LLNS may have excluded the wrong people in last VSSOP? The exclusions were based on outdated job categories and related skills. ULM are now thinking that in the future, job categories and functional areas will have to be re-defined. The next VSSOP/ISP will be based on the new categories and functional areas. The questions I have are: 1) Why didnt they think of that before the transition. It seems like their style is “change things as you go”. Planning is out the window! 2) Who will give input on the new changes? The next RIF apparently is going to be more lucrative than the VSSOP. Depending on the length of employment, a RIFed person, not only gets their 1 week pay per year of service but also from 30 to 120 days notice, essentially 30 to 120 days pay. Please feel free to comment on the rumors or add new ones you actually heard.
Comments
This does matter to LLNL. One of the hand picked scientists by Wright is Steve Koonin. Koonin gave a talk at LLNL. I think Steve has some points on some things and is wrong about others. When he gave his talk Ben Santer threw a fit, attacked Koonin and said he would disassociate with LLNL if Koonin was allowed to give at talk. This was a horrible look for LLNL, Santer and climate science. He could have easily debated Koonin, given his own talk, or critique the talk by Koonin. The fact that he tried to have his talked canceled politicized the whole thing and undermined the scientific process. The defense of Santers actions by blog posters here and elsewhere just made the whole thing look even worse. Luckily, Koonin gave the talk, but many other speakers have been canceled around the nation.
Like I warned that this stuff was gonging to come back and cause issues with all of science, which as you can see is what is happening.