I can provide a partial report on what SPSE-UPTE is planning to do for those members laid off. Look for more later in official press releases.
First, SPSE-UPTE is joining those who suggested that everyone wear black on Thursday. Black shirts, even black pants, are all too appropriate. Second, SPSE-UPTE members have informally agreed to join the impromptu show of support, first suggested on this blog, for those laid off on Vasco Road near the West Gate between 12 and 12:30 on BLACK Thursday, May 22nd. This will demonstrate support for those paying the price of privatization and management miscues to the community - and the press. Third, look for press announcements from SPSE-UPTE about more substantial actions to be taken, which could eventually (NOT SOON, unfortunately) have substantial benefits for unit members laid off without LLNS first bargaining the conditions of their layoff with SPSE-UPTE.
I hope to see anyone and everyone at 12:00 on Black Thursday on Vasco in front of the West Gate. At least if you are there on your lunch hour, you won't be in your office to receive the boot! Rumor has it that at least one Directorates are requiring 200s, and maybe 300s, to be in their offices Thursday between 10 and 2 -through the lunch hour! The term barbaric does come to mind.
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7 comments:
This rumor needs confirmation.
Anyone recall the term "walking dead man"? If you're going to be fired anyway, you're totally free now. Go to the protests, tell ULM to their face what you think of them, etc.
Has any one contacted the labor relations board, to
find out if all these layoffs are legal. it costs nothing
to enquire about workers rights. There may be some
information that is useful , because of the lack of
information given as to why so many have lost there
employment. And the truth not being told about under
bidding the contract there could be legal avenues that
can be taken. DON"T GO WITH OUT A FIGHT your lively hoods are at stake.
From someone now retired and "outside the fence": I'm thinking of all of you folks today and tomorrow. I just wanted to say that all your work over the years is appreciated, no matter where it is you work(ed) at the Lab (appreciated at least by me).
Try to keep your eyes and energy fixed on the future once all this is over. Nothing can be done about the past, but the future is yours.
Good luck.
The approximately 50 people who showed up at the West Gate at noon today, Black Thursday, many wearing UPTE T-shirts, were warmly greeted by the hundreds driving out for lunch. In response to the rally sign "We'll miss you," horns honked, thumbs pointed up, pained smiles appeared, old friends exchanged greetings, and tears flowed.
All in all, the rally succeeded in demonstrating warm support for our colleagues so rudely shown the exit by LLNS today. Best wishes to all on Black Friday, especially those who are long time 200 series employees !
Others attending the rally included a photojournalist and a writer from a national professional magazine who got many rich quotes from attendees - and is looking for more quotes for a major story on what the layoff means for the future of science at the lab. If you'd like to contact the writer, post here, and her contact info may appear!
Yesterday 5-22-08 was the weirdest day I have ever experienced in my almost 30 years at the lab. It was also my last day.
I was glad to be able to visit some of my friends and co-workers in Bldg. 511 for a few minutes before my Q clearance and my badge and my job was taken from me.
I was glad to see several dedicated LLNL employees wearing black to show their support to the employees that had their jobs taken from them.
May 22, 2008 8:48 PM
You can bet there was somebody from management recording the names of those that attended the show of support. I have no doubt all of those who participated will forever be in the cross hairs.
From
Chemical and Engineering News
May 23, 2008
National Laboratories
Lawrence Livermore Lays Off Scientists
Photo of Black-Shirted Employees at West Gate: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i21/8621news9.html
Terminations are the first for permanent employees in 35 years
Jyllian Kemsley/C&EN
DEMORALIZED LLNL employees, many wearing black to signify mourning for the layoffs, wave to colleagues departing the lab on May 22.To contain costs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) laid off 440 permanent career employees, including 164 scientists, on May 22 and 23, lab spokeswoman Susan M. Houghton says. This is the first time since 1973 that the lab has laid off permanent staff, she adds.
In January, LLNL terminated 450 temporary contract employees, Houghton says. The lab then offered early retirement packages to permanent employees, 215 of whom took the offer. She says the lab expects to terminate an additional 100 contract personnel by June 30. Adding in normal attrition, contract completion, and retirements, LLNL will be down about 2,000 people to a total workforce of about 6,600 people by July, she says.
“Morale is terrible,” says Jeffrey D. Colvin, a physicist who works in the lab’s Chemistry, Materials, Earth & Life Sciences Directorate. “It’s very depressing even for those of us not getting notices. We have to say good-bye to long-term colleagues.” When C&EN spoke with Colvin—a 25-year lab veteran—on May 22, he wasn’t sure if he’d get a layoff notice on May 23.
LLNL spared scientific staff affiliated with the National Ignition Facility, a laser facility that will enable study of nuclear fusion for weapons and energy applications, Houghton says. Otherwise, the job cuts are spread across the sciences and include an unknown number of chemists. She says layoff decisions were based not on seniority—110 of the scientists had been at the lab for more than 10 years—but on ability. The lab retained people with skills it deemed critical for future research programs, she says.
The layoffs at LLNL come after an October 2007 change in management from the University of California (UC) to a private company, Lawrence Livermore National Security. The company is a consortium including Bechtel Corp., UC, Babcock & Wilcox, the Washington Division of URS Corp., and Battelle. In addition to reducing the workforce, Houghton says, the lab has also implemented cost-cutting measures such as curtailing travel and shuttering office spaces. LLNL’s operating budget for fiscal 2008 is approximately $1.6 billion.
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