&W hopes to get through the incentive program.
Y-12 employees can begin applying for the program immediately, Wilburn said. The last day for applications will be Feb. 28, and applicants will be notified by March 10 on whether they’ve been approved for the program, he said.
B&W Y-12, a partnerhip of Babcock & Wilcox and Bechtel National, employs about 4,500 workers at the Oak Ridge plant.
Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, would not comment on the incentive package or the number of job cuts needed to meet federal goals.
More details as they develop online and in Tuesday’s News Sentinel.
© 2008 Knoxville News Sentinel"
http://tinyurl.com/2p595d
This could have all been avoided if they would have given all of us 3 and 3 when we were under UC, but, NNSA and DOE know what best for the nation and the people who made it strong. Thanks for nothing dumb-butts.
There is that word again..Bechtel.
This can't be good for the USA. We really need to take this country back again.
"National governments have lost their grip on the reins of world power."
"Between 1980 and 1992 the 500 biggest corporations in the US saw their assets rise by 227%. Over the same period the number of people they employed fell by 28%."
http://www.postremus.com/corporate.html
February 18, 2008 10:39 PM
The only way we can get big business out of government is to neuter those who're in bed with them. It's only a matter of time.
I have turned in my resignation after working here for more than 3 decades. I am not taking the VSSOP because I was not allowed too, which was supposed to make me want to stay.
Two new rumors to think about.
1) If you are on the EBA list next month you are gone. EBA funds for this year are expended. You are now a negative cash flow to the empire.
2) If offered a job and you take it but that job pays less than you make now, your salary will be reduced to fit the new job classification.
3) People who they want to keep are being placed in job that they may or may not be qualifed for, but that only to save the chosen few. Watch for all of a sudden being displaced and your job filled by someone less qualifed but is part of the good old boy network.
If anyone can verify these to be fact please chime in.
Hey, ULM are you reading? One rumor your forgot to mention was, only 200-250 people to date are taking the VSSOP. That's good news. I wish it was less than that.
There is one more. I heard they were re-writing the rules on how to get rid of people faster, that supercedes what we were told during the transition. You know like changing the rules to their advantage as we move along so they can get their bonus checks next year.
About rewriting the rules.
If you go to Section K of Policies and Procedures, which is the section that deals with separations, you'll find that in big, bold type it says: "To be rewritten by April 2008". Chances are, the rewrite is NOT going to be to the benefit of the employee.
My guess is legally they have to work with the policies as currently written for this first round of reductions for the career indefinites. After that, all bets are off
In my world the main worry is keeping the younger, more highly motivated and skilled people who actually do work rather than the older, unmotivated less skilled types who would let the lab fall over if they were anything more than bit players in the day to day operation of things.
The younger types tend to have little or no sense of entitlement, at least compared to some of the long term employees.
As for rejoicing over the apparent limited participation... I don't get it. Do some of you really want the lab to fail? Wouldn't that be the ultimate victory for NNSA/DOE/Congress? Personally I care too much about my country, my coworkers and the lab to let the idiots in DC destroy this place.
How dare you imply that only the youth are worth protecting!
I was older and motivated to serve. Cleaned up the mess that the wonder-kids made in my organisation a couple of times. So full of themselves and yet oh-so gullible. Millions of dollars wasted on junk because ULM trusted them more than the senior staff.
The kids will do fine, just pick up and move on to another mercenary job. They expect that kind of work these days. Any hit in pay is easily made up by them because they have more time to earn it back.
We've been sold out, told to just lie down and die. Loyalty is a two-way street. It took a dedicated campaign by DOE and ULM to destroy the employees. I'm long gone and am smart enough not to look over my shoulder.
Prediction - in a few years international threats will arise on a scale few can imagine. Hopefully the brain-donors that disarmed this country will be the first to die. If you are smart, gather up your family and leave for safer places now.
February 19, 2008 5:00 PM
All three, false rumors until I hear differently. The director has to define a "unit" and if you are in that "unit" no matter how many years you have at LLNL you'll be gone. Remember, it's the definiton of a unit that has to be defined yet. Maybe in April.
" Do some of you really want the lab to fail? Wouldn't that be the ultimate victory for NNSA/DOE/Congress?"
It would appear you haven't been paying attention. NNSA has already "won" the war. What we're seeing now is simply a mopping up action - taking care of some irksome details of no import to anyone.
Yes, join Georgie and embrace the change. Drink deep from the NNSA Kool-Aid. It'll all be over in a little while, and all those old people will be gone. Buh-bye, Beavis.
February 20, 2008 5:01 PM,
That is pretty heavy stuff. If we had a president with a vision for America, rather than one controlled by global corporations, perhaps something could be done to prevent what you are talking about.
As far as NNSA having won the war, it's not over until I say it's over. And frankly it isn't over even then. Personally I get a huge kick out of winning against the odds. And contrary to the opinion of some who post here I do not believe NNSA and ULM are part of some evil and ingenious plot to destroy the lab and employees. Never attribute to avarice what can be explained by incompetence and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
By the by, there was no intent to imply that everyone over the age of 35 at the lab is useless. I know many people, myself included who passed that birthday awhile back and managed to remain productive useful members of the lab population. These people aren't even an exception. However, there is a substantial minority of people in the 35+ range who are shall we say less productive than they could/should be.
"If we had a president with a vision for America, rather than one controlled by global corporations, perhaps something could be done to prevent what you are talking about."
This is a joke right? There isn't a single congressman, senator or presidents that's even been in office that was tied to big business and corporate America for a long time. Why do you think we'll never move ahead. Big business only wants to cut your throat and bring you down to the rest of the world. They want you working for the same wages as someone in India and do the same amount of work. These politician and big business are not here to hep you. You are slave labor and that's the end of that story. The U S of A is no longer an industrial nation or am icon that any other country can look up to. They are exploiters of a world labor force. Maybe once all national workers come up to our wages, we may once again become competitive but until then we are in a vortex of a steady decline. Welcome to the global economy.
Maybe socialism isn't going to be such a bad thing. We'll all be equal and substantially equivalent in the aggregate.
There's been some behind the closed door meetings going on with supervisors, Steve Paterson and some big wigs and I hear that group leaders are tomorrow. What's the secrets. Are they lining up the people they care to can next because only 200 or so took the VSSOP. I know for sure that some have big ears and are in fact snitches reporting directly back to ULM all they have heard being passed around so they can get their next promotion. If their ears would grow from listening to other peoples conversations, their facial features would soon look like Pinky and the Brains ears, or maybe yet, dumbo. It's only a shame this doesn't happen for real. At least we'd know who they were.
"There's been some behind the closed door meetings going on with supervisors, Steve Paterson and some big wigs and I hear that group leaders are tomorrow. What's the secrets."
No conspiracy here; Patterson is announcing his retirement.
I am curious why so many people want to stay with LLNS. This is the worst run organization I have ever worked for, and there is no end in sight to their bad behavior. They have no clue how to manage their way through this mess.
Do people reading this blog think that things will get better? If so, when? I have talked to several people in management, and some are optimistic that this is just a bad point in the lab's history, and things will improve after two years. Others think that it is going to get worse over the next two years, and don't see it ever improving, just staying at a constant bad state.
So why stay? Especially if a worker is young, why stay? How is a young person's career going to progress staying on with a dying organization? The lab can't offer job security, it doesn't look like they are interested in non-laser science, and they want to focus on the lab's mission (aka, classified research that doesn't help a career). What exactly are the perks at LLNS?
"No conspiracy here; Patterson is announcing his retirement."
February 21, 2008 7:47 AM
Just another big fish jumping ship before it sinks while the mice keep bailing. Enjoy your 100%salary for life S.P. Oh and don't forget about Option (A).Did he go TCP-1 or TCP-2?
My bets on TCP-2.
February 21, 2008 1:42 PM
It's a paycheck that pays the bills and for those who only have a few more years left it's better for them to stay then to try and start over again. For the young you're correct. There is nothing at LLNL now and there isn't going to be anything of public interest at LLNL in the future. It will be a lot of DOD work that not relative to any job on the outside world and I'll assure you that wages will be capped like those of civil serve. Once DOD comes aboard watch for job classification change from a 4 digit to a WG or GS ranking. Yes the STEP system would have arrived at that point in time. I give it three years at the most.
Patterson is at least the 6th of the key personnel in the LLNS proposal to vacate the job before 2 years. LLNS must be livid, as this costs them big bucks.
To bad he is just retiring. If he was starting his own company instead, and taking a bunch of the engineers with him, now that would be some news :)
Anyone who thinks this management is one of the worst around clearly hasn't worked in many private sector jobs.
Factoid of the day, 44% of the labs current FTE count are age 50 or older with five or more years of service. That is 3,018 people who will likely be going out the gate for the final time over the next decade.
Think about the implications of that.
"Patterson is at least the 6th of the key personnel in the LLNS proposal to vacate the job before 2 years. LLNS must be livid, as this costs them big bucks."
February 21, 2008 7:55 PM
How's this cost LLNS anything. They're all probably TCP-2 and are retiring under UCRP. That doesn't cost LLNS a dime. As a matter of a fact it will save LLNS money. That's seven less people on the pay roll and isn't laying off people or forcing them to retire the way to save money. It's just that one of them equal four of us. Most likely instead of reducing the number of people in ULM they'll fill those vacant slots with their own kind at a much lower pay rate and then distribute the savings among the remainder.
"That is 3,018 people who will likely be going out the gate for the final time over the next decade."
February 21, 2008 10:33 PM
As long as they don't hire replacements over that time LLNL will be okay and the RIF's will stop. Maybe between this attrition rate and the 2,300 that will be gone by the end of FY-09 we'll get the head count down where it needs to be. 4,500 people including terms and contracts may still be to many for the amount of work that'll be going on. What the 3,018 people have to worry about is if there's going to be enough work to make it through the ten years, or will the stress kill you before you collect retirement. Do you feel lucky?
What the 3,018 people have to worry about is if there's going to be enough work to make it through the ten years, or will the stress kill you before you collect retirement. Do you feel lucky?
My guess is LLNS is banking on the fact that 50% of these people will never get to collect and that spells profit, oh excuse me, cost savings.
The only possible "benefit" from LLNS perspective of people dieing before they collect their retirement is a reduction in the odds of them having to pay into TCP-1 or the LLNL portion of UC. And right now the odds of either fund needing additional money are fairly low anyway. So I'm not sure where the additional profit comment comes from.
I'd had this vague hope that the LLNL BLOG would be more useful and objective than the LANL one. It's pretty clear at this point that my hope was misplaced.
It isn't all sweetness and light. I get it. I'm not even expecting a purely objective perspective. It would however be nice if people stopped trying to emulate the LANL BLOG.
I'd had this vague hope that the LLNL BLOG would be more useful and objective than the LANL one
Sorry to disappoint you. This is open to a variety of people with a variety of opinions. SO, it is unlikely you will find a lot of objective comments. Thanks for visiting!
February 22, 2008 4:08 AM
It does cost LLNS big bucks. The contract has a clause that personnel in the key positions identified in the proposal must stay a minimum of 2 years. If they leave early,the salary of their replacement is not an allowed cost that can be charged to the contract.
February 22, 2008 5:54 PM
I think the rule also reads that any one classification that is RIF'd or released from their duties during the 3161 can't be replaced for one year. This being the case means to whomever thought they were about to take SP's place is SOL for at least one year. You will be right where they are with nope hope of advancement to that position for at least a year and that's a good thing. We don't need any more high price management types. Maybe in a year after SP leaves you MIGHT get the job, if a LLNS employee doesn't take it from you at cheaper pay rate. They don't need a scientist or engineer for that position. They need someone who has people skills. Like someone who has formal training as a people managers.
"...Patterson is at least the 6th of the key personnel in the LLNS proposal to vacate the job before 2years..."
If true, this says people in the know are bailing. A real vote of no confidence to the DOE puppeteers.
Perhaps it will be time, after a nice summer, to get the resume out again to those who care if they succeed.
Good news is in January, Obama will put Bodman and D'Agostino out with the trash.
Good news is in January, Obama will put Bodman and D'Agostino out with the trash.
Amen! both idiots plus some local idiots!
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