Jan 1st and this next round of cuts will be far more painful than the first dose of last spring.
The poisoned political atmosphere in Congress makes it highly unlikely that sequestration cuts will be throttled back anytime soon. Further cutbacks in lab staffing will be necessary soon after these next cuts hit. Get prepared as best you can:
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Automatic spending cuts would bite more in 2014
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AP News, Nov 11, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first year of automatic, across-the-board budget cuts didn't live up to the dire predictions from the Obama administration and others who warned of sweeping furloughs and big disruptions of government services. The second round just might.
Several federal agencies found lots of loose change that helped them through the automatic cuts in the 2013 budget year that ended Sept. 30, allowing them to minimize furloughs and maintain many services. Most of that money, however, has been spent.
The Pentagon used more than $5 billion in unspent money from previous years to ease its $39 billion budget cut. Furloughs originally scheduled for 11 days were cut back to six days. The Justice Department found more than $500 million in similar money that allowed agencies like the FBI to avoid furloughs altogether.
Finding replacement cuts is the priority of budget talks scheduled to resume this week, but many observers think the talks won't bear fruit. Agencies that have thus far withstood the harshest effects of the across-the-board cuts in 2013 are bracing for a second round of cuts that'll ...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/automatic-spending-cuts-bite-more-081524860.html
Comments
We'll all be put on "Heather Wilson" style retainers and any talk regarding "Where did the money come from for all these retainers?" will be hushed up as corporate propriotary information. It's all good on the Bechtel Mushroom Farm!
Did you intend your comment to be taken seriously by anyone? If not, why bother? No one cares about what you seem to think is your sense of humor.
November 12, 2013 at 11:03 AM
You keep spouting that nonsense as if it were even possible. It isn't. Where is that kind of money going to come from? Have you done any math? If so, lets see it. If not, then STFU. Hint: shutting down the national labs and stopping all foreign aid won't touch even .01% of the problem. The only solution is long-term, sustained economic growth, so that tax revenues increase significantly without raising rates. It's been done before. It requires two main things: Government that doesn't get in the way of job creation, and teachers unions that don't get in the way of education.
You are screwed. Find a new job and BTW you can STFUAH -FU
November 12, 2013 at 2:24 PM
Uh, no. My personal economic situation has never been better. But thanks for caring.
November 12, 2013 at 11:03 AM
All funding must stop until the bills are paid w/o increasing taxes on anyone or for any reason.
November 12, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Yeah, keep smokin' that stuff. "All funding" of what? You want to "zero out" the Marines? The Coast Guard? You want all Social Security recipients to be cut off? Do the math, and then come back and explain it to us.
(2) Funding will be further reduced at the labs.
(3) I see no other solution to deal with this than to begin further cuts in lab employment.
Travel, equipment, etc. have already been cut to the bone. The odds of growing new programs in this fiscal environment look poor. If there are other rational solutions to deal with shrinking budgets I would sure love to hear them but I see no other choice than to continue downsizing the NNSA labs.
I am not suggesting we unionize, but I do think a rational free flowing "town hall" style meeting or meetings with the Director, NNSA LSO, and others would be constructive.
Or, we can just wait and hope all will work out in the best interest of what the Lab is here for. LLNS bloated management staff will not self-deport without external input.
As more "worker bees" are forced out of the lab while management remains untouched, remaining "worker bees" are told to work harder and to do it with less. The cost of research labor for any remaining projects rise higher and higher as smaller groups of "worker bees" are required to support the ever growing levels of bloated management. You may hear talk about making the labs "more efficient" but the best way to do this would be to streamline the bloated ranks of management and that simply won't happen.
Management calls for "efficiency" will be achieved by: (1) making sure "worker bee" salaries remain stagnant or decrease, (2) cutting the benefits of "worker bees", and (3) making the "worker bees" do their jobs with less travel, less equipment, less of almost everything.
If you been at the lab for the last few years you know this routine all too well by now.
Sorry I do not buy the whole "too many managers". Our management to worker ratio is now set to the corporate norm. We are a corporation now like or not. If you are in corporation than management is where the money is and getting into management should be your goal. If you do not have what it takes to become a manager than that is on you and not on the people who have the brains, drive, and know how to get it done and become management. If you want to always be a worker bee than fine be a worker bee but stop sh*ng on those that strive to become more and achieve something with their lives and become managers. It is time to realize that you are in the real world now. You are not automatically special you have to work to become a manager. Management is very hard work and not for everyone so stop your complaining.
You are correct. In the old days of the labs, scientists were scientists and were the most respected employees. Managers were usually older scientists who recognized their productive years as scientists were nearing an end, and chose to go into management because they hoped they could help their still-working scientific colleagues to avoid bureaucratic hassles and continue to do good work. Those idyllic days are long over. The government-micromanaged and corporate-profit mentalities have killed them. You can rail against that, Don Quixote-like or you can adapt to survive. Much evidence shows that those species that fail to adapt perish. Decide for yourself. I am certain that you cannot change your environment.
Clearly a manager who appreciates his non-management
"non-achieving" staff (?). Is this attitude representative of the new crop of LLNS managers? Wow.
"non-achieving" staff (?). Is this attitude representative of the new crop of LLNS managers? Wow.
November 15, 2013 at 10:56 PM"
Incorrect, a good manager always appreciates hard working people who want to advance. In a corporation this is how it works, you need to be in it to win it. If you do not intend to win you should not even be in the game. Look at like this if you are in a football game the goal is to win, there is no other point. The same goes for the world. Again the lab has changed. You can cry about how this is bad but that will not change anything. Either get with the program or get out. Either way you will stop you endless complaining.
No offense, but LLNL is manager heavy to the point of being silly.
POS
Yes he certainly is.
There aren't any employees that have a management title and who are not expected to manage 100% of their time. Supervisors are a different story.
November 20, 2013 at 8:48 PM
So does this mean supervisors are not managers.
November 21, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Not this time. Just watch. There will be enough people laid off that there will need to be significant reorganization to avoid empty or nearly empty organizations. That kind of action is what lower-level managers fear the most. No need to manage an empty organization. In hierarchical organizations, the lowest-level managers are the most numerous, hence the most vulnerable. Same goes for the admins who support them. If upper management has concern for preserving some managerial technical competence, it probably means some mid-level managers will be demoted to manage the newly reorganized lower organizations. Lots of churn coming.
When dos the involuntary layoff occur? Another voluntary first (SSVSP)? Head count reduction needed?
The new rumor flying in the LLNL hallways
November 22, 2013 at 2:00 PM
That is about to change, big time. Managers get paid from taxing the programs. Fewer programs, less money to pay managers. If the rumored 1500 person layoff is true, look for most WFO and non-NNSA programs to go because no one will be left to do the work. Plus the sequester will kill WFO anyway.
It's anyone they want for any reason. "Substantially Equivalent" was thrown under the bus in "slow mo". Like the frog floating in the ever increasing hot water, our collective FTE benefits have eroded away. LLNS HR is not our protector or shepherd folks. In retrospect, we shouldn't have put our employee benefit assumptions on autopilot.
For those of you who are unfortunate to be in EBA list. Besure to document every single bit at work. Take home all your documents. If you aqre booted,loook for a good employment laywer.
Even if you do not like the SPSE, give them a call for a referal to a very good employment lawyer.
The legal deposition phase will be a rude awakening to the self proclaimed "untouchables". No LLNS Staff Relations training wheels or safety nets gents, you will be on your own so be honest and truthful in court. Yes I said honest and truthful. Rumor has it a few LLNS Senior Managers had testimony meltdowns in recent court hearings.
November 23, 2013 at 8:35 PM
Is your comment "honest and truthful?" Nope. How about practicing what you preach? "Rumor has it..." is the most destructive phrase in English.
I talked to these people, and they know a lot about LLNL.
November 23, 2013 at 10:39 AM is right, document everything and do not use your lab computer, and save all your emails on your own computer. Names and dates, statements while they are fresh in your mind, your thoughts and impressions, everything.
The last thing LLNS Staff Relations and retained attorneys want is for you to have access to multiple acts or patterns of unlawful employment practices because it undermines their divide and conquer strategy.
The delusion is strong in this one! This "pack" of lawyers will likely cost the lab more than it would cost to just pay you off. Extend this to the numbers likely who need to go and the argument falls apart....if you haven't been surfing for porn, gambling on line, or running a side business on a government machine you're probably fine.
November 24, 2013 at 9:57 AM
What other reason is there to get up and go to work in the morning?
November 24, 2013 at 11:25 AM
I feel ya bro!
They do this so that their teams of lawyers are prepared with the evidence they need when they decide to take you down, for whatever reason. You are considered a likely "criminal" unless they decide otherwise. Encase from Guidance Software is one of the most popular tools they use. The monitoring goes way beyond just watching what web sites you visit. There is no trust left.
There were few emails that solidified cases against LLNL.
A good law firm will help ill-treated llnl employees laughing all the way to the bank.
November 24, 2013 at 4:08 PM
Doesn't mean I can't do it, just that I don't give a f*** whether they know or not. Let them try to fire me. I will tie them up in court for so long they'll wish they left me alone. Most of my friends in cyber don't give a f*** either.
Scientists attend professional meetings wherever they are held. It is not a waste, it is networking, recruiting, visibility for your programs, and learning about the current state of the art. It is what professional scientists do. Get over your envy.
Besides, they aren't "Sandia funds," they are sponsor funds. And the sponsor approved the travel. Go lift your leg on another bush.
Not a single one of the problems identified as sources of harm to the scientific work and morale at the labs has been rectified. Indeed, they have only become worse since this insightful report came out. Very sad.
Yes, it's best to "Let it go" and move on if at all possible. Many very good scientists have already made this decision and taken this path.
December 1, 2013 at 8:45 PM
You don't need to be a "very good scientist" to do this, just a person who values his integrity and competence, and knows when it is a losing game and time to get out.
"As current and former Lab Directors repeatedly suggested to the Task Force, these Laboratories cannot be sustained, much less thrive, if they remain reliant on hundreds of short-turnaround, small budget activities." But that is precisely what the lab focuses on as money for nuclear weapons and laser fusion dries up.
Too bad that like all the other reports over the years it was ignored by almost everyone. Meanwhile, the problems identified continue to fester and the NNSA labs continue to flounder and shrink.
POS
December 1, 2013 at 12:54 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
December 1, 2013 at 12:54 AM:
Scientists attend professional meetings wherever they are held. It is not a waste, it is networking, recruiting, visibility for your programs, and learning about the current state of the art. It is what professional scientists do. Get over your envy.
Besides, they aren't "Sandia funds," they are sponsor funds. And the sponsor approved the travel. Go lift your leg on another bush.
Actually there are several things wrong about the previous assumptions. For one thing, DOE did not approve of the Hawaii trip, and canceled this trip for all members in the Materials Chemistry Department. And second, if one does a check on Adam Rowen, it actually shows that he is *not* a scientist, and does not even have a Ph.D.!
December 6, 2013 at 4:31 AM
There was no trip, so there was no waste, right? Also, if you think all scientists must have PhDs maybe you should brush up on the Manhattan Project.