LLNL - The True Story -

Anonymously contributed: The AD Life at LLNL Anyone remember Pam Horning, who LLNS appointed Associate Director of Nuclear Operations at LLNL. She was only at LLNL about a year or so. Well she is finally selling her house in the local area…for $1.3 million. She definitely did okay working for LLNS… from the realtor website BlockShopper. ---------------- Nuclear industry exec lists Pleasanton 5BD for $1.349M by Shania Sampson, published Jan. 27, 2011 Pamela A. Horning and Jeffrey A. Horning have listed for sale a five-bedroom, 3.5-bath home in Pleasanton for $1.349 million. Kim Grass and Lorraine Davis of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent for the house. The 3,853-square-foot house was built in 1997 in West Pleasanton. It is located in Laguna Oaks subdivision. Ms. Horning serves as a director at EFCOG and vice president at Babcock & Wilcox, Technical Services Group. She has more than 27 years of experience in the nuclear industry. Prior to this, she has held ...

Anonymously contributed: Has anybody seen Sasha Cohen lately? I haven't seen him since right before Chu became head of LBNL. You don't think?

Anonymously contributed: Isn't it funny how poorly our leaders perform? Perhaps they shouldn't be paid anything. Scooby's note: what do you think?

Anonymously contributed: Albuquerque Journal Thursday, January 27, 2011 By Michael Coleman Journal Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — A budget resolution approved by the U.S. House this week would have devastating consequences for New Mexico's national laboratories, according to two New Mexico lawmakers. The Republican-controlled House on Tuesday approved a resolution that instructs House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to prepare budget blueprint for 2011 that rolls back spending — except for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veteran Affairs — to 2008 spending levels. That would mean a roughly 10 percent reduction for Sandia National Laboratories and an approximately 17 percent budget cut at Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to the office of Rep. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat whose district includes Sandia. New Mexico's labs, which maintain the nation's nuclear weapons stockpiles and perform cutting-edge civilian science, receive the bulk of ...

Anonymous sent in a response to his letter to Chu: "Thank you for sharing your concerns about the two-year pay freeze on site and facility management prime contractor employees announced by the Department of Energy on December 17, 2010. The Department recognizes the sacrifice it is expecting from our contractor workforce, which does important research, operations and environmental cleanup work. As part of the DOE complex, you play an integral role in accomplishing the tasks that support the mission and operation of the Department. Secretary Chu feels strongly that site and facility management contractor employees should join with federal employees in making this sacrifice as our nation continues to recover from challenging economic times. Be assured that Department will face the same challenges and concerns you outlined for its employees. The Department appreciates your continued support for its critical missions of advancing scientific leadership, economic competitiveness, a...

Source: Weapons Complex Monitor, Volume 22 No.2, January 14, 2011 DOE CONSIDERING HOW TO SPEND SAVINGS FROM CONTRACTOR PAY FREEZE Freeze Initially Described as ‘Sacrifice’ The Department of Energy has begun quietly examining how to spend the savings expected to be generated through a recently enacted two-year freeze of contractor employees’ pay levels. The move was outlined in an e-mail sent two weeks ago to senior DOE officials from the Department’s Chief Financial Officer, Steven Isakowitz. “We need to solicit input from the M&O contractors on how they would propose reinvesting the savings from the pay freeze,” Isakowitz wrote in the Dec. 29, 2010, message, obtained by WC Monitor. Isakowitz also said that such information would be used to “to finalize FY11-12 budget decisions.” It remains unclear how much money DOE expects to save through the pay freeze, which went into effect at the start of this year and impacts approximately 75,000 workers at 28 sites. Isakowitz’s message came...

A good analysis from an anonymous contributor: When the Stimulus Bill funding was received by the NNSA labs, it required the compensation amounts for the Directors to be made public. This is information that both LLNS and LANS have tried very hard to cover up under the lame excuse of "corporate proprietary information". For example, it was shown in press accounts that LANL's Director Anastasio is compensated to the tune of around $1 million per year in total (LANS/UC, 20% bonus, etc). SNL's Hunter was compensated at about the rate of $2 million per year. A recent post on this blog also demonstrated some of the outlandish perks that lab executives like Brett Knapp make. These lab salaries and perks are several times higher than those that Directors, PADs and ADs made during the early years of 2000s. The new lab system of management has been extremely profitable for anyone on the LLC executive team. To this situation, add in the low raises and benefit cuts of the last f...

This post was moved here; it was a comment under another post in the bLOG: ** Lawmakers propose five-year pay freeze, federal job cuts ** Government Exec News By Emily Longelong@govexec.com - January 20, 2011 http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0111/012011l2.htm Republican lawmakers are seeking a five-year federal pay freeze and additional workforce cuts in an effort to rein in spending. The 2011 Spending Reduction Act, unveiled on Thursday by Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J.; and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; outlines $2.5 trillion in cuts by dropping current spending to fiscal 2008 levels and freezing budgets at fiscal 2006 levels for 10 years beginning Oct. 1. The legislation, which will be introduced officially on Monday, would reduce the size and cost of the federal civilian workforce and cut a number of federal programs. The proposal includes provisions to eliminate automatic pay increases for civilian employees for five years, cut t...

Dismal! Have you written your senators/congressmen and/or Dr Chu? The numbers are 14 and 9. Participation was negligible, considering that this BLOG has also become LANL's Blog indirectly. Whining is a natural talent at the Labs. Action is a learned skill. Even scientists have learning disabilities!

Just curious (and no, I'm not management): Given the current context at the Laboratory (increased health costs, upcoming contribution to TCP 1 pension, two-year salary freeze, and limited budgets for professional development/travel), what are some things the Laboratory could do to make working at the Laboratory more satisfying during this difficult economic time (reasonable and workable recommendations)?

Anonymous wants to know: What impact does the salary freeze have on your behavior?

Anonymously contributed: Has anyone explored this? What they didn't tell us: Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage (KPSA) is available as our "Group" rate for $179/month (plus Medicare costs), but LLNS did not tell us that it is also available over the counter as an "Individual" for $81/month for Alameda County residents of any age. (Also plus Medicare.) Other counties might vary. IF you are 65, then Medicare is mandatory, or you will be dropped from LLNS health coverage. Medicare costs by the month, more than they say depending on your income which includes tax exempt income. The Individual KPSA has higher co pays like $30 per doctor or medicine, while the Group is $20, and $100 co pays for some tests like MRI's that the Group KPSA apparently includes, but the Individual has an annual cap of your out of pocket of $3400. Everything above that is free to you. I tried to get info on the LLNS Group but the Hewett web site only posts the information for 2009. Kaise...

Poor Miller; he knows we don't believe him but he is still trying. In private, he probably hates Chu's decision. Well, we know LLNS does not challenge anything unless their fee is at stake. Don't you just admire the person that asked the first question? The one who wondered that if we are the most important asset for DOE, then why are we being punished? Wow, the savings from the freeze are about 12M/year. That is what all the brouhaha is all about. The money stays at the Lab and will be used for the "mission", which right now, is... you guessed it: NIF! Your opinion?

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/jul07/c4.pdf Bret Knapp continues to receive his "perk extensions". While all of this is good and well, what get's me is Anastasio's efforts to continue to approve/support Knapp to "offset any adverse tax consequences" of these perks". This is literally nothing more than a "perk on top of a perk". We are effectively giving these guys extra money on top of the perks to ensure it covers any and all of the extra taxes on this money!

Anonymously asked: Is it true that the lower the LLC fee; the more funds are retained by the operating organization to apply to lab infrastructure?

Anonymously contributed: Response from NM Senator. Pay attention to the 3rd paragraph. The Senator thinks the freeze only applies to the COLA. Don't know about LLNL but at LANL we have not had COLA's for at least a decade or more. Thank you for contacting me regarding pay for employees of New Mexico's national laboratories. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. Throughout my service in Congress, I have supported both the missions and employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The scientists at the labs conduct some of the most critical research for our country and they are an integral part of our national security. It is my honor to represent them as one of New Mexico's U.S. Senators. As you may know, in an effort to balance the budget, President Obama called for a three year spending freeze on discretionary non-defense spending and a federal employee pay freeze in November of last year. On the heels of th...

Anonymously contributed: The lab just appointed a "Laboratory Ethics Officer". Apparently the property of ethics was not clearly stated within the Independent Audit & Oversight Department. The Independent Audit & Oversight Department will be renamed to Independent Audit & Ethics Department (IAED). The lab will create the position of Ethics Manager so here is your chance to get in on the ground floor of what surely must be a "Don't do as I do, do as I tell you to do." Once the selction of Ethics Manager is made, the lab will announce details of the new organizational structure. So get in early to help form a new bureaucracy with your buds. "We are confident that this alignment will facilitate the continuous improvement of our governance responsibilities and workforce management." Smells like LLNS hunting for bonus money to me, but what do I know, I have sinus problems.

Anonymously contributed: Chu -University of California Alumnus of the Year - Congratulations Awardees The Cal Alumni Association will mark the 143rd anniversary of the University of California by honoring the 2011 Alumni Award recipients. Alumnus of the Year DR. STEVEN CHU Ph.D. Physics ‘76 | U.S. Secretary of Energy To the world, he is a Nobel Prize—winning physicist, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, and a distinguished scientist devoted to finding and developing alternative energy sources and reducing America’s reliance on fossil fuels. To Berkeley, Dr. Steven Chu is the brilliant doctoral and post-doctoral student who went on to lead the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also a sports enthusiast, a devoted family man, and the Cal Alumni Association’s 2011 Alumnus of the Year.

Judging by the poll on this BLOG, I concluded LLNL, LANL, Sandia employees who visit this BLOG are just complainers. That is ok if you enjoy complaining. It is considered insanity to expect anything to change, if we don't speak out. A simple cut and paste and a few clicks! Helpful hint: let your group or division know about the BLOG!

Anonymously contributed: http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/anastasio_to_retire_in_june.html

Anonymoulsy contributed: http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_17009984 http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_17009984

Anonymously contributed: It appears that for some current LLNL and LANL employees the elimination of merit salary increases for the next two years has altered the financial calculus, hastening the optimum time of retirement. This observation may apply to TCP1 folks who have been in the system for a long time, probably over 25 years. As an TCP-1 employee approaches 60, the year- to-year pension benefit increases by the change in HAPC * change in age factor * change in YOS. After age 60, the change in age factor is zero, so only the change in YOS and change in HAPC apply. Prior to 60, the change in age factor is 0.14% per year, which works out to a 6.6% in lifetime pension benefits in the year from age 59 to age 60. At age 60, each year of service adds 2.5%. It does not increase after age 60. Generally a 2% salary increase every year boost the HAPC by 2% each year. So up to age 60, a TCP-1 beneficiary should see the monthly pension benefit increase by about 9% plus the % value of his/her...

Anonymously contributed: New York Times Story covering the court case pertaining to LLNL Retiree's benefits: A former scientist said of LLNS: Lawrence Livermore National Security is “a business fiction with no real assets" http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/us/02bclivermore.html?_r=2&ref=sanfranciscobayarea

Other agencies don't have the same authority!! I thought we were employees of a private company. DOE still has power over us. We benefit neither from being a government employee nor a private sector employee! We get the worst of both worlds! or is my perception distorted? http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2010/12/22/unique-arrangement-allows-doe-to-freeze-contractor-pay.aspx

Why would DOE dictate contractor's employees salary? Because we are special? http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2010/12/22/unique-arrangement-allows-doe-to-freeze-contractor-pay.aspx