Talk about Bartlett

[Eric_Bartlett]

...What about the rest of the Plymouth crew? What about Bruce, Paul Lovendale, Bill Tiley, Art Derosiers, and Eric too! I didn't see his name on the list...

What list? What do you know that I dont?    - All kidd'n aside - we all still be here, pretty much in the same capacity we've always been in - no major changes whatsoever, at least that I can see or that have affected me, other than a major increase in work load. 

 

...I hope it all works out Ok for everybody, but I don't have a real warm and fuzzy here!...
JJ

JJ, Whats the concerns? Why not a warm fuzzy one? Just curious...

Eric

[Eric_Bartlett]

....If they do buy British Nuclear Fuels, will Bill Tiley's accent be utilized when you get the voice mail?...

too funny - plus karma to ya.

as far as the name goes Bartlett stays Bartlett, Sun will probably stay as Sun, a subsidiary of Bartlett and the Numanco name should be going away.

[Eric_Bartlett]

Eric...

What about the rumor concerning BNFL??

More news to me, but alas I am just a humble recruiter  - well maybe not humble, but just a recruiter -  If I hear anything I'll post it...

Eric

[RAD-GHOST]

I'm glad you corrected the Humble part! 

Now that the big merger has happened and business is booming, what are the odds of getting a sit at home, online recruiter job?  I don't have a lot of experience, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express two weeks ago!

A.  1:1

B.  1:1,000

C.  1:100,000

D.  Better Chance of Hitting the Power Ball.

 

[RAD-GHOST]

I thought BNFL already belonged to Big Blue?

Bartlett Nukers For Life!

I'm surprised nobody seen this one yet?  Big Blue's logo pretty much spelled out the future, right from the start:

BNI = Bartlett Numanco Incorporated, catchy, don't you think!

Next thing you know, the Logo will be popping up on grilled cheese sandwich's, all across the country!

Have a Great Holiday and Watch the Roads, RG!

[Chimera]

Kind of a shame to see the Numanco name disappear (again).  As one of the first generation of Numanco-ites (and a Charlie Pierce acollyte), it'll be kind of sad to see it go.

However, it's refreshing to be on the merging side this time instead of wondering whatever happened to that company I used to work for (i.e., ANEFCO, Numanco, ATBI, American Nuclear, etc.).

I think it will be quite interesting to see where Bartlett goes after this merger.  It could be one heck of a ride.

[SloGlo]

More news to me, but alas I am just a humble recruiter  - well maybe not humble, but just a recruiter -  If I hear anything I'll post it...

Eric

so, i take it there is no cosideration being given to having a permanent nuclear workforce in the bartlett corporate portfolio?

[RAD-GHOST]

Nobody is perminent in the Corporate World!  Obviously when any such merger, buy out, takes place, lots of Capitol has to change hands.  Until that capitol is repaid, nothing and nobody will be perminent!

One interesting aspect I haven't heard about yet, how did the Utilities accept the merger?  Did they simply roll with the contracts or start shopping elsewhere?  Obviously a purchase such as this would have been well planned and thought out.  I just wonder how they added the volitility of the work force into the equation?

[Melrose]

Eric, With the news of the buy comes the ever raised question of "monopoly".  Greater control is now at the hands of the "Big Blue Machine", theoretically, pay rates/diem may stop rising and simlply settle at a mark less competetive
with...... oh wait..... what competition?  See where I'm going.  I don't keep up with the threads much, maybe this has been brought up and answered.

I understand you don't have a crystal ball on your desk and obviously cannot tell us the future.  I'm just simply raising a pessimistic question.

Congrats , You have a good holiday, wish the others in the office the same.

[oldtimer]

Don't count out Atlantic Group that quickly. They have some experienced folks that came over from Numanco and will be bidding on the contracts also.

[rocknrollrick]

Long time reader first time writer. This merger does not scare me but no one hit on the fact that we are a dying breed. The tech pool is in big trouble, used to be the young kid on the block and there isn't much talent coming up the road behind. The merger has unanswered questions but I ain't scared!!!!!

If you been to a outage and you see that people have walkers and canes you already no what that means in training. The point is the majority of the techs are 50-60 something we are all starting to show our age so to speak.

1) I would like to see a company emerge that would realize that they could make more profit with happier employees. not the moon and the stars just cost of living increases in per diem, better health coverage at lower costs and a more standard wage (skilled trade)

Realize that we have the power as road techs, let them play with wages which I I hope is not the case, because we are already short handed. I have seen a lot in 15 plus years but it will be interesting to see where BNI goes with a monopoly.
They have won a battle but I feel the war is not over by a long shot.  I like to work in the field as a tech but I diversified long ago. Never keep all your eggs in one basket the bully down the block might knock them out of your hands and break them all !!!!!

**** back to reality another 5 hours in the Dry Well in plastics****

[cairnit]

According to http://http://www.atlanticgroup.com/radio.asp  The Atlantic Group has been awarded the Radiological controls Contract for Riverbend and Kiwaunee.
  I thought all of the ENTERGY contracts were tied together? How does Riverbend get rewarded without ANO/Grandgulf/Waterford? 

[870xprs]

I thought all of the ENTERGY contracts were tied together? How does Riverbend get rewarded without ANO/Grandgulf/Waterford?

I was in on the contract negotiations at Entergy . . . geez, 9 or 10 years ago . . . when Numanco won the HP contract over 4 or 5 other bidders.  It's been amazing to me that the contract hasn't been re-bid since then, at least that I know of.  Since then, Bartlett has always been the primary backup contractor, and one or two other backups were added.  The Entergy site HP organizations have traditionally been forced by the corporate office to toe the line and not go off on their own and negotiate agreements with HP contractors, primarily because that would violate the terms of the "consolidated" contract with Numanco, being the primary contractor.  But now that Numanco is no more, I suppose the Entergy contract gurus will have to get creative and either re-bid the contract ('bout time), or allow the sites to go their separate ways (which ain't likely).  Atlantic Group may have simply been announcing that they are still in the market, even though they don't have the primary contract.  I don't see Entergy getting away from the "primary contractor" paradigm, it's been such a central part of their philosophy for years.  So, for the short term, since Bartlett bought up all Numanco's assets, that presumably includes their contracts and they will be the primary contractor at Entergy.  Until the contract is re-bid.

This contractual philosophy is a central part of Entergy's operation.  They don't necessarily go with the lowest bidder, but the contract gives them some control over pay rates, and therefore over costs.  It's a way to reduce operating expenses over the long term.  But what the Entergy business managers and budget gurus haven't learned (or at least acknowledged out loud) is that they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces, when they don't allow the Numancos and Bartletts to offer high enough pay rates to fully staff their outages.  The Entergy philosophy is to just scrape by and hope everything turns out OK.  Budget is first priority, despite what they tell the public.  But that is what has made them what they are today, and they are successful, no doubt.  So far . . . .

I still have a lot of good friends in HP at Entergy, and I tell them to just do the best they can and stay safe, then let it go.  The rest is out of their hands.

[Eric_Bartlett]

Eric, With the news of the buy comes the ever raised question of "monopoly".  Greater control is now at the hands of the "Big Blue Machine", theoretically, pay rates/diem may stop rising and simlply settle at a mark less competetive
with...... oh wait..... what competition?  See where I'm going.  I don't keep up with the threads much, maybe this has been brought up and answered.

I understand you don't have a crystal ball on your desk and obviously cannot tell us the future.  I'm just simply raising a pessimistic question.

Congrats , You have a good holiday, wish the others in the office the same.

  Trust me, when Utilities need to compete for contract technicians because they happen to have plants going down at the same time, they will get competitive, rates/diem should go up.  When Utility "A" finds out that  Utilities "B" & "C" are paying 2-3 dollars more per hour and 5-15 dollars more per day, they will raise they're rates or go without those that would normally work there. 
Just my opinion - time will tell.

Eric

[RRhoads]

speaking of which....the Bartlett list has a ton of outages going down between Feb-april.
Lets see what kind of $$ Barltett will/will not be throwing out!

[Already Gone]

Don't count out Atlantic Group that quickly. They have some experienced folks that came over from Numanco and will be bidding on the contracts also.

All I want to know is this:  If you are getting your paycheck from the same company that is doing the job you are covering, will you feel pressure to let a few things slide?

I remember once I was working for HPTS (later GTS/Duratek) when NSS got the backup contract to cover the Henze/Movats work.  When they started to get high on the dose list, a few of us were switched to that job - which pissed me off to start with because they were getting lots more $$$ than we were.  One of the Henze foremen asked me to let something slide and gave me the "c'mon, we all work for the same company" line.  He started looking pretty pale when I explained to him that I didn't work for his company, and started quizzing him about how may NSS techs had played along with him.

[PWHoppe]

The same type of mentality happened when Westinghouse bought up Numanco long ago and offered up the "integrated" outage packages. Many of the Westinghouse folks thought the HP's from Numanco should cut them a break since we were all the "same" company. It didn't happen in most cases and caused a lot of grief.

[darkmatter]

The same type of mentality happened when Westinghouse bought up Numanco long ago and offered up the "integrated" outage packages. Many of the Westinghouse folks thought the HP's from Numanco should cut them a break since we were all the "same" company. It didn't happen in most cases and caused a lot of grief.

PWHoppe is right, I was there when Westinghouse bought out Numanco and had a Westinghouse Foreman try to bend the HP's to his way of doing business. It didn't work out like "he" wanted. (grief was had by all)

[SloGlo]

good golleee garwsh!  this type a "stuff" happens in every industry with every buyout/takeover/merger/ etal!  iffen yer right, yer right 'n it ain't seen as being stubborn or arguementative err nun a that "stuff".  but iffen yinz blow smoke fer a living, wail.... it won't be long til yer fat lady's singing.  keep smiling, keep cashin da checks.

[Mike_Koehler]

Having worked mostly for Bartlett in the years before I got old and dull, I see this as a mixed bag. I, personnally, had mostly good experiences on the road with whichever company I worked for..... The bad experiences were mostly caused by my failure to get all the answers before arriving on site. For those of you still out there on the road who cannot or will not work for Bartlett, You could always join the ranks of us in the world of Doh ( I mean DOE). We will see if the good (maybe stringing outages more easily) out weigh any bad. This Spring is going to be interesting tho because in addition to outages there should be an increase in the demand at DOE facilities. I know that the lazy H Ranch out here @ Hanford will be looking at Road Techs to fill some of their openings created by a multi company contract out here.

Good luck to all in employment searches.

L8R
Mike

[remowil55]

Well Mr. R like i said on 9-24. Bartlett was buying Numanco. As of 11-22 it is now fact. Theres not much more to say really, only time will tell the tales. I have worked for Bartlett in the past, maybe with the start of the new year i will again. Eric i know you read these post and you have surprised me with how candid you are and how you allow yourself to be a punching bag. If you and i have ever had a problem i sure don't know what it was about. I'm sure i will talk to you before long and i hope that we both have a great 05. Remo

[kobster]

The acquisition of Numanco and Sun Technical is one of the first outward signs of the changes that are taking place within Bartlett. Bartlett is being positioned to play a major role not only in the commercial nuclear industry but also in the DOE, Home Land Security arenas. One can only hope that they will seize this opportunity to help ebb the flow of radiation protection technicians in the industry by providing the opportunity for training. We as nuclear professionals are nearly extinct. There are very few professional technicians left in this industry.
Establishing training programs in cooperation with utilities and training institutions around the country would be one way of ensuring that there are enough technicians to support this industry for years to come.
As far as the pay and per diem goes, one would be stupid to cut your own throat. There aren't enough technicians now, why would you cut your own throat by holding the payscale down?

[Eric_Bartlett]

...Eric i know you read these post and you have surprised me with how candid you are and how you allow yourself to be a punching bag...

Come on now I'm a recruiter with the last name of Bartlett, who better to serve as a punch'n bag - plus I'm used to it, I was married once...

The acquisition of Numanco and Sun Technical is one of the first outward signs of the changes that are taking place within Bartlett. Bartlett is being positioned to play a major role not only in the commercial nuclear industry but also in the DOE, Home Land Security arenas. One can only hope that they will seize this opportunity to help ebb the flow of radiation protection technicians in the industry by providing the opportunity for training. We as nuclear professionals are nearly extinct. There are very few professional technicians left in this industry.
Establishing training programs in cooperation with utilities and training institutions around the country would be one way of ensuring that there are enough technicians to support this industry for years to come.
As far as the pay and per diem goes, one would be stupid to cut your own throat. There aren't enough technicians now, why would you cut your own throat by holding the payscale down?

Kudos - plus Karma to you, couldn't have said it better - as I think I've posted before(maybe I havent) training programs are something that is discussed and formulated by our office, we have done them before.  We know the tech situation, for every one that comes in, 3 leave - hopefully over the next few years things will get done about this, hopefully.  In the mean time all we (we being recruiters) can do is preach to our clients that they need to bring in entry level and low level experienced techs to give them the opportunity to gain experience so that one day they'll be the Sr Techs that the plants will depend on and also preach to our own in house management that training programs are a must if we want to stay in the game.

[Roll Tide]

I have attended the site briefing on changes with NUMANCO bought by Bartlett. So far it all looks like positive differences. If I knew Jim Petty had a screen name, I would appaud!

[Eric_Bartlett]

From former Williams exec:  Williams being sold.  Announcement coming by year-end.  He says buyer is Bartlett, they want to do to craft what they've done to HP...

Eric...
What about the rumor concerning BNFL??

both rumors are untrue