Plan to shed 2,000 workers at SRS gets federal approval

By PHILIP LORD Senior writer

Months of waiting ended Tuesday as Westinghouse Savannah River Company announced its workforce restructuring plan that will result in 2,000 jobs being eliminated at the Savannah River Site over the next two fiscal years is moving forward.

Approved late Monday by Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, the plan is currently in a public comment period, which will last until Feb. 22, said WSRC spokesman Will Callicott.

After the public comment period, workers who wish to voluntarily give up their job at the site will have until March 4 to make their plans known.

Once the "self select" group has been approved, which may or may not happen based upon skill mix issues, WSRC will deliver 60-day layoff notification to the employees to be involuntarily separated from their employment, Callicott said.

Not included in the separation package is an early retirement option, which has lessened the blow of past layoffs.

The initial phase of the layoffs calls for about 874 people to be off the payroll by the middle of June, Callicott said. Currently WSRC employs approximately 10,225 workers at the Cold War era nuclear weapons facility.

Hit hardest by the first phase of the layoffs will be hourly employees. A total of 229 such workers will lose their jobs in the first round of cuts.

Operations personal, 228 of them, are next on the layoff list, which cuts across all areas of the site.

A total of 129 engineers are slated to have their jobs cut, as are 108 business services employees.

Also included on the list are 24 managers, in pay grades 39 and above, according to data provided by WSRC.

WSRC data shows a total of 645 salaried employees will lose their jobs under the plan.

Employees voluntarily of involuntarily separated during the layoff will receive one weeks pay for each year of service, up to 26 weeks, Callicott said.

Laid off workers will also continue to receive their medical benefits, at current rates, for one year. After that the employee will pay 102 percent of the actual cost of the insurance package, he said.

The total WSRC restructuring plan shows 1,200 people being laid off by Sept. 30, 2005, and an additional 600 to 800 employees being laid off during the 2006 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2005.

"There are going to be a lot of good people leaving," said Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness Director Mal McKibben. "We are going to have some new missions out here at the site, but it is not going to happen fast enough to prevent people from leaving."

McKibben added, "This really is cutting to the bone."

The layoffs at SRS have long been anticipated as the site wraps up missions as part of its accelerated cleanup plan. As areas are closed, those who worked on missions in those areas may or may not be needed anymore.

As missions are completed, WSRC receives less money for operations from the federal government, which means its payroll must be to cut accordingly.

"We will just have to redouble our efforts for new missions at SRS and overall economic development in the region as well," said John Troutman, who is chairman of the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties.

Troutman added, "We regret it for those who are affected by the downsizing, but we just have to move on."

Long-range statistics compiled by the EDP show the site's employment dipping to abut 5,000 by the year 2012 if new missions are not identified for the site.

Contact Philip Lord at plord@aikenstandard.com.

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