NukeWorker Forum
Facility & Company Information => Region IV (Western) => Hanford => Topic started by: Rennhack on Jan 28, 2003, 07:03
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Don't forget to vote. Please keep it civil.
James Daniels has a furnished house very close to Hanford. He works at Hanford and has an empty furnished house less than 15 minutes from the project. Contact him at jeddan@worldnet.att.net
There are some nice places around near the site on the main drag in town. However, when it comes to Hanford, CLOSE=EXPENSIVE. To spend what you think is reasonable (under $1000/month), you probably should go to Pasco/Kennewick, or West Richland. Also, Richland will bore you to death.
Larry Hebert has a couple of rentals, at Hanford. He has one that is completely furnished including cable, for 225.00 a week. His number is 509-374-0377.
Try www.tri-cityhearald.com this the local newspaper.
Timbers Apartments at 1900 Stevens Drive. Their apartments start at about $400 per month. I have been relatively happy here, some children and dogs but lots of places are like that. It is 26 miles to the 200 area from here which is about as close as you can get. One thing about Richland, there seems to be a 20 day notification for move out.
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Talk About: Hanford
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Please reply to this topic if you have (or know who has) a contract at this facility. If you (they) have multiple contracts (i.e. QC & NDE) please mention all of them. Also, please remember to post company contact information, including but not limited to company phone number, email and web site address. Also, if there is a specific person at the company people should ask for, you should mention their name and extension. We maintain a chart of contracts, the information posted here will be added to the contract chart.
This includes any information on Local Unions!
Chart: http://www.nukeworker.com/jobs/contract_lists
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Don't forget to vote. Keep your comments civil.
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One of the companies that provides QA/QC personnel on contract is Management Strategies Inc. The individual is Dave Samples and his email is dlsamples@strategiesinc.com.
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Ahhh the Lazy H wonderful place
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Ahhh the Lazy H wonderful place
You must work on the Flour side. [smiley=zzwhip.gif]
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Nope, on the Rechtel side ;D
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Hanford was a decent place to work 93-97, the money is good and enough techs to spread the work around ..Nobody is overworked at Hanford.
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Keep your comments civil.
I can NOT comment on Hanford if I have to keep it civil...but I will say it's the only job I've ever had where I was glad to get food poisoning so I didn't have to go to work.
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Liked the people I worked with....came back home to Tennessee to be with my family. Okay, so now I'm ready to go back. Got a real soft spot for Rattlesnake Hill (Mountain...yeah right!)and the desert. Plus, who can't enjoy wind blowing dust at 800 mph into your face while surveying? [smiley=uhh.gif] [smiley=uhh.gif]
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Hanford: Solving today's problems with yesterday's technology, tomorrow.
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If anyone has a favorite hang out, place to shop, or local information for this area please post it here.
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To start with, the Columbia valley is full of winerys.
Some excellent vintages if one takes the time to look.
There are also a few brew pubs and one micro brewery, Ice Harbor Brewery by name. The best IPA I've ever tried.
The Cascade mountain range is a short ( 3 hour) drive. Lots of great little towns to check and the scenery is breath taking! Another hour has you in Seattle with more to do there than you can shake a stick at. Check any of the on line discounters for weekend hotel rates from one star all the way to five star accomodations.
Been here 5 years now and really enjoy the area.
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the burbank tavern
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Hanford is a very interesting place to work if you like chaos.
At this time it is a union site. There are many different facilities and projects types available to work.
The site is going from final stabalization to full scale D&D. As the main contract companies cannot hire enough technicians in house they are starting to bring in road contract techs and supervisors that are now supervising the "house Techs".
It is very much the same as they did at Rocky flats from what I have heard from some of the house techs who have come to work here from that site.
In the next 1.5 years the site faces a few things that could really make life here interesting. The long standing union contract the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Commission has had with the main management companies is going to expire, the main management contract is up for rebid and the RCT Union contract as well as the other craft union contracts are all coming up for renegotiation.
With the excelerated cleanup instituted in 2001 those who have been here for 3 generations have found the uncertainty for the future to be a bit unsettling. Those of us road techs who came here for some stability have also found the ground a bit soft of late.
I have had to remind myself of the old saying, I was looking for a job when I found this one, to get my bvearings again. Back to the old way I guess.
This site also has a very large disadvantage. To get to work you have to drive anywhere from 1-1.5 hours over very desolate roads once you get out of Richland. Any of you who may have worked at Energy Northwest for outages has seen some of that.
Another issue is the fact that they work some very strange shifts.
The standard shift here is what they call an 8X9 shift. You work Monday through Thursday 9.5 hour days (no pay for Lunch) and every other Friday off. The Friday you work is 8.5 hours. You only put 4 hours of that on your time card and the other caries to your short time week.
Shifts are as follows.
P/Q 8X9 - Same as above but you rotate from Days one week to Swings the next.
ABCD - 12 hour rotaions with a day/night switch from one week to the next.
XYZ 5X8 - Day/Swing/Graves rotation from one week to the next.
There are 4X10 but this is not a recognized shift so only groups that can get the management on board and the union to aprove it get to work that one.
Benefits are not as good here as they are at other sites and the pay is quickly becoming, as I see from some of the contract offers on the various job boards, lower than the market. Especially when you factor in the cost of living and the local economy/ costs of transpotation to site and back. (Keep in mind, about the benefits & wages, I am speaking from the House/Union view) I do not know what the contract companies are offering.
Hope this helps.
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Neither house/union or contractor employers can fill their quota for techs. So if you don't like one you can always try the other.
It still beats the road for 3 or 4 weeks at a stretch and back on the road again for some of us.
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Amen Brother!
I'm sure at it's worst, it couldn't come close to the outages business of today! At least there seems to be some structure to the opportunities. Outages are a hit and miss thing, maybe you'll be there for a week, two, three or four! Maybe they'll have the layoff slip waiting for you when you arrive! With the new way of doing the outage business, your lucky to see a realistic take home of $10 and hour! Do yourself a favor, sock in and take that money!
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Having been here at Hanford as a contactor working in the union for 8 Weeks its time to find somthing else.
Some info for others.
You will have to get your results back from your Pee test before you have the opertunity to take The DOE core test. You have to pass their core test, no others are eccepted. After you pass the core you can start getting paid.
OH! did I mention you only have one chance at the core. You have to make an 80 or you are still un employed and in Hanford.
The supervision I came in contact with was very good to work with.
The money for 40 hours is good.
All overtime is offered to the house techs first and they will go through the over time list as many times as it takes to make sure a road tech doesn't get the over time.
The 12 hour roating shift does not get pay for holidays unless you work that shift on the day of the holiday. I lost Memorial day.
As stated by others it's at least 1 hour each way of your time and gas.
Why am I leaving? I was recruited on the primiss of 10 to 20 hours a week overtime.
And it is not availeable due to the house techs drinking the well dry.
Would I come this far to work agine.
Heck Ya. I like it here.
But the money has to be here.
Have Trailer Will Travel!
FOR OT & DEIUM
Florida Boy
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Sounds like it pretty much panned out like I thought it would. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow must be a little further west. From what I have been reading on the web, they pretty much staffed for a job that may not happen! The early bail out may be in your favor. If your looking for some quick change, try Badcocks Services. They have a gig going in Texas for a few months and are looking for a couple of techs. Some OT and Diem! It will also get you half way home on travel! Have a Great One!
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can not misss them
one in pasco, and there is another right outside of columbia center on the highway.
the one in pasco is on the way to richland up past road 68.
then there is one in columbia park as will
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Unfortunately due to the vitrification plant construction most of the better RV spots are taken by construction folks... There is also another new RV park just outside West Richland headed toward Benton City. Be aware that with boat races coming, RV spots in Tri-Cities get scarce. If you can't find one in town try Benton City, Prosser, Sunnyside at least until the insanity that is July Dies down. I would be happy to chat on the phone with anyone who needs a little help finding their way. E-mail me here and I'll send phone #.
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Just some FYI about Hanford. If you are thinking about coming to Hanford the top rate for a Senior HPT is $28.97 an hour. Do not let them offer you less. Human Resources out here will try to offer you a step below the top rate, and tell you that you have to be here six months and pass the oral board before you can top out. This isn't true! You have to pass your oral board within 6 months of being hired on, regardless of what you are getting paid. It has no reflection on your pay rate, so make sure you are getting top pay to start with. If you are out here as a contractor and already a member of the union and thinking about switching over to house, you will get paid comprable to what you are making as a contractor. To get top pay switching over from contractor to house it might actually be best to leave the plant for a couple of weeks and then come back in at top rate as house. You will lose credit for your time at the plant, but will receive top pay. They need techs out here and it is a good place to work. Just watch yourself because the Human Resouces department likes to play games.
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tight for employment cuz of the state passing a silly law trying to limit waste movements... it is back to federal law court now... [I-297 law]
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tight for employment cuz of the state passing a silly law trying to limit waste movements... it is back to federal law court now... [I-297 law]
The Eberline (Bechtel) side of Hanford is always looking for techs.
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tis true, check with delia fisher at erc..they are a good gig for a bit, $29/hr, etc.. lots of outdoor work tho...
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Well, here is the gossip I've heard...
SEC had won the bid, but due to protests, The FFTF contract is out for re-bid to the 5 finalists from last time. This is standard at the Hanford site, it happened in 2003 to the folks that just won the River Corridor contract
(In 2002, Washington Group teamed with Fluor Federal Services and Earth Tech to submit what was named the winning bid in 2003. That bid was successfully challenged by the contractors that have since teamed up with Washington Group -- Bechtel National and CH2M Hill -- to win the contract Wednesday. )
Department of Energy Awards Hanford River Corridor Contract To Washington Closure, LLC (CH2MHill Washington group) Which usually uses Bartlett as their HP contractor.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2005/2005-03-25-091.asp
"Responsibilities added to the new contract include work to clean up the 400 Area where Hanford's research reactor, the Fast Flux Test Facility, operated. However, it does not include FFTF, which DOE plans to have shut down by the winner of a small-business contract. "
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My name is Tony. I am thinking about doing a tech report on Hanford. Could anyone please steer me in the right direction for resources? Thanks!!!
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Radiological Planning (Support Health Physicists) contract work is provided by BNL Technical Services, and currently has a few openings. Bartlett supplies a bunch of HPTs.
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In the middle of lay offs of all types....even RCT's. Nothing stable here until late 2006 if then even...contract changes going on.
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Thought I'd ring in on the topic of Hanford, since I'm currently in a laid-off state from there. The big news at the moment is lay-offs at the Prime Contractor level. All of us sub-contractors ( I'm in the Tank Farm area) were laid off in July due to lack of funds in the budget. There were rumors that further lay-offs in the Prime Contractors might follow. Sure enough, last Friday the word came out that CH2MHill would be laying off 300 employees. As far as I know, these are not union positions, but I can't confirm that.
That having been said, I'd still go back there. Yes, it can be a long drive, but if you live in the north part of Richland, most of the site is within 45 minutes. The pay is good and the work isn't exactly taxing. There is the normal "DOE Frustration" for commercial techs, but all - in - all, the money and the good people make it a worthwhile venture.
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Hanford gave notice to 14 house techs as of today.
May be a while before they get back into the hiring mode again.
I was sorry to see the Bartlett techs go last week, and sorry for all of those given notice today.
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I spent 11 years there as a NPO working in a lot of different areas 200 east and west good place to be in the old days.
B plant 234-5Z plant
T plant and the tank farms.
lot of storys from back then .good place.
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I received an offer from Eberline. The money and the bennies look good but what's the story on longevity? They don't pay diem or relocation so I don't want to go out there unless it's going to be for a looooooonnnnnnnnngggggg term gig.
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As far as I know ESHI is only hiring for permanent positions right now, that would explain the absence of per diem. Just a guess on my part. I believe it takes 2 years of employment before they forgive the relocation fees they pay for.
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oh yeah, they're saying permanent, but I'm hearing talk that it's winding down and a lot of jobs will go away in a couple of years
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illegalsmile
I first worked at Hanford as a construction worker in 1980 and daily there were jobs postponed due to a lack of tech support. I am now a tech and nothing has changed.
8)
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I received an offer from Eberline. The money and the bennies look good but what's the story on longevity? They don't pay diem or relocation so I don't want to go out there unless it's going to be for a looooooonnnnnnnnngggggg term gig.
I'm with Eberline at Hanford as an Industrial Hygiene Technician. We just had a division picnic where they detailed the good old "Path Forward". At best (longevity wise), there will be work with this group until 2013.
Last year,IHTs and RCTs were laid off due to bumping by those laid off by the other contractors. Since it's union, layoffs are based entirely on seniority. This year, we will lose IHTs again, but RCTs are not being laid off from the other contractors and are being hired by WCH / Eberline.
The best I can tell you is that each October you're going to end up looking over your shoulder until you get enough techs under you (seniority wise) to feel safe.
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I came out here in the fall to work at Hanford...I find the Tri-Cities a progressive area...There are plenty of rentals in the Richland area but most live in Kennewick and Pasco...I live in Benton City more of a country atomsphere.
Many of the techs live as far as Yakima and travel an hour each morning.
If you are coming in for ESHI, thewre will be 6 weeks of training then off to a site (dig or demo). The 4/10 schedule is great (except for Monday). There is a goverment style of management with a great emphasis on safety....
As for me, it is a great alternative to the road, somewhat of a rest area for old road techs....Dave
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Hey, it's been awhile since anyone posted anything about Hanford.
Specifically, why does it seem that Hanford is having a hard time getting people to go there? Is there something we should know?
Also, any ideas on cost of living? I expect gas/diesel will be expensive because of the driving...
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Been at the lazy H for about 9 years all told........I started with Eberline and worked for Fluor and CH2M Hill before coming to the true retirement home that is Battelle. The cost of living here is as high as I have seen anywhere except for California, DC and Connecticut. Houses are 140's in Benton City to 250's for a reasonable 3 br-2ba house. Rents are 650-2400/mo depending on what you want..... Gas is Currently 3.12/gal for regular unleaded, milk and things that rely on transportation to get here have gone up fast........ There are an average of 300+ sunny days/year here. It is very windy here. This place is a desert, not the rain forest that most people think Washington state is..... It is near some of the prettiest places I have ever been. Last I saw the "list" had about 500 +/- names on it. In addition to Hanford there is Columbia Generating Station (WPPSS), an AREVA fuel fabrication plant, a few service providers, a laundry services company, and a waste "consolidation" facility . I may have left some out. PM me if you have any questions that I can answer.....
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any jobs for a good deconner
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any jobs for a good deconner
No, not even for a bad one. They hire laborers out of the local hall to do the manual stuff. They don't really decon things there anyway like you're used to. You can't decon the contamination they have there.
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There are an average of 300+ sunny days/year here. It is very windy here. This place is a desert, not the rain forest that most people think Washington state is..... It is near some of the prettiest places I have ever been.
Ah yes the great days of summer outside on a digsite........ nothing like 100+F, blazing sun, no shade, wind, tumbleweeds,and dust storms to make one homesick. Of course I now live where 4 months out of the year we have wind, COLD, blowing snow, and no sunshine. But hey I work indoors.
Mike, tell the guys hi from me!!
Cheers,
Jim Rodgers
NRRPT
RP Supervisor
Ontario Power Generation
Western Waste Management Facility
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Any folks out there packing for a new job at Hanford might want to look elsewhere. Major layoffs coming across the board, especially with the outgoing Fluor company. Waste packaging facilities are being shut down, other facilities going down to one shift or cold shutdown. Subcontract HP's got their 2 week notice this week.
House techs and operators are taking a major hit this fall, 40+ each. Everything is in flux out there for a while until they sort out the 4 new major contracts. Lots of nervous folks I hear, both in management and craft. Definitely not the time to be going to Hanford. Words to the wise.
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Major layoffs coming across the board, especially with the outgoing Fluor company. Waste packaging facilities are being shut down, other facilities going down to one shift or cold shutdown.
House techs and operators are taking a major hit this fall, 40+ each. Everything is in flux out there for a while until they sort out the 4 new major contracts. Lots of nervous folks I hear, both in management and craft. Definitely not the time to be going to Hanford. Words to the wise.
Are you far enough up the list? Drop me a line at work and let me know what is happening out there. I have almost lost touch now that I am downtown at Battelle.
Mike
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I am getting ready to start my first job as a rad tech at Hanford and was just curious if the guy pitching the deal to me is telling the truth on the work load. He said that we do as much if not less work than what a Navy ELT did in the military.
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I am getting ready to start my first job as a rad tech at Hanford and was just curious if the guy pitching the deal to me is telling the truth on the work load. He said that we do as much if not less work than what a Navy ELT did in the military.
My Hanford experience is from 12 years ago, but...
We would often come in Monday morning with 15 minutes worth of work to complete...and go home Friday with the same 15 minutes work still on our plates. :(
Hanford had so many layers of SILLY rules (as well as a few good ones) that it was nearly impossible to keep work flowing.
Plan on working less than you did in the Navy. Maybe you will get lucky and be able to keep yourself busy, but... :(
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My Hanford experience is from 12 years ago, but...
We would often come in Monday morning with 15 minutes worth of work to complete...and go home Friday with the same 15 minutes work still on our plates. :(
Hanford had so many layers of SILLY rules (as well as a few good ones) that it was nearly impossible to keep work flowing.
Plan on working less than you did in the Navy. Maybe you will get lucky and be able to keep yourself busy, but... :(
Ditto on the Hanford time frame, started in 96 left in 01, and +1 on the silly rules. Some made perfect sense, but others left you scratching your head. My favorite line from a manager was when he was asked about the constant revision to work instructions "The large number of revisions means that the document is a living one". This was after Rev 26 to a work instruction that was less than a year old!! I bit back the retort, so after 25 tries you still have it wrong?????? Gotta love the Lazy H Ranch ;D
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Do "silly rules" and "Hanfordized" mean the same thing?
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I am getting ready to start my first job as a rad tech at Hanford and was just curious if the guy pitching the deal to me is telling the truth on the work load. He said that we do as much if not less work than what a Navy ELT did in the military.
It really depends on where at Hanford you land. Hanford is large with multiple work groups. Some of us stay pretty busy ::) in the Tank Farms, while others are more relaxed :P
Where ever you end up welcome..You are in for a treat ( snicker snicker )
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It really depends on where at Hanford you land. Hanford is large with multiple work groups. Some of us stay pretty busy ::) in the Tank Farms, while others are more relaxed :P
Where ever you end up welcome..You are in for a treat ( snicker snicker )
True enough! When I worked at N-Reactor doing decommisioning we were busy most of the time. When I was with IFS&M, boring most of time, but busy on occasion.
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I cannot comment on the site, since I do not work out there. I can comment on the area though as I have lived here all my life.
Richland uptown is a cool place to hangout, not far from the plant. There are a few pubs, notibly Town Crier and the Uptown bar and grill. Most of the good food you will find in Kennewick. Any apartments/houses located off/around Queensgate, Gage Blvd, Steptoe, Hwy 240 are a good bet. Give you direct connect to freeway. Nice thing about Richland/Kennewick is there aint much traffic in this city.
Housing that was mentioned in the first post is great. Washington square apt's are a great place to live, I have lived at them in the past. You really cant beat it. We also have an EXCELLENT van pool system setup for working out in the area. car dropoff/pickup at quite a few set locations. Price is pretty cheap for vanpooling too. Expect to drive 45minutes plus somedays to get out to the job site. (information from brother in law who is an RCT)
Any other questions about lodging at a certain place or what to do in town, feel free to ask away
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After the Hanford stimulous money hiring, apartments in the area right now at about 98%, so they're not easy to find.
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The site has golden handcuffs. Everyone wants to work here so they can make tons of money. When this place goes away there won't be any reason to live here. There houses are expensive, they think what they have is gold. The taxes on gas, smokes, booze is out of control. If you like hunting, fishing and camping, eating at the finest Mac Donald's, you belong here. Not seeing the sun for four to five months in the winter is just great, but they do have mild winters, ha, the wind will kill you.
No culture at all, the dress is jeans and a t shirt for anything. Just here for the money.
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Have been working out here with El-Camino/Bartlett since May. No real problems so far, except for the usual Union/subcontractor problems (the Union requires us to be in the union and pay dues, but exempt us from any real benefits except for union scale, which is already required by Davis Bacon). However, today we found out that when the facility closes for inclement weather, the regular people get paid. But the Union, when they made the Memorandum of Agreement with WRPS, who is the prime contractor, to bring us in, made sure that we didn't get paid for those times when we are sent home or are either late start or the facility is closed all day. To top it all, since we didn't get "paid" for those hours missed, we also do not get the associated per Diem, according to Bartlett/El Camino's formula. The only way we can get per Diem is to take basically paid vacation for those days and hours so that we make at least 35 hours for the week. Don't get me wrong, the pay is outstanding, and the fact that we do get PTO has been a bonus, but the other things that they don't tell you when you come out here are building up to critical mass. Those things include:
1. You work for Bartlett/El Camino, but you don't. It is a co-employment situation, with WRPS paying your wages, taking out taxes, pays for holidays, and that is who your time sheet is with. Bartlett/El Camino (and DeNuke is the other contract company) pays you your per Diem and Health and Welfare, and takes out your Insurance if you have it. They also pay you your Paid Time Off.
2. You have to belong to the union. Washington State is a closed shop. But you get no benefits from being in the union. All of those are reserved for regular union employees. You are also not even on the overtime list until they have exhausted every other person in all 4 of their overtime lists, even if they don't work in your area.
3. If you work for Bartlett, you may not still be working for Bartlett when you show up, you may be working for El Camino. A certain number of people have to work for El Camino since they are the 8A company and basically subcontract out to Bartlett, but they have to have a certain percentage actually working for them. Pro - your per Diem is direct deposited. Con - if you have insurance with Bartlett you have to keep it under Cobra since El Camino doesn't offer it. This is OK so long as the Cobra is at the reduced rate, but if it ever goes up to full Cobra it will hurt.
4. Also as a part of the co-employment issue, you are not offered 401.k withholding for your regular salary. Your health and welfare is still under 401.k, but not your wages.
5. Bonuses were promised, and the first one was delivered at the 90 day point, but when we asked about the end of project bonus, were told that didn't exist and we weren't promised it.
Still working here because the pay is still great, just frustrating weeding through all the web of who we actually work for, who pays us and what the details are. Just thought people should know if they want to come out here to the tank farms.
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I took a position as a contract rct at hanford and after getting here found out I had to be in the union and was paid by the same company that pays the house techs. Ok, fine, wasn't happy about it but not worth leaving over. The last couple weeks we have been having bad weather and the site has been shut down for a total of 8 hours. Because of the agreement between the union and the company house techs get paid for that time, however contract techs don't. I really don't understand how this can be, we are employed by the same company, at the same site, doing the same job, in the same union, paying the same dues, and are represented differently? I could understand if nobody got paid or if we weren't in the union but it's simply unequal representation. I'm wondering if anybody has dealt with this or who I could file a complaint with.
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I'm at the Lazy H also. At first, I thought it was unfair to not pay us for the site being shut down. I was told it was part of the contract my employer and CH2MHILL had prior to my employment. However, if I wanted house tech bennies, I would have become house after they offered the position. Losing a few hours pay isn't worth drawing a line in the sand for me. We're making some pretty good money and at the Lazy H, I'm definitely not killing myself for the pay!
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What if the site gets a freak blizzard next week? We don't get paid AND we don't get per Diem. Plus, I don't care what agreement the company has with the contract company, they have a contract with the union, and the procedure says we should get paid. This is just some pennypincher trying to save the company a little cash at our expense on a company that made a profit of millions of dollars and paid house people (every one) over $3K in bonus (that we also didn't get because the union sold out).
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You're not going to get a shoulder to cry on here. The rental techs at Hanford are making close to $100 grand a year and that's without overtime, which most of them that have wanted to have worked aplenty. There are contract HP's at Hanford who will make $150K there this year. This is by far one of the all time best contract jobs in the history of rent-a teching. Period, end of the story. There are folks coming out of the woodwork to get into that place.
It's a big site and not every company and for that matter facility plays by the same rules. They also shut down outside operations in high winds and contract HP's aren't sent home for that though they could be. As far as the bonus goes, the permanent HP's at Hanford also receive matching 401K, bereavement pay, tuition reimbursement, medical/dental, paid vacation and holidays, and a pension plan. It's called a house job. If you want all the perks of a permanent job give up the per diem and go house. Contract HP's got it pretty good there.
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You're not going to get a shoulder to cry on here. The rental techs at Hanford are making close to $100 grand a year and that's without overtime, which most of them that have wanted to have worked aplenty. There are contract HP's at Hanford who will make $150K there this year. This is by far one of the all time best contract jobs in the history of rent-a teching. Period, end of the story. There are folks coming out of the woodwork to get into that place.
It's a big site and not every company and for that matter facility plays by the same rules. They also shut down outside operations in high winds and contract HP's aren't sent home for that though they could be. As far as the bonus goes, the permanent HP's at Hanford also receive matching 401K, bereavement pay, tuition reimbursement, medical/dental, paid vacation and holidays, and a pension plan. It's called a house job. If you want all the perks of a permanent job give up the per diem and go house. Contract HP's got it pretty good there.
Excellent points! $150K/year to survey dirt and they still find a reason to whine.
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It's either too hot, too cold or too balmy
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I'm in the same boat you're in here at Hanford. On page 55 of the contract is says that subs get paid for facility closure days (holidays I guess?) but am not sure why we dont get paid for other closure days. In defense of the union, where else have you worked where the union requires that subcontractors get the same hourly wage as house techs? Wouldn't THAT be nice at power plants?!
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In defense of the union, where else have you worked where the union requires that subcontractors get the same hourly wage as house techs? Wouldn't THAT be nice at power plants?!
Rocky Flats - but that was DOE also.
Thank god they didn't make the contractor supv make the same pay as house... I made almost $10/hr more.... and got OT... 8)
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I'm in the same boat you're in here at Hanford. On page 55 of the contract is says that subs get paid for facility closure days (holidays I guess?) but am not sure why we dont get paid for other closure days. In defense of the union, where else have you worked where the union requires that subcontractors get the same hourly wage as house techs? Wouldn't THAT be nice at power plants?!
It's called the Davis-Bacon act, and at DOE the union has no choice, the company must pay the prevailing wage.
As far as the pay goes, sure we are making good money, but I would like to work at least 40 hours/week and get all of my per Diem for the week. The bills don't stop, and I didn't travel 2500 miles away from home to not work the hours I was promised. As far as OT, we are at the bottom of the barrel and it is few and far between.
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It's called the Davis-Bacon act, and at DOE the union has no choice, the company must pay the prevailing wage.
As far as the pay goes, sure we are making good money, but I would like to work at least 40 hours/week and get all of my per Diem for the week. The bills don't stop, and I didn't travel 2500 miles away from home to not work the hours I was promised. As far as OT, we are at the bottom of the barrel and it is few and far between.
Why don't you go house? Or quit? Or go on strike? Or suck it up and be grateful you make more money than 99+% of the people on the planet for surveying dirt?
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Nomad,
Thank you for the info about the contract, that was what I was hoping to find out.
As for everyone else that says we are "whining" or "complaining", the fact remains that we pay union dues to the same union that house techs are in but are unequally represented for doing the same job. Either let us out of the union (which most of us would be fine with) or represent us equally. By the fact that you are an rct I am sure you are smart enough to understand our frustration on this. Another poster was right in that you can post on here forever and it won't change anything. That was why I simply asked for some information from people that had dealt wiith this in the past.
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When I was first hired on here, I was given the union booklet. If I remember correctly, we fall under "temporary" employment status. They made us the exception to the rule as "temporary" is, I believe, six months or less of employment. Temporary union members are not entitled to the same benefits as the house people. We also don't get their insurance, retirement and 401K benefits. It is also my understanding the weather we've experienced in these last few weeks is a once in a generation occurrence. I sure didn't complain when work was shut down due to high winds and we were playing cards in the trailer and getting paid for it. I won't complain because I lose five or six hours of pay in a year!
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I'm wondering if anybody has dealt with this or who I could file a complaint with.
File your complaint with the person who forced you to accept a job without first understanding the working arrangement and pay structure. You should also file a complaint with the person who is forcing you to stay and endure such brutal and unfair work practices. Let us know how it works out.
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You know, everybody is making fun of these people at Hanford for complaining about money and work they were told they were going to receive. I don't care how much $$$$ per hour I'm making or how easy the work is. If I was told to come to a place hundreds or thousands of miles away and that I would be working 40s and it didn't happen for whatever reason...I'd be mad too. Yeah, maybe it is only a couple of hours this week, but what about next week? The precedent has been set, is it going to happen more on down the road at this place? I'm glad to know this is going on, Hanford was one of those places I might have considered going; now it has dropped a couple rungs on my ladder of desire. And, going house should have nothing to do with a basic promise of work conditions. Sure people that are house get vaca, holiday pay and insurance, but you don't get to tell me initially I'll be working 40s and getting diem and expect me to stay very long after telling me to go house and I'll get my 40s. Bait and switch. When I show up at a place and I get treated like that it is now a reason to leave whenever I please since one party has already blown their end of the deal....
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Okay, I can’t keep my fingers off the keyboard anymore. I have been working at Hanford since August and I have enjoyed every minute. The people I work with have treated me with respect and as an equal. Am I rankled about not receiving pay for a few hours when the facility closed due to inclement weather?
The answer is yes and no. The idea of paying union dues and not getting the same treatment as house techs does at first appearance seen unfair. However, I am paid the same hourly wage as house techs and I get double time on occasion. Moreover, I get per diem! The facility closed early a couple of times for bad weather. It also opened late for the same reason. I am thankful that the management worries about safety enough to close down and get the people home before it is impossible to travel. I am not going to complain about a few hours lost wages for time I did not work when I am getting enough overtime to compensate. Besides, I think my safety trumps a few hours of pay.
I have worked at power plants that treated contractors as pariahs and second-class scumbags. Here at Hanford I was welcomed into the group I was assigned; after three months I can truthfully say the people I work with seem like family. The power plants were like families too, only dysfunctional to the nth degree.
So I look the Hanford gift horse in the mouth and see one little cavity. That is not enough for me to want to stir the pot and get thrown off the horse.
8)
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Can anyone tell me how I can go about joining the Union?
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Nomad,
Thank you for the info about the contract, that was what I was hoping to find out.
As for everyone else that says we are "whining" or "complaining", the fact remains that we pay union dues to the same union that house techs are in but are unequally represented for doing the same job. Either let us out of the union (which most of us would be fine with) or represent us equally. By the fact that you are an RCT I am sure you are smart enough to understand our frustration on this. Another poster was right in that you can post on here forever and it won't change anything. That was why I simply asked for some information from people that had dealt wiith this in the past.
Patriot,
You can always go agency fee. You don't HAVE to belong to the Union, but you still are going to pay a "'fee". The fact of the matter is you were hired under a Memorandum of understanding ( MOU ) that sets up your employment outside of the contract. That is just the way it is and will not change. Different contractors at Hanford have different MOU's. Overtime at Hanford is given out by overtime group. There are groups were the house techs see little if any overtime. You have the misfortune of being in a OT group that has limited overtime for the amount of techs. There are other groups that the roadies are making a tidy sum in overtime this year. You might try and work your way over there .Understand there are are 785 techs on site ( not including PNNL ) and everyone one would like to have more overtime. :-).
Just keep soaking up the free money and enjoy it while it last.
105KW ;)
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Can anyone tell me how I can go about joining the Union?
At Hanford you join WHEN you get hired.
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You know, everybody is making fun of these people at Hanford for complaining about money and work they were told they were going to receive. I don't care how much $$$$ per hour I'm making or how easy the work is. If I was told to come to a place hundreds or thousands of miles away and that I would be working 40s and it didn't happen for whatever reason...I'd be mad too. Yeah, maybe it is only a couple of hours this week, but what about next week? The precedent has been set, is it going to happen more on down the road at this place? I'm glad to know this is going on, Hanford was one of those places I might have considered going; now it has dropped a couple rungs on my ladder of desire. And, going house should have nothing to do with a basic promise of work conditions. Sure people that are house get vaca, holiday pay and insurance, but you don't get to tell me initially I'll be working 40s and getting diem and expect me to stay very long after telling me to go house and I'll get my 40s. Bait and switch. When I show up at a place and I get treated like that it is now a reason to leave whenever I please since one party has already blown their end of the deal....
There's no bait and switch going on at Hanford, Ham Sandwich. Allow me to re-cap. There are times on that site that due to weather conditions beyond anyone's control that the powers that be elect to send "non-essential" people home early, have them come in a few hours late in the morning, or both. It's as simple as that. There's no conspiracy here with rent-a-tech HP's going on, every sub-contractor on that site that sends people home early has the option to not pay their employees for early release or delayed start. Some do, some don't. And we're talking about thousands of people, not just the 75-80 rental Hp's currently working at Hanford. It sounds like you folks just happen to work for people who won't pay you for hours not on site, and who sometimes play games with your per diem. Sorry.
Besides, this is all going to be a mute point here in a very short time because the rug is about to be pulled on this place and all the other DOE sites that received Obama bucks...it's coming to an end. The money is already gone at several of these sites.
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OMG, I am reading this topic and I have to laugh. Life is about choices if you think your getting screwed then find another gravy job that will pay you 35 an hour 100 a day to frisk dirt ,with no dose. Unless your one of the many who were working at walmart or as a jr. on the road until the lazy H gave you a job as a RCT and gave you senior pay. Yes the man wants you to come to Hanford and the man wants to send you home without pay. Give me a break. If you think this, you need to find another job . :'( Guys like you give the rest of Hanford a bad name.
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What if the site gets a freak blizzard next week? We don't get paid AND we don't get per Diem. Plus, I don't care what agreement the company has with the contract company, they have a contract with the union, and the procedure says we should get paid. This is just some pennypincher trying to save the company a little cash at our expense on a company that made a profit of millions of dollars and paid house people (every one) over $3K in bonus (that we also didn't get because the union sold out).
Will the Electrician get paid if she is snowed out? Will the crane operator get paid if he is sent home because it is too windy to safely operate outside? Will the carpenter crew get paid if they are sent home because of a blast of Canadian air made that scaffold too icy to tear down safely?
Whine on you crazy diamond...
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It's called the Davis-Bacon act, and at DOE the union has no choice, the company must pay the prevailing wage.
Technically, it is the Service Contract Act not DBA. DBA applies only to new construction or demolition, remediationactivities that directly result in new construction. Also, it isn't applicable if the work is covered under a CBA.
PGDP (Paducah, KY) put one group of environmental remediation RCT's in their union (USW) in 2006. They were subcontractors of Denuke that were simply absorbed by the prime contractor after the NLRB certified their organizing election. Their CBA limited future sub RCT's to four months of work with the sub and were not recognized members of the union. The fact that some type of MOA/MOU allows some benefit to sub RCT's at Hanford is actually a plus in my experience.
Keep in mind that the multi-union set-up at Handford is a complicated mess at times.
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It's called the Davis-Bacon act, and at DOE the union has no choice, the company must pay the prevailing wage.
As far as the pay goes, sure we are making good money, but I would like to work at least 40 hours/week and get all of my per Diem for the week. The bills don't stop, and I didn't travel 2500 miles away from home to not work the hours I was promised. As far as OT, we are at the bottom of the barrel and it is few and far between.
Apologize for the late reply. I just talked with the union steward. He stated the union didn't have an agreement with CH2MHILL. CH2M is paying for shutdown pay as a way to keep house employees happy. Do you really believe the company did a snow dance to shut everything down, which had to cost amazing amount of dollars to save a few thousand?! I'm still amazed at the amount of money I can make with a limited college experience. I am thoroughly grateful for the life I've been able to live. I see arguments in the NFL and can't possibly fathsome
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I find it amazing that people, many o whom would not be able to hold a job at McDonalds, find reason to complain when they are making $100,000 plus a year to play cards for 4 hours a day. You should count your blessings and act like adults.
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I find it amazing that people, many o whom would not be able to hold a job at McDonalds, find reason to complain when they are making $100,000 plus a year to play cards for 4 hours a day. You should count your blessings and act like adults.
I've worked with quite a few good folks here and am pretty sure most could hold their own at McDonalds. Sorry that you appear so crabby.
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I too work here with a very competent group who "played their cards right" to take a job here.We count our blessings everyday whether or not we get paid snow days. Mcdonalds woudn't match the pay,by the way.
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I too work with many competant and good people. There is, however, another half of my coworkers who dont care, take every opportunity to complain or get out of work, and then hide behind the union. Coming from where I do, I apprectiate that this job allows us to live a fairly comfortable life, but it does get old watching the same people day in and day out do nothing and collect the same amount of money as the rest of us.
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I find it amazing that people, many o whom would not be able to hold a job at McDonalds, find reason to complain when they are making $100,000 plus a year to play cards for 4 hours a day. You should count your blessings and act like adults.
4 hours a day ?? Is that the 8x9's or the 4 x10's shift ? I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick ;)
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I know this will fall on deaf ears, but the drive home has turned into a free for all that you may or may not survive. The river road coming from N and K areas is especially crazy. People are passing and weaving in and out at very high speeds. We usually drive about 65-70 and we are passed like we are just sitting there. I understand that half of you have no reason or desire to go home, but I would like to make it there. It is fine with me if you wrap your car around a telephone pole, we could all have a good chuckle as we pass you. But driving like that threatens me and my fellow workers.
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Amen to that , Pringles Can !!!! There's no reason to drive that way..
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Hey Pringles - when you see my Porsche coming up behind you just pull over and let me by...I'll be out of your way in a red flash.
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You have a Porcshe?! Thats cool! Can I be your friend?!
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I can hardly wait for the outage to start ramping up for that mess.
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WNP2, since that is the only operating unit. Bartlett has it starting in April, so expect the ramp-up to begin end of February and peak first of April. Already have a couple of friends working there to support.
I agree, the back road is an accident waiting to happen. The road by the tank farms is mostly stop and go, but better that than being forced off the road by the speed demons.
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Why don't you complain to the security dept or management, or local police? I worked at a site where it was common to get fired if you were driving the way you mentioned. If you say nothing, nothing will happen.
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Why don't you complain to the security dept or management, or local police? I worked at a site where it was common to get fired if you were driving the way you mentioned. If you say nothing, nothing will happen.
They're the ones passing people. :D
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There is one thing for sure at Hanford and the Tri-Cities area in general. They are by far the worse drivers in the world. It is like being in London here. Every other place I have ever been at in the USA the left lane is a passing lane. Here it is a slow driving lane. The vast majority of drivers are in the left lane until they are 25 feet from a right hand lane exit. Then they are coming over to exit no matter who or what is in their way. I can agree about the fast drivers there also. But when it comes down to it: Lead, follow or get out of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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There is one thing for sure at Hanford and the Tri-Cities area in general. They are by far the worse drivers in the world. It is like being in London here. Every other place I have ever been at in the USA the left lane is a passing lane. Here it is a slow driving lane. The vast majority of drivers are in the left lane until they are 25 feet from a right hand lane exit. Then they are coming over to exit no matter who or what is in their way. I can agree about the fast drivers there also. But when it comes down to it: Lead, follow or get out of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try Las Vegas for a while! :) ;D :) ;D
Sounds like a new version of the PV 500 on I-10 or Buckeye Rd! :) ;D :) ;D
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There is one thing for sure at Hanford and the Tri-Cities area in general. They are by far the worse drivers in the world. It is like being in London here. Every other place I have ever been at in the USA the left lane is a passing lane. Here it is a slow driving lane. The vast majority of drivers are in the left lane until they are 25 feet from a right hand lane exit. Then they are coming over to exit no matter who or what is in their way. I can agree about the fast drivers there also. But when it comes down to it: Lead, follow or get out of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It will get better when all the ARA people leave. It was just fine before the Obama money started raining down on the site. Been through the cycle before ;)
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Or, when the old fogies that can't see, let alone operate a vehicle leave/retire, which ever comes first :)
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On January 20, 2011 in the Tri-City Herald an article stated approximately 1,600 layoffs are to occur by the end of the 2011 fiscal year (9/30/11). About 300 layoffs from MSA and another 1,350 or so from CH2MHILL Plateau Remediation Company. This is, of course, besides those who were hired for short term ARRA contracts and were informed of the limited time frame involved with their employment from the beginning.
Also, this article does not address employees of the other dozen or so major contractors two of whom (Washington River Protection Services and Washington Closure Hanford) commented for the article that they believe their need for layoffs will be offset by attrition and retirements.
Please let us know where you stand, and comment as appropriate!
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105KW, I think '4 hours a day' might be a SLIGHT exaggeration.... rumors fly through Hanford like it is high school (or McDonald's), but I think that the lunch breaks are proportional to the work scheduled for each day. It varies around site, but I think the real issue is the house techs who have put in many years and the company employing them has yet to see a return on that investment. I guess the union is good if you have been around ten or fifteen years, since it then ensures that you can do no work and not be punished or corrected. What a shame....
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Hi,
I really feel for those about to lose their jobs. About 6 years ago I jumped to PNNL because I believed then (and still do believe) that I didn't have enough seniority to make my projected retirement date (which is still ~20 years into the distance). I was #268 on the site list at that time and Became #27 of 27 on PNNL's list. I thought at the time that I probably needed to be higher than 200 to be safe until 2030.....For 30 somethings please keep an eye on our jobs website as we have a couple or 3 retirements coming up soon and more following in a couple years (we are an aged workforce here compared to Site)..... I don't know how many they are replacing but it is worth a shot.....
Mike
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Interesting Mike that you state "30 somethings". I gather they will not consider anyone older ? Hmmmmmmm.
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As a temporary contractor, I am concerned that we won't be here beyond February. The word on the grapevine is that if CH2MHILL doesn't get the money they asked for from DOE, and they will get an answer in February, then they will begin layoffs as soon as March. In a normal world, this wouldn't affect me since I am with WRPS. But things are not normal here in the Great Northwest, and according to the contract with HAMTEC, the local union conglomeration, before the first layoff of a house technician from ANY company on site can occur, ALL temporary contract technicians MUST be offsite, regardless of the status of their jobs or the intention of the Prime Contractor to hire any house technicians. So that means that if even one house technician from CH2MHILL has to get laid off and doesn't have a house job to go to, then all 200 some contractors must be laid off in all companies. Then later, when the dust settles, they can be rehired after the temporary jobs are first offered to the laid off house technicians. This was explained to me by our union steward, and I think I got it right. Please enlighten me if any of this is wrong, as I don't want to be Chicken Little.
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Well, we are contractors and being such, we should be prepared to be laid off at any time! My contract said I could be let go with no notice and I prepared for that. Why are you surprised? Do you honestly think a house person should lose their job and the company should keep us? This has been a good ride and I have no complaints. I have been treated better here than I ever was treated by a commercial nuke plant.
For some reason nukeworker has become a complaint forum. People whine about traffic, being sent home during bad weather, and the potential lay off when the Obama bucks go away. I thank the Lord for giving me this job when I needed it, for the wonderful people I have worked with, and for the beautiful state I currently reside in.
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RP technicians must feel pretty good about their current positions. LES posted a job opening on nukeworker for a permanent decent paying job with great benefits and received minimal response and is still looking
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I just had a phone interview (yesterday, 1/20) with a project manager of Eberline about a Sr. RCT position. My impression was that I will be offered a position. So, why are people talking about lay offs?
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I just had a phone interview (yesterday, 1/20) with a project manager of Eberline about a Sr. RCT position. My impression was that I will be offered a position. So, why are people talking about lay offs?
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/01/20/1333876/1600-layoffs-in-the-works-at-hanford.html
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Interesting Mike that you state "30 somethings". I gather they will not consider anyone older ? Hmmmmmmm.
They will always consider older people...... That has been what we have hired. We currently have 2 techs under 40 out of 30 techs. I am 50 and am not even in the upper 50% for age. I was trying to delicately encourage some younger people to apply..... Historically they hire someone with >15 years experience hence the 30 something in the post.
Mike
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Well, we are contractors and being such, we should be prepared to be laid off at any time! My contract said I could be let go with no notice and I prepared for that. Why are you surprised? Do you honestly think a house person should lose their job and the company should keep us? This has been a good ride and I have no complaints. I have been treated better here than I ever was treated by a commercial nuke plant.
For some reason nukeworker has become a complaint forum. People whine about traffic, being sent home during bad weather, and the potential lay off when the Obama bucks go away. I thank the Lord for giving me this job when I needed it, for the wonderful people I have worked with, and for the beautiful state I currently reside in.
Unless you know my situation, don't judge me!!! Since Thanksgiving we have had to go to two funerals, one for my mother, and any planning we have done for this inevitability have been exhausted, so I have a right to be concerned. I was also giving out information that not every contract tech at Hanford knew about. No, I don't think a house tech should lose their job for them to keep us, but I do think the knee jerk reaction they have in the contract to lay every temporary contractor off for one person is too much. Maybe if they were to do a bump and roll like they do with house techs it would make more sense. There are contract techs with families as well, and we would feel bad about them losing their jobs, too. As far as the Obama bucks going away, that isn't true. CH2MHILL is having to layoff people because the contract obligations weren't met, so some of the money was sent elsewhere, which is why they are having to do layoffs. But if they lay off, and that causes the other companies to layoff their contractors, then the other companies will start to lose money because they can't complete their commitments due to lack of resources. It is a snowball effect.
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Road Hp, I was not passing judgment on you. I am truly sorry for your situation, but I do stand by what I said.
My manager, supervisor, and union steward, all said the layoffs are going to occur because the American Recovery Act money (Obama Bucks) will run out at the end of the fiscal year. The CEO of CH2MHILL sent a letter to all personnel essentially saying that too. Does anyone think a Republican congress, which is trying to cut funding and reduce debt, is going to give two billion more dollars to Hanford? At an all hands meeting in October we were told to expect 50% less funding in fiscal year 2012, so this is not a surprise to our group.
The letter said voluntary layoffs would occur in June/July and then involuntary layoffs by the end of the fiscal year (Sept). My union steward told me to expect to stay until the involuntary layoffs start. Nevertheless, I am prepared to leave if it happens sooner.
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I understand what you are saying, Liam, but it doesn't match what my supervision and union steward are saying. According to the union steward, involuntary layoffs could start as early as March, in which case we will be gone first. I asked the radcon manager if this is going to affect us soon, and he said he didn't know how soon. We always were planning on leaving at the end of the fiscal year when the ARRA money expires, so that isn't a problem, it's the leaving in a couple of weeks to catch the outages because we just don't know that is on our minds. Who knows, but we did call Bartlett today, and the commercial side said they knew about the situation and were working on it. Since they don't plan for the fall outages until after all the spring outages are staffed, I can only conclude that they think layoffs are possible soon.
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Reading this thread makes me happy I work for a different outfit on the Hanford Site......Yea For Columbia (even if we are ranked 104 out of 104) :D
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Reading this thread makes me happy I work for a different outfit on the Hanford Site......Yea For Columbia (even if we are ranked 104 out of 104) :D
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,916.new.html#new
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And so it starts :
From: John Lehew Log Number: CH1101-05
President and CEO
Date: January 19, 2011
To: CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company Employees
(Please forward to those who may not have seen this message)
Subject: WORKFORCE RESTRUCTURING
In recent weeks, there has been a great deal of discussion within the workplace about workforce actions that may be needed as we approach the coming year. We are now at a point where I can provide you with information on what our plans are, and what we anticipate in fiscal year 2011.
Thanks to the hard work of our staff, effective planning, and substantial investments under the Recovery Act, CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) and our teaming subcontractors have made significant progress in accelerating environmental cleanup work here at Hanford ahead of schedule on nearly every project. We have completed critical environmental remediation projects safely, below cost, and have met all Fiscal Year Tri-Party Agreement Milestones on or ahead of schedule at the Hanford Site.
As we expected going into a project of this scope, staffing levels have fluctuated routinely as we have brought in subcontractors and other employees to work on specific tasks. The Department of Energy (DOE) has now approved CHPRC’s Workforce Restructuring Plan, which ensures that as we move forward, we continue to have the right set of skills to achieve our mission at the greatest value for taxpayers. The Plan includes a two-phased workforce restructuring framework that will use both voluntary and involuntary separations to decrease the number of workers supporting CHPRC by up to 1,350 during the final quarter of fiscal year 2011.
In late May 2011, a 21-day open window for a voluntary Self-Select Program (SSP) will be available for CHPRC employees. Participation in the SSP program will be open to all eligible, regular, full-time and part-time employees. Employees who apply and are approved for the SSP will receive severance of one week’s pay for every year of eligibility service, up to 20 weeks. In addition, employees may elect continued medical coverage under the DOE Displaced Workers Medical Benefits Program. Further details of the SSP program will be communicated and will be posted on the CHPRC Intranet.
After the 21-day period, we will determine the impact of the SSP and to what extent further reductions may be necessary. Prior to notifying anyone of involuntary separation, we will work with other Hanford contractors to identify any potential employment opportunities. Involuntary separation selections for exempt and nonexempt-nonbargaining positions will be based on mission requirements and the results of a rating and ranking process. HAMTC-represented employees will be separated in accordance with provisions of their union contract. Involuntarily separated employees will receive the same benefits as those employees who are approved for the SSP.
Affected workers will have access to a local contractor transition service center that is located at WorkSource Columbia Basin Center, a state-run partnership of more than a dozen public and private community partners. CHPRC will coordinate with WorkSource to ensure that displaced workers have access to support services such as resume and cover letter development, interview skills training, and job search technique training. Attached is a fact sheet that provides additional information on the available worker support services being offered by the Hanford Contractors and the Department of Energy.
We have made significant progress in accelerating work here at Hanford, including removing buildings, remediating waste sites, containing and treating contaminated groundwater, disposing of legacy waste and fuels, and constructing new groundwater treatment systems.
We should all be proud of the work we have accomplished here and of the progress we have made so far. With much work yet to be done, I ask all of you to help maintain our momentum into fiscal year 2011.
The remaining challenges are some of the largest on the Site, but through continued safe work performance, we will achieve the mission DOE has set out for us – to clean up the Hanford Site.
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Involuntarily separated employees will receive the same benefits as those employees who are approved for the SSP.
So..... What exactly is the benefit of self selecting? Note that Savannah River is offering the same thing except they get 26 weeks maximum.......
Mike
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Doesn't appear to give you anything to self select. Except maybe getting a better shot at another location.
105KW
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You'll receive 1 week pay for every year of service up to 20 weeks, which you ordinarily are not entitled to when you leave voluntarily. That could be a nudge for a few folks who are a year or so away from retirement. Not what most employees nearing retirement at Hanford were hoping for considering the generous packages SRS gave people back in the 1990's.
What is interesting to note is that URS, the parent company for 1/2 the work at Hanford, says they are not anticipating reductions in force. Most people don't see how that is possible. Either way, the fallout from the so-called stimulus funds coming to an end will soon be felt all over the site.
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I just had a phone interview (yesterday, 1/20) with a project manager of Eberline about a Sr. RCT position. My impression was that I will be offered a position. So, why are people talking about lay offs?
I wouldn't quit a long term job no matter what they told you. Ever heard 'if their lips are moving.... '. If you are out of work, that's a different story. By all means, take it. I will tell you this and you can write it in stone...don't plan on being there much past spring. That place is getting ready to be turned inside out thanks to the great community organizer.
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I understand what you are saying, Liam, but it doesn't match what my supervision and union steward are saying. According to the union steward, involuntary layoffs could start as early as March, in which case we will be gone first.
Your union steward is not entirely correct. According to the ARRA union agreement for contract RCT's, there is no site wide seniority for sub-contract RCT's, it is entirely project specific. Put another way, if project X has a reduction in force, the rent-a-techs on project X would be layed off first by order of seniority, in effect retaining less senior contract techs on other projects that have not yet identified layoffs. If the reductions on project X go so far as to reach the house techs (and they will), then the least senior contract tech, regardless of the project or the company, would be let go.
As you can see, there will be massive upheaval across the site starting this spring. House techs will not only be moving to different projects but to different contracts(companies). Ask your steward for TJ's phone number if you want to hear this for yourself.
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Your union steward is not entirely correct. According to the ARRA union agreement for contract RCT's, there is no site wide seniority for sub-contract RCT's, it is entirely project specific. Put another way, if project X has a reduction in force, the rent-a-techs on project X would be layed off first by order of seniority, in effect retaining less senior contract techs on other projects that have not yet identified layoffs. If the reductions on project X go so far as to reach the house techs (and they will), then the least senior contract tech, regardless of the project or the company, would be let go.
As you can see, there will be massive upheaval across the site starting this spring. House techs will not only be moving to different projects but to different contracts(companies). Ask your steward for TJ's phone number if you want to hear this for yourself.
Actually, she has been through this before, and specifically asked the union about it, and as I have said, ALL subcontract HP technicians MUST be offsite before the first house tech can be laid off. The companies can rehire, but they must first offer positions as temporary contractors to those who have been displaced as house techs. I will PM you the actual contract verbage when I can access the contract tomorrow if you like, but it isn't going to be a one laid off house tech, one laid off subcontractor. It is all or none.
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That's true, all contractors will be laid off before the first permanent employee, as it should be.
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I did not know that there are "permanent" workers at Hanford. I thought that it was all contractors or subcontractors.
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I did not know that there are "permanent" workers at Hanford. I thought that it was all contractors or subcontractors.
Hmm...36 years at Hanford as an RCT makes you feel pretty permanent. Would you not agree ? ::)
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Sorry, you may think that because you have been here 36 years. But you are still a contractor.
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Sorry, you may think that because you have been here 36 years. But you are still a contractor.
Semantics :-\ I guess anyone with a job would be a contractor. We all work for someone ;)
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So true Brother, so true.
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As a relatively new road tech ~5yrs experience, I would say that this subject is mute. I work for the highest bidder, though I feel greatly discriminated in the field due to my young age (27). I never expected to be at Hanford past September and can at least take a couple of months to line jobs for August and beyond. There is no shortage of work and if your a contract tech complaining about layoffs you are in the wrong field.
And people say my generation whines, jeez.
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This is going to be interesting to watch from afar. The question is whether URS is going to roll over for the Unions or meet them head on in court. From previous experience at SRS and talking with DOE reps there, a showdown is coming. Why keep lazy techs who complain about how old they are when they actually have to get out of their trucks and go work when there are people who don't hide in their offices all day. I'm not looking for a house position here as my family is a days flight away, but retention based solely on seniority is not the capitalist way. In the real world of business this would be a prime opportunity to downsize and rid themselves of dead weight.
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I would say that this subject is mute.
That would be a trick...even for your generation....jeez. One could consider that a nice example of an oxymoron though, surely an original.
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I did not know that there are "permanent" workers at Hanford. I thought that it was all contractors or subcontractors.
They're also called staff, in-house, permanent, etc. Contract technicians are called contractors or sub-contractors, rent-a-techs (or rental techs as I heard it put one time), temps, staff augmentation, etc. Once you get some more time in the business you'll learn the lingo.
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As a relatively new road tech ~5yrs experience, I would say that this subject is mute. I work for the highest bidder, though I feel greatly discriminated in the field due to my young age (27). I never expected to be at Hanford past September and can at least take a couple of months to line jobs for August and beyond. There is no shortage of work and if your a contract tech complaining about layoffs you are in the wrong field.
And people say my generation whines, jeez.
"moot"
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"moot"
maybe it's MOOOO------T? :)
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This is going to be interesting to watch from afar. The question is whether URS is going to roll over for the Unions or meet them head on in court. From previous experience at SRS and talking with DOE reps there, a showdown is coming. Why keep lazy techs who complain about how old they are when they actually have to get out of their trucks and go work when there are people who don't hide in their offices all day. I'm not looking for a house position here as my family is a days flight away, but retention based solely on seniority is not the capitalist way. In the real world of business this would be a prime opportunity to downsize and rid themselves of dead weight.
+K +K +K +K--karma to you, EtherealOmega, I'm at SRS and hope I don't get laid-off but I'm totally Sick of hearing of my "seniority will protect me--I've got seniority" crap I've heard since I got here. Like another poster said on another forum---we've got more loafers here than Thom Mcann's ;D
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Like another poster said on another forum---we've got more loafers here than Thom Mcann's ;D
To cite my good friend Retread...
What a memory! +K
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maybe it's MOOOO------T? :)
BAAAA.......Goats and sheep seem to apply here with blame and blind followers abounding. ;) Cows no longer seem to apply as they will no longer be allowed to milk it. Metaphors should be carefully used. :old:
[devious] [OT]
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OK to move myself and this thread back on topic. DOE cuts of this nature have little to do with age or performance. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you are on the road. I've been through two workforce transitions of DOE sites layoffs always ended up being smaller than projected and rumors stampeding around the site (OK there is a MOOO there ;) with the stampede) most of which were wrong..
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From what our level 1 manager said, seniority will only help the people with good work ethics and practices. Sorry/bad workers will leave first this time, for the first time in SRS history
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Isn't this an Oakridge thread?
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Isn't this an Oakridge thread?
NukeWorker Forum > Facility & Company Information > Region IV (Western) > Hanford > Hanford lay offs
or was this :->
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From what our level 1 manager said, seniority will only help the people with good work ethics and practices. Sorry/bad workers will leave first this time, for the first time in SRS history
No, just in a hurry, old, dumb and in the wrong place, old age is a .......
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OK to move myself and this thread back on topic. DOE cuts of this nature have little to do with age or performance. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you are on the road. I've been through two workforce transitions of DOE sites layoffs always ended up being smaller than projected and rumors stampeding around the site (OK there is a MOOO there ;) with the stampede) most of which were wrong..
Marlin,
You are so correct. I have been through several myself at DOE. The layoff numbers have never come to pass with what is first projected. I suspect there will be house techs go this time, just not as many as feared.
105kw
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I would be in favor of removing the union all together. It would be nice to see things based on performance rather than years served. There are many seasoned people here that are amazing to work with, but many times the top of the seniority list is borderline comatose.
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I would be in favor of removing the union all together. It would be nice to see things based on performance rather than years served. There are many seasoned people here that are amazing to work with, but many times the top of the seniority list is borderline comatose.
pringles,
I guess the question I would ask is performance based on whose perception ? Washington Closure ? WRPS ? CHG ? yours ? . I would assume ( maybe I'm wrong ) you have only been out at the site a short of amount of time. You have to remember those "comatose" seniors you have to deal with have been there, done that and played the DOE merry-go-round a long time. They are not comatose they have just learned to not get too excited about much. Not slamming you, just ask that you have a little perspective. ;)
105KW
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I have to agree with 105KW. I am new to Hanford and am fortunate to be working with a great bunch of HPT's here. They all are very willing to help and all pull up the boot straps when they are givin their assignments. I hear that not all areas are like that here, that is why I count my blessings. Then again I can adjust to anything when I am making this kind of money for a job that is not very hard at all.
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Just as I said in my original post, there are some that are very well versed and great to work with. However, to not call out the shortfalls by a large number of the employees here is dis-honest. The unions are chocking the life out of all aspects of industry, and in my opinion, it is not sustainable. I watch the same people day in and day out do absolutely nothing, with no fear of repercussions. Ultimately, the union is cannibalistic and only furthers peoples personal interests. Once it hits the fan, there is no "brotherhood", rather everyone looks out for number one. I had a great job before this one, complete with benefits, etc. There was no union, just the knowledge that if you did not perform and work hard, you would be replaced. Unions had their place, but I feel that it has become ridiculous.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/17/entitlement-evolution-poses-threat-americas-finances/#
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If you are working out in the area, then you most likely pay dues in some way, shape or fashion.
If you are working at Hanford, and so anti-union...set the example, stand up and leave.
Dont bite the hand that feeds you, and feeds you very well.
8)
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RRhoads: don't fool yourself, the union is not the hand that feeds. If anything, the union is the symbiotic parasite which would not exist without the hand that feeds OR those that bite who are willing to trade their dues for the services rendered. Although, I would wager that many are not willing to trade their dues for the services rendered, they simply have no choice. Yes, yes, you are right- they could leave. What a choice! Next you will start telling me how government inefficiency and waste are good for us...
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Iam not being naive, I have a pretty good idea about how it works out ther.When i was a road tech, i always had a choice.dont like paying dues leave..If you're a travler coming in on Stimulus bucks and dont like the Union, leave..thts all iam saying....its NOT your house...nor is it mine. ;)
And it figures you sink the topic down to party affiliation. ::)
Nuff said.
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They did nothing for me when I was there but I can say this one of my Union Brothers ratted me out to the boss I was getting calls for other jobs. but what the heck I got 10 k out of them sitting in training. and it proved to me in my mind never go back stay forward in your progress. I left there as am alara eng.back to making more than the slugs I was with and less hoops to jump through now I am back working safety and project management.
I could rant all day about CR and the walkout years ago. But if want to be in a union go house somewhere.
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In a Perfect world we would not need a union. I find it interesting the folks with the strongest ant-union feelings are most likely short term RCT/HPT's at the site. I came from anti-union state down south many years ago and couldn't understand why the "union" thought they needed my money. After all the company was willing to pay me to relocate, give a nice salary, wouldn't force me to work overtime, buy all my winter gear, supply me with work boots, give me 10 days of holiday pay, decent medical, 401k, 3 week vacation ( at 5 years ), education reimbursement ,pay me when bad weather closes the site...etc...etc...Even without a union I am sure they would still give me this out of the goodness of their heart. After all the company is here to look out for me aren't they ? :-\
The fact is without some bargaining power ( as meek as is it is ) the average working guy or gal would in a far worse shape. We are not in a perfect world Dorothy and your not in Kansas anymore.
105KW
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Good point Mr. Meyers.
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My only problem with unions is they exclude people if you are not a "brother." If you somehow get in they force you to join, take your money and then use some of it for politics for candidates I dislike, like Kerry back in '04 or Pelosi and Reid and Obama in 08. On the other hand, I also think you have more power in a union to bargain collectively and that is OK. The solution is to take a persons money only for bargaining, and not for political purposes unless you expressly agree to it and have open books to insure it is not happening against your will.
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What you propose is known as the Beck Decision. The US Supreme Court issued it in the case of CWA vs. Beck.
You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Workers_of_America_v._Beck
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Despite not being "in Kansas anymore", or in a perfect world, companies are in business in order to make a profit. I know that many companies treat employees less than desirably, but it is their right to do so. I’m not saying that is its right, but it is their right. Unions are needed, absolutely. My contract and work atmosphere are better because of them for sure. At what cost though? Unions are a big reason that many aspects of industry in the United States has fled to other countries. Is it worth bankrupting a state over a few points on your benefits? We must allow capitalism and competition back into industry, or our economy will never be what it could be.
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Despite not being "in Kansas anymore", or in a perfect world, companies are in business in order to make a profit. I know that many companies treat employees less than desirably, but it is their right to do so. I’m not saying that is its right, but it is their right. Unions are needed, absolutely. My contract and work atmosphere are better because of them for sure. At what cost though? Unions are a big reason that many aspects of industry in the United States has fled to other countries. Is it worth bankrupting a state over a few points on your benefits? We must allow capitalism and competition back into industry, or our economy will never be what it could be.
Be careful straddling the fence. You could be injured.
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What you propose is known as the Beck Decision. The US Supreme Court issued it in the case of CWA vs. Beck.
You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Workers_of_America_v._Beck
You make a good point. I am pretty sure most here at the site do not realize that at the end of every year the worker can request a partial refund of the dues that was paid to the union. ;)
105KW
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Are you sure Steven? I didn't think that the "brotherhood" that is HAMTC would ever do such a thing. Thats like saying Obama is more qualified than Sarah Palin.
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My current guess is that all the contractors go first (about 100 or so) and then an additional 200 layoffs from CHPRC which means that I'm probably going to get bumped as a house tech. It's been quite the ride and I would have loved to stay for another year. Maybe the road life is calling my name?
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Are you sure Steven? I didn't think that the "brotherhood" that is HAMTC would ever do such a thing. Thats like saying Obama is more qualified than Sarah Palin.
They don't have much to say about it and they don't like it. We only have a few agency fee members and I'm not recommending it, but the option is there. For more info speak with the union secretary down at the hall
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I too work with many competant and good people. There is, however, another half of my coworkers who dont care, take every opportunity to complain or get out of work, and then hide behind the union. Coming from where I do, I apprectiate that this job allows us to live a fairly comfortable life, but it does get old watching the same people day in and day out do nothing and collect the same amount of money as the rest of us.
you must be active duty? ;)
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The drive has gotten pretty nerve racking. I dont understand the reason people are in such a hurry to get somewhere to do crosswords. I have noticed in my limited time on site that there are a few frequent offenders, mostly on the river roads, etc. Two or three inpeticular that are going to cause an accident.
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There is one thing for sure at Hanford and the Tri-Cities area in general. They are by far the worse drivers in the world. It is like being in London here. Every other place I have ever been at in the USA the left lane is a passing lane. Here it is a slow driving lane. The vast majority of drivers are in the left lane until they are 25 feet from a right hand lane exit. Then they are coming over to exit no matter who or what is in their way. I can agree about the fast drivers there also. But when it comes down to it: Lead, follow or get out of the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EXACTLY !!! Ive been all over the USA and the Tri-Cities has BY FAR the WORST drivers I have ever seen. You can bet.....if you are in the fast lane going 60 (OR 55 LIKE A LOT OF IDIOTS ARE DOING !!!) in the 60 mph zone my truck is gonna be up on your back bumper.....and depending on my mood I may be laying on the horn. Its simple.....get the over to the right. I count how many cars I pass on the right everyday on my way to work.....the record is 48. 48 !!!!!
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Bonds...a speed limit is just that...a limit...not a suggestion. Why can't eveyone just slow down a litle and enjoy :)
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EXACTLY !!! Ive been all over the USA and the Tri-Cities has BY FAR the WORST drivers I have ever seen. You can bet.....if you are in the fast lane going 60 (OR 55 LIKE A LOT OF IDIOTS ARE DOING !!!) in the 60 mph zone my truck is gonna be up on your back bumper.....and depending on my mood I may be laying on the horn. Its simple.....get the over to the right. I count how many cars I pass on the right everyday on my way to work.....the record is 48. 48 !!!!!
[soap]
The title of my rant is, Only in America!
Let us begin with some simple concepts / terms. Shall we?
It isn't the left lane. Its proper name is the "passing lane". Not the "fast lane" or the "speeding lane". The "passing lane" is the correct term. You have no right to demand it, and you have no right to be in it unless you are passing. Lane ownership issues are a big deal. And, by violating it you are endangering the rest of us on the road.
I am not advocating hogging the "passing lane" if you are not passing. But, as TnTplayer has stated, it is a speed "limit". Thusly, if you don't know what that means please look at a dictionary. Otherwise stop getting mad at those that obey the law when passing in the "passing lane".
And, for goodness sake, don't tailgate to get your point across. The only idiots on the road are the "Tailgater's". You don't own any lane. You share the lanes (with other drivers). If you don't care for Tri-Cities drivers I can assure you will not care for the rest of the US of A. Because as far as I know everywhere I drive I met idiots in cars .. ;) :-X :o ;)
Only in America can a poster complain about other people's "legal" (and "illegal") driving as "idiotic" when they admit they are driving "dangerously" and "erratically" (re: tailgating). Only in America!
[2cents]
I too do not like those that don't have the intelligence to drive a car correctly. I share your pain but I do not advocate driving dangerously to prove a point. Not ever. Everyone that is stupid has that right, given by GOD, and will continue to execute it regardless of your training methods to reverse it.
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I am not opposed to speading, with in reason. But there is a big difference between speeding and what some of these size smallwhenyoushouldwearaxxlarg e safety orange shirt wearing brotheren are doing. Like i said, there are at least three vehicles that I see on an almost daily basis driving like a moron just to show off.
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[soap]
The title of my rant is, Only in America!
Let us begin with some simple concepts / terms. Shall we?
It isn't the left lane. Its proper name is the "passing lane". Not the "fast lane" or the "speeding lane". The "passing lane" is the correct term. You have no right to demand it, and you have no right to be in it unless you are passing. Lane ownership issues are a big deal. And, by violating it you are endangering the rest of us on the road.
I am not advocating hogging the "passing lane" if you are not passing. But, as TnTplayer has stated, it is a speed "limit". Thusly, if you don't know what that means please look at a dictionary. Otherwise stop getting mad at those that obey the law when passing in the "passing lane".
And, for goodness sake, don't tailgate to get your point across. The only idiots on the road are the "Tailgater's". You don't own any lane. You share the lanes (with other drivers). If you don't care for Tri-Cities drivers I can assure you will not care for the rest of the US of A. Because as far as I know everywhere I drive I met idiots in cars .. ;) :-X :o ;)
Only in America can a poster complain about other people's "legal" (and "illegal") driving as "idiotic" when they admit they are driving "dangerously" and "erratically" (re: tailgating). Only in America!
[2cents]
I too do not like those that don't have the intelligence to drive a car correctly. I share your pain but I do not advocate driving dangerously to prove a point. Not ever. Everyone that is stupid has that right, given by GOD, and will continue to execute it regardless of your training methods to reverse it.
I will agree with most of what you say except the first and last lines. It is not only in America. As a matter of fact it is much worse in many places outside America. But that does not change the validity of the rest of your post.
To many people, anyone that drives faster than them is a moron and those that drive slower are idiots. Or is it the other way around? I forget...
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EXACTLY !!! Ive been all over the USA and the Tri-Cities has BY FAR the WORST drivers I have ever seen. You can bet.....if you are in the fast lane going 60 (OR 55 LIKE A LOT OF IDIOTS ARE DOING !!!) in the 60 mph zone my truck is gonna be up on your back bumper.....and depending on my mood I may be laying on the horn. Its simple.....get the over to the right. I count how many cars I pass on the right everyday on my way to work.....the record is 48. 48 !!!!!
Why don't you leave the house 5 minutes earlier or better yet....just leave?
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I have to agree with Content 1. I feel that it not the unions place to choose one side or the other using our dues.
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Why don't you leave the house 5 minutes earlier or better yet....just leave?
LOL !!! Looks like I found a couple of the individuals I'm talking about. If you are driving 58 mph in the "passing lane" in a 60 mph zone and dont see anything wrong with that, then you must be a total idiot (even if you are passing the other idiot going 55 mph) Its not just on my way to work.....its EVERYWHERE !!!!
Also....I WILL LEAVE !!! (in 31 years when I retire)
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Also.....when I ride to work with my Girlfriend and she is consistently "flying by" vehicles on the right....while going 62 MPH something is wrong. Im not talking about people going under the speed limit in the right lane (some believe 60 mph is too fast) My problem is the population of drivers that strictly drive in the "passing lane" no matter WHAT speed they are going.
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LOL !!! Looks like I found a couple of the individuals I'm talking about. If you are driving 58 mph in the "passing lane" in a 60 mph zone and dont see anything wrong with that, then you must be a total idiot (even if you are passing the other idiot going 55 mph) Its not just on my way to work.....its EVERYWHERE !!!!
Also....I WILL LEAVE !!! (in 31 years when I retire)
This would indicate you are young'ster. Good for you not to let our words get to you. +K
But, -K for thinking you "own" a lane. Yes, they should be in the "non-passing lane". But, when passing they can pass at any speed they like. And, they are required by law to do it slower than the "speed limit". Your frustration is due to your late departure for work. You are in a rush. And, you should leave earilier and stop riding bumpers. Because what you are complaining about is legal (re: passing at the speed limit in the passing lane). What you are doing on the other hand is "careless and reckless" (i.e. dangerous).
Also.....when I ride to work with my Girlfriend and she is consistently "flying by" vehicles on the right....while going 62 MPH something is wrong. Im not talking about people going under the speed limit in the right lane (some believe 60 mph is too fast) My problem is the population of drivers that strictly drive in the "passing lane" no matter WHAT speed they are going.
Which is legal if they are passing.
[DH]
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LOL !!! Looks like I found a couple of the individuals I'm talking about. If you are driving 58 mph in the "passing lane" in a 60 mph zone and dont see anything wrong with that, then you must be a total idiot (even if you are passing the other idiot going 55 mph) Its not just on my way to work.....its EVERYWHERE !!!!
Also....I WILL LEAVE !!! (in 31 years when I retire)
Anyone that counts the number of cars they illegally pass on the way to work has a little problem. And put down the Kool-Aid, pal, I'll let you in on a little secret. You Ready? You don't have 31 years left out there. The fat lady is starting to sing.
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Anyone that counts the number of cars they illegally pass on the way to work has a little problem. And put down the Kool-Aid, pal, I'll let you in on a little secret. You Ready? You don't have 31 years left out there. The fat lady is starting to sing.
Hope she holds that high note for about another 5 years anyways :-)...And the traffic will get better come late October when the Obama money is all gone. Just everyone try to stay safe till then.
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Anyone that counts the number of cars they illegally pass on the way to work has a little problem. And put down the Kool-Aid, pal, I'll let you in on a little secret. You Ready? You don't have 31 years left out there. The fat lady is starting to sing.
So let me get this straight.....Im the one thats the problem. Passing cars on the right going 65 mph is wrong.....not the people who are driving strictly in the left lane going 55-60 mph (while holding up trafic and not PASSING ANYBODY!!) Also....I do have 31 years left....we actually make electricity where I work. And Kool-Aid?....LOL Im 34 years old. Not a bad attempt at trying to belittle me however.
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So let me get this straight.....Im the one thats the problem. Passing cars on the right going 65 mph is wrong.....not the people who are driving strictly in the left lane going 55-60 mph (while holding up trafic and not PASSING ANYBODY!!) Also....I do have 31 years left....we actually make electricity where I work. And Kool-Aid?....LOL Im 34 years old. Not a bad attempt at trying to belittle me however.
Luckily the Internet is forever, so when you rearend the car with the family inside and kill someone's kid, they can find your posts and your reckless disregard for the lives of others...
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Ohhhh....for the record the whole tailgating story isnt true (afraid of rock chips) I guess I forgot to mention that.....I am however quite impressed how VERY easy it is to get people fired up on here.
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Ohhhh....for the record the whole tailgating story isnt true (afraid of rock chips) I guess I forgot to mention that.....I am however quite impressed how VERY easy it is to get people fired up on here.
EXACTLY !!! Ive been all over the USA and the Tri-Cities has BY FAR the WORST drivers I have ever seen. You can bet.....if you are in the fast lane going 60 (OR 55 LIKE A LOT OF IDIOTS ARE DOING !!!) in the 60 mph zone my truck is gonna be up on your back bumper.....and depending on my mood I may be laying on the horn. Its simple.....get the over to the right. I count how many cars I pass on the right everyday on my way to work.....the record is 48. 48 !!!!!
We'll see what the jury will decide in the future, now won't we
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Tri-Cities does have the worst drivers Ive ever seen.....and I do pass people on the right if they are driving in the left lane for no reason, but I do not tailgate people (like i said...I made that up as I dont like rock chips on my brand new truck....and I was in the mood to get people fired up) I did pass 48 cars one day on my way to work....all in the right lane....all going 65 mph (in a 60 mph zone) That is quite sad that there is that many people who have no idea the proper lane to be driving in.....so sad that it has actually caused me to count.
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Ohhhh....for the record the whole tailgating story isnt true (afraid of rock chips) I guess I forgot to mention that.....I am however quite impressed how VERY easy it is to get people fired up on here.
Tri-Cities does have the worst drivers Ive ever seen.....and I do pass people on the right if they are driving in the left lane for no reason, but I do not tailgate people (like i said...I made that up as I dont like rock chips on my brand new truck....and I was in the mood to get people fired up) I did pass 48 cars one day on my way to work....all in the right lane....all going 65 mph (in a 60 mph zone) That is quite sad that there is that many people who have no idea the proper lane to be driving in.....so sad that it has actually caused me to count.
So let me get this straight.....Im the one thats the problem. Passing cars on the right going 65 mph is wrong.....not the people who are driving strictly in the left lane going 55-60 mph (while holding up trafic and not PASSING ANYBODY!!) Also....I do have 31 years left....we actually make electricity where I work. And Kool-Aid?....LOL Im 34 years old. Not a bad attempt at trying to belittle me however.
Hmmmmmmm, really, I guess you're the expert on getting 'people' fired up, eh?
Both are illegal.
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Anyone that counts the number of cars they illegally pass on the way to work has a little problem. And put down the Kool-Aid, pal, I'll let you in on a little secret. You Ready? You don't have 31 years left out there. The fat lady is starting to sing.
So let me get this straight.....Im the one thats the problem. Passing cars on the right going 65 mph is wrong.....not the people who are driving strictly in the left lane going 55-60 mph (while holding up trafic and not PASSING ANYBODY!!) Also....I do have 31 years left....we actually make electricity where I work. And Kool-Aid?....LOL Im 34 years old. Not a bad attempt at trying to belittle me however.
In case you missed the snowman's meaning, let me help you out. He (i.e. SnowMan) means, with your current driving style, will not live long enough for you to enjoy 31+ years till retirement.
You'll see as you get older. You will slow down or get slowed down. Most of us learned from others mistakes so we wouldn't have to make them ourselves. You could say, learn from the OE or become the OE.
Peace.
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Glad he turns off at Woops..Uh I mean Columbia Generating Staion...Just makes the drive safer for us ;D
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It has been my experience that passing on the way to work at Hanford in either the right lane or the left might net you a savings of 1-2 minutes by the time you get to Kbasin. Is it really worth it?
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It has been my experience that passing on the way to work at Hanford in either the right lane or the left might net you a savings of 1-2 minutes by the time you get to Kbasin. Is it really worth it
/
Please stop trying to inject logic into an emotionally charged subject... the morons don't listen because they think it doesn't apply to them, so you only succeed in inconveniencing billions of electrons needlessly.
Thank you.
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Also.....when I ride to work with my Girlfriend and she is consistently "flying by" vehicles on the right....while going 62 MPH something is wrong. Im not talking about people going under the speed limit in the right lane (some believe 60 mph is too fast) My problem is the population of drivers that strictly drive in the "passing lane" no matter WHAT speed they are going.
Hey Bonds ... I was able to recover some video from the traffic camera's of you and your girlfriends driving. RaceY! :P ;) :o ;)
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Since the tribe of Morons and the tribe of Idiots are sending out their war parties I've decided to be the one to leave a few minutes earlier to avoid the battle. I did notice a few scouts out ahead of the main group but other than that I had a peaceful drive to work this morning.
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As did I. There is a white ford dually and a black ford pickup that I havent seen all week which makes me happy.
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I typically drive up to 5 miles/hr over the posted speed. I try to stay out of these crazies path but that doesn't always work; they blaze by me honking and flippiing me the "bird"; like I really care what crazy people think. They are the problem and their need to speed is their issue, not mine.
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Whats your best guess or rumour on HPT/RCT numbers for lay off?
We have 674 house techs and 82 contract techs.
I am hearing and guessing myself we will be laying off all contract techs (82) and going down to 500 house. Giving a grand total of 256 being laid off.
Thoughts?
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We have heard numbers all over the board. I imagine what you said will be close, however I am not sure it will be that high.
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And you think you have it tough... check out this parking job.
http://www.wimp.com/somewhererussia/
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High as in 500 being kept or 256 high being laid off?
???
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And you think you have it tough... check out this parking job.
http://www.wimp.com/somewhererussia/
That is impressive .. !?!?! .. ;) :o :P ;D :o ;) [quit]
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At the SRS layoff in Feb. our management of high integrity told us that RadCon would lose 25% or 50 plus people. When the smoked cleared we had lost 4 and according to "the talk" 3 were absentee problems and one was on triple final commitment. They deliberately put the word out that the layoffs would be high, I guess so when 680 people left, we could sigh and say, "That wasn't so bad." I am convinced that the new owners conducting the layoffs are clueless as to what the site does. They are too busy flaunting their wealth on MTV teen cribs. (Season 1 episode 12). Now the next layoff has been cut back to 500 people tops. If they lay off 50 radcon I will go and I won't be too sad, that is if they still plan on using the seniority roster. They want to get rid of it to rid themselves of the unnamed "loafers at the top."
Don't believe half of what they say.
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The number I'm hearing is that one third will be laid off at Hanford. That would bring the number of techs down to 500. But one third is the total number of staff reduced and RP may not get hit as hard or may get hit harder. We are repeatedly told that everyone is "safe" until 9/30. And no one is safe after that. I'm hearing from a lot of "exempts" that they are worried about their jobs too.
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Whats your best guess or rumour on HPT/RCT numbers for lay off?
We have 674 house techs and 82 contract techs.
I am hearing and guessing myself we will be laying off all contract techs (82) and going down to 500 house. Giving a grand total of 256 being laid off.
Thoughts?
If I was a betting man ( and I am ) that is a pretty good guess. Historically the last 10 years the house numbers have stayed around 500 +- 8. I think you will see WRPS ( tank farms ) maintain it's headcount as they have an increased budget, while CHG ( PFP and the Canyons, Solid waste, Ground water ) will loose head count (techs). MSA techs I think are stable and doubt any will shift. WCH has increased their temp head count ( I suspect to prepare for the bump and roll ) and when everything is said and done 500 sounds like a good number. But hey, my opionion and a a buck might get you a cup of coffee at costco ::)
105KW :P
BTW...The current numbers today are 659 House and 88 temps if the list is correct.
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It isn't the left lane. Its proper name is the "passing lane". Not the "fast lane" or the "speeding lane". The "passing lane" is the correct term. You have no right to demand it, and you have no right to be in it unless you are passing. Lane ownership issues are a big deal. And, by violating it you are endangering the rest of us on the road.
I am not advocating hogging the "passing lane" if you are not passing. But, as TnTplayer has stated, it is a speed "limit". Thusly, if you don't know what that means please look at a dictionary. Otherwise stop getting mad at those that obey the law when passing in the "passing lane".
I have been trying to keep my mouth shut, 'cuz I really don't have a dog in this fight...I'm going home from nightshift while y'all are jockeying for pole position...
BUT, I have to say it:
Have you thought about the possible outcomes when you play that sanctimonious 'I'm-the-good-guy-because-I-follow-the-speed-limit-in-the-passing-lane' card?
Outcome 1: You are doing a good thing by slowing that unsafe speeder down?
OR
Outcome 2: You are causing road rage in someone who may already have issues? Road rage which may not affect you, but may cause an accident further down the road...
I don't know about everyone else, but I'd rather stay in the slow lane, even if I'm stuck behind someone going 57, and not tick anyone off...rather than go 60 in fast lane and cause someone in a hurry to drive even crazier.
Full Disclosure: I reserve the right (subject to such fines as the judicial system chooses to levee) to go 10mph over the speed 'limit' (it's really just a guideline...if you are willing to pay the fines) on those rare occasions when I am running late...or when I need to pass someone in the slow lane in a timely manner. ;)
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Just a nit-pickin' point but I don't see how my obeying the law (driving the speed limit) should make me responsible for any of the ridiculously bad driving or behavior that I see just about every day.
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I have been trying to keep my mouth shut, 'cuz I really don't have a dog in this fight...I'm going home from nightshift while y'all are jockeying for pole position...
BUT, I have to say it:
Have you thought about the possible outcomes when you play that sanctimonious 'I'm-the-good-guy-because-I-follow-the-speed-limit-in-the-passing-lane' card?
Outcome 1: You are doing a good thing by slowing that unsafe speeder down?
OR
Outcome 2: You are causing road rage in someone who may already have issues? Road rage which may not affect you, but may cause an accident further down the road...
I don't know about everyone else, but I'd rather stay in the slow lane, even if I'm stuck behind someone going 57, and not tick anyone off...rather than go 60 in fast lane and cause someone in a hurry to drive even crazier.
Full Disclosure: I reserve the right (subject to such fines as the judicial system chooses to levee) to go 10mph over the speed 'limit' (it's really just a guideline...if you are willing to pay the fines) on those rare occasions when I am running late...or when I need to pass someone in the slow lane in a timely manner. ;)
Finally some sense!....
Thank you UB!!!
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Just a nit-pickin' point but I don't see how my obeying the law (driving the speed limit) should make me responsible for any of the ridiculously bad driving or behavior that I see just about every day.
Do it on the correct side of the road & there shouldnt be any worries.
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Just a nit-pickin' point but I don't see how my obeying the law (driving the speed limit) should make me responsible for any of the ridiculously bad driving or behavior that I see just about every day.
I find it odd you "rationalize" behavior. But, they have research on this very topic.
Drivers blame everyone else for bad driving (http://www.brake.org.uk/blame)
So you think you're a good driver (http://hubpages.com/hub/So-you-think-youre-a-good-driver)
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Righto. Good to know that I should lock my car if I park next to yours lest I 'cause' you to swipe my stereo! ;)
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Just a nit-pickin' point but I don't see how my obeying the law (driving the speed limit) should make me responsible for any of the ridiculously bad driving or behavior that I see just about every day.
You are right...it should NOT make you responsible -in a 'logical' kind of way.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with the emotions of someone (probably less stable than you) who is already in a hurry and isn't going to make a calm decision about you blocking them.
So, please be the extra-civilized person who keeps us all safe by NOT pushing the speeder into road rage. Thanks! :)
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Righto. Good to know that I should lock my car if I park next to yours lest I 'cause' you to swipe my stereo! ;)
I think I mis-communicated my point. I am surprised that you are trying to "rationalize" irrational behavior.
Which is what UncaBuffalo is saying below (e.g. "probably less stable than you").
You are right...it should NOT make you responsible -in a 'logical' kind of way.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with the emotions of someone (probably less stable than you) who is already in a hurry and isn't going to make a calm decision about you blocking them.
So, please be the extra-civilized person who keeps us all safe by NOT pushing the speeder into road rage. Thanks! :)
That is one of the points made in the links (i.e. stories) provided.
Ways to reduce the risk of accidents
{quoted from: "So you think you're a good driver"}
There's no sure-fire way to prevent accidents. As I said above, accidents are not planned, so therefore it follows that they cannot be planned against - if that makes sense.
What you can do though, is plan to minimise the risk of accident.
Here are some safe driving tips:
Safe driving does not mean like some people think, that travelling around at half or a third of the speed limit will prevent you from having an accident, it will probably increase the chances if you are mimsing along at twenty in a fifty limit, holding up the traffic. At the very least, you are in danger of inciting road rage.
You all be safe out there.
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Why argue?!?
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html
(http://neatplates.com/FUN_COVER-ME-I%27M-CHANGING-LANES.jpg)
:P :P :P :o ;) 8) :hole: [quit]
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As if the speeding part isn't bad enough, we have all the a**holes that like to run the redlights on the By-pass. Every redlight, it seems there's a group of at least five cars that speed up and run through the things. Keep that crap up and someone's going to die.
Bonds 25....you finally manned up and bought a truck? Atta boy! ;-D
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Still no real word on a number that I am hearing. 500 seems to be the common number most are saying. It does seem sad that we will be losing alot of our junior techs, many of whom seem to be fairly motivated. That is one thing that always amazes me about a "brotherhood" mind set. It seems somewhat socialist in the idea that one is not allowed to acheive or move up based on will or performance.
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Still no real word on a number that I am hearing. 500 seems to be the common number most are saying. It does seem sad that we will be losing alot of our junior techs, many of whom seem to be fairly motivated. That is one thing that always amazes me about a "brotherhood" mind set. It seems somewhat socialist in the idea that one is not allowed to acheive or move up based on will or performance.
A Union is 'somewhat' socialist? Does the phrase "Workers of the world, unite!" mean anything to you?
Unions are socialist by definition.
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That was basicly what I was saying. I just find the hypocrisy for many of our union brothers and sisters, many of whom make their political leanings well known, to be so entrenched in something as out of control as the beast we refer to as HAMTEC.
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Still no real word on a number that I am hearing. 500 seems to be the common number most are saying. It does seem sad that we will be losing alot of our junior techs, many of whom seem to be fairly motivated. That is one thing that always amazes me about a "brotherhood" mind set. It seems somewhat socialist in the idea that one is not allowed to acheive or move up based on will or performance.
Turkey,
Remember we were ALL motivated back when we were JR's. WE all came in with the correct idea's and motivations. As anyone with more than a couple of years of experience at DOE understands that enthusiasm starts to wane. You can only kick a dog so much before his attitude changes, and usually not for the better. You are correct, unions are usually associated with socialism, but not let us not forget that so is social security, welfare, wic, medicare, and many many other programs in the US. Now to say they ( JR's) are not allowed to achieve more is not correct. They can "achieve" more ( if moving in into management is what you mean ) pretty darn easily. Some the lowest seniority have moved into rad planning and first line management. Some think this is a move up. You hardly find anyone with 10 years in the ranks that wants to make the move ( They know better ) unless they are close to retiring and need the 10 % bump for the retirement calculation.
The bottom line is the low seniority folks will be fine. They made some good money, got paid to learn a trade that is usable, got recall rights ( Union security ) and will have separation benefits that alot of us never had before coming to work here. If they want most will be back...This place is a swinging door.
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105KW
Can you elaborate on the quote below?
"You can only kick a dog so much before his attitude changes"
Dogs usually are only kicked when they act up.
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You must be in mangement.
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That was basicly what I was saying. I just find the hypocrisy for many of our union brothers and sisters, many of whom make their political leanings well known, to be so entrenched in something as out of control as the beast we refer to as HAMTEC.
I think you hit the nail right on the head Turkeypoint. 105KW seems to have taken offense to what you wrote. His logic is probably the most senseless post I have ever seen on here.
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"This place is a swinging door."
105KW, don't get on the wrong side of the door and have it locked and welded shut.
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Hey lets not forget about the purpose of this thread and not rag on eachother ;)
Just curious as to how many "techs" will be leaving on a factual or opinionated basis.
thanks
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I think you hit the nail right on the head Turkeypoint. 105KW seems to have taken offense to what you wrote. His logic is probably the most senseless post I have ever seen on here.
I didn't take any offense :-) I am note sure even what I would taken offense of ? ;D. Everyone has their own idea. And bigdog I don't think I have much to worry about on the layoff at least this time.
Have a great weekend all
105KW
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Current projected layoff
1300 exempt/BU personnel+- at CHPRC
300+- expempt/BU at MSA
Open window for self select starts Monday
WRPS? based on 2012 funding profile
WCH add staff based on funding profile
Current RCT/HPT head count 671 RCT/HPTs regulars and temps 76 HPT contractors
105KW you may not get laid off but you may be subject to the bump and roll and end up at WCH, stand by.
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Big dog, that is about the number being floated, but what do you suppose that means number wise for house hpt's?
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Current projected layoff
1300 exempt/BU personnel+- at CHPRC
300+- expempt/BU at MSA
Open window for self select starts Monday
WRPS? based on 2012 funding profile
WCH add staff based on funding profile
Current RCT/HPT head count 671 RCT/HPTs regulars and temps 76 HPT contractors
105KW you may not get laid off but you may be subject to the bump and roll and end up at WCH, stand by.
Bigdog,
You might have an old list. The most recent list is dated 5/7/11 as of 1:11 am. 54A ( RCT ) show 673 techs with 14 listed as temps that equals 659 full time techs ( Bumpable). 54B show 75 Contractor. Now include the 14 from 54A and you have 89 temp/contract techs. The Temp/Contractor techs must go before any house are released in the layoff. The bumping process is always a mess and I expect it will be this time too. The largest impact of course will be at -5 where the bulk are low senior. WRPS most likely will pickup some to replace the departing roadtechs. WCH ( eberline ) will take some as replacements also. MSA I don't think will loose any headcount of techs as they have limited number. Very few if any will take the early out in WRPS as tank farms is not offering any incentive to volunteer as opposed to CHPRC. Whatever happens, I will not move. DAMN THAT SENIORITY !!! :P
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Funding profiles will drive the final numbers
All contractors will go followed by any temps from the regular list.
That number is about 76 + 14 = 90,
then CHPRC/MSA HPTs that number will be self selects + IROFs current projection is 100-150 based on CHPRC/MSA funding profiles and the total number of HPTs opting for the self select. Could go much lower.
The real wild card is WRPS and their funding profile. If it's stable then the above is the best number available today.
If they get cut the numbers will grow.
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Our forefathers certainly did not fight for the right to have a union take dues and then use them for political purposes, without our knowledge/permission/agreement.
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Agreed. The mental state of the employees, not all of them, but many, is that of entitlement. I have put in many years to get where I am at, however, I do what I am told and take some pride in what I do. The union seems to do nothing more than discourage taking accountability for ones self. That and their choice of political ideology leaves something to be desired.
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Turkey,
How true, doing the right thing, and accepting accountability for the bad as well as the good things that happen lead to personal satisfaction and pride in your job/profession. Additionally your peers and supervisors will be quick to recognize who has pride and who is "on an entitlement program"
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However, I have not seen it pay dividends in this union, in fact quit the opposite.
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Doing the right thing (may not be the easy thing to do) always pays, may not be fiscal payment but it always pays.
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When I worked at Hanford my union steward would get on my a** if I didn't take my sick days. He claimed it made the rest of them (who took all their sick days every year) look bad. He also didn't like it if I worked very hard at my job. Some of my fellow techs asked why I put forth the effort, because they were going to do bare minimum and get every raise that I would. That's the attitude that destroys a viable work force. But it is the one that unions promote.
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When I worked at Hanford my union steward would get on my a** if I didn't take my sick days. He claimed it made the rest of them (who took all their sick days every year) look bad. He also didn't like it if I worked very hard at my job. Some of my fellow techs asked why I put forth the effort, because they were going to do bare minimum and get every raise that I would. That's the attitude that destroys a viable work force. But it is the one that unions promote.
Amen as concerns the Hanford union...I think I may have had the same yoyo for a steward...1996? But, I have to say I have been in some unions I liked over the years...
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The only thing I gained by working as a union tech at Hanford last year was 20 Lbs, and an addiction to Spudnuts and lengthy card games. Am now back on the the road working commercial plants again,losing weight and trying to shed the slime of the entitlement mentality that was beginning to affect me.
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It is difficult to keep ones head above water when drowning in the sea of union puss. 8) It kind of makes me cringe when I see a huge ironworker or IBEW sticker on a lifted truck blowing rocks all over my honda.
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Anyone heard any numbers as of June 1?
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I believe the self select just closed in CHPRC. It will take them a couple weeks I suspect to come up the numbers.
105kw
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At the place i work they are holding off hiring until they see how many laid off people come on the market, hoping to get highly experienced people for a song. They layoffs effect all DOE sites.
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Couple of new pics...
http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/thumbnails-50.html
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With about 150 taking the self-select, I wonder what that will mean for the final numbers concerning RCT's. It may mean that they are kept according to work ethic, profetionalism, and general not acting like a child. Oh yeah, it won't. All hail HAMTC!
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LOL! It may affect the final number though. I did hear some younger house techs even took the self select which suprised me.
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With about 150 taking the self-select, I wonder what that will mean for the final numbers concerning RCT's. It may mean that they are kept according to work ethic, profetionalism, and general not acting like a child. Oh yeah, it won't. All hail HAMTC!
I heard a long time ago "Seniority sux until you got some"..Still rings true today ;)
105KW
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K heres the latest "rumors"....
Rumor #1: Coming from a guy almost as high as you can go that 65% budget cut. How that relates to RADCON I'm not sure number wise. Whats your guess?
Rumor #2: RADCON 50% cut across techs, supervisors, managers, health physicists, engineers. etc... Came from someone in RADCON higher than a manager
So whith that what do we think the tech number will be.
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K heres the latest "rumors"....
Rumor #1: Coming from a guy almost as high as you can go that 65% budget cut. How that relates to RADCON I'm not sure number wise. Whats your guess?
Rumor #2: RADCON 50% cut across techs, supervisors, managers, health physicists, engineers. etc... Came from someone in RADCON higher than a manager
So whith that what do we think the tech number will be.
Funny thing on this RIF is the lack of rumors. Usually when we go through this there is all kinds of numbers flying. The few rumors that we are hearing that seem to have some substance is:
1. CHGPRC including T plant, PFP and Wrap are looking at fairly large cuts. (Hearing again "min safe" in conversations..remember though every budget year you hear talk of somebody going to min safe..Usually doesn't happen ) I know that some exempts in Radcon are concerned for there own jobs. Some have already moved to other positions.
2. WRPS if they don't find a new pot of money, might lose up to 400 + workers total including exempts. Nobody is saying how many Radcon. Word is WRPs is eyeing some money that is slated for waste transfer to Vit. This really may not play out as this is all coming from WRPS.
3. Heard for the first time today that numbers for the layoff should be out in about 1 week. Don't hold breath as we have heard that before...but who knows.
4. I have always thought that 500 on the list was a reasonable number. 745 today with the contractors and temps. I haven't heard anything that would make me change my mind. The only that has changed is the unknown factor of the real budget of WRPS. Will they Lose 100 million or not ?
Thats all we are hearing. Should know in a couple weeks anyway as the deadline for the WARN notices is creeping up on them.
105 KW :-\
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Anything against HAMTC is wecomed here...have at it ;)
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Anything against HAMTC is wecomed here...have at it ;)
Ok...having at it!
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Anything against HAMTC is wecomed here...have at it ;)
Wecomed? You should stick with HAMTC.
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Ya, I'm an incompetent RCT from HAMTC. Can't you tell from my professional training and/or writing skills? Wecomed, is how we do it out here on the funny farm. Nice try with your intellectual wit, sir. Have fun on the entitlement drive home.
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Did you really expect a serious answer to your original post?
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Just curious........is this the HAMTC that is acting like a union but is just taking money from workers?
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Just curious........is this the HAMTC that is acting like a union but is just taking money from workers?
Hamtc is not a union in itself. It is an umbrella organization of local unions.
105KW
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Hamtc is not a union in itself. It is an umbrella organization of local unions.
105KW
Thanks for the clarification. So, is this the umbrella orgainization of local unions that acts like a bunch of unions but just takes money off of workers?
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Why all the complaints about the union?
As a lowlife contract tech, I am happy to pay the union dues so that I can make ten dollars an hour more than my outage counterparts can. I have worked in nuclear power plants most of my career and frankly, there are more than a few of them that treat contract techs like crap. The management and house techs treat me as an equal here and I love it.
If you think the unions are somehow magicians and can keep people employed when the government cuts the budget by 65% then you must be in need of a FFD checkup.
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Why all the complaints about the union?
As a lowlife contract tech, I am happy to pay the union dues so that I can make ten dollars an hour more than my outage counterparts can. I have worked in nuclear power plants most of my career and frankly, there are more than a few of them that treat contract techs like crap. The management and house techs treat me as an equal here and I love it.
If you think the unions are somehow magicians and can keep people employed when the government cuts the budget by 65% then you must be in need of a FFD checkup.
Sorry, but I am kinda lost my your last sentence. I thought that the whole point was that the union sucks. Being in a union is not going to do you any good if there is no money coming in. What has the union done that has really helped anyone here? I am an Obama baby here. One of the union reps told me that I would not be paid the wage that I am if not for the union. That statement on its own told me a whole lot about the union right there. Don't get me wrong I am very grateful for all the money that I have made at Hanford. But my money I got here was because of the laws not the union. All the union is doing is taking my money and not giving me any representation at all. No one forced me to stay here but I am just the sort that wants something for the money I spend. Thanks for letting me rant. Peace.
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Anything against HAMTC is wecomed here...have at it ;)
Sorry, but I am kinda lost my your last sentence. I thought that the whole point was that the union sucks. Being in a union is not going to do you any good if there is no money coming in. What has the union done that has really helped anyone here? I am an Obama baby here. One of the union reps told me that I would not be paid the wage that I am if not for the union. That statement on its own told me a whole lot about the union right there. Don't get me wrong I am very grateful for all the money that I have made at Hanford. But my money I got here was because of the laws not the union. All the union is doing is taking my money and not giving me any representation at all. No one forced me to stay here but I am just the sort that wants something for the money I spend. Thanks for letting me rant. Peace.
Evidence that chum works even when going for sucker fish.
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because of the laws not the union. All the union is doing is taking my money and not giving me any representation at all. No one forced me to stay here but I am just the sort that wants something for the money I spend. Thanks for letting me rant. Peace.
Not being argumentative here, but what laws are you talking about ? Are you Talking about Davis Bacon ? Davis Bacon wages are based on prevailing wages of the area. I would submit that prevailing wages for Hanford are directly tied to contract negotiations. Seems you might have some issues that you feel that your steward is not handling for you. I would really like to know what they are. Maybe I can point you in a better direction to get them resolved.
Have a great week !
105KW
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Yeah, it is tied into the Davis-Bacon act. We are not Davis Bacon here tho. We are Service Contract Agreement. DOL states that all work will be paid pravailing wage. Who sets the prevailing wage, the union or was this something from very many moons ago? I do not know all the answers but it is all available to all.
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Yeah, it is tied into the Davis-Bacon act. We are not Davis Bacon here tho. We are Service Contract Agreement. DOL states that all work will be paid pravailing wage. Who sets the prevailing wage, the union or was this something from very many moons ago? I do not know all the answers but it is all available to all.
The wage at Hanford is set at every contract negotiations. The negotiations committee is formed by differant members of the individual local unions in HAMTC. In the years I have been the here ,the contract opens with the current wage and a yearly increase is typically negotiatied.
!05kw
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In my opinion, unions are needed. However unions have gone out of control. There is an absolute vacuum of accountability here at the Lazy H, and I attribute that to union mentality. Despite claims of "brotherhood", everything is all about #1.
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So here we sit... I guess we will know on this friday the 29th.
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164 house 72 contract
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164 house 72 contract
Puts us right the 500 mark give or take few...Now will WRPS back fill the 25 or so they are losing to the bump ? ..What about WCH ?
Any ones guess is good at this point
105KW
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well new number for revsion 1 is 176 house and 72 contract......
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well new number for revsion 1 is 176 house and 72 contract......
Looks like if that number holds that would put the layoff down to about number 472 on the list..Somewhere around May of 09 seniority.
105KW
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Whats your best guess or rumour on HPT/RCT numbers for lay off?
We have 674 house techs and 82 contract techs.
I am hearing and guessing myself we will be laying off all contract techs (82) and going down to 500 house. Giving a grand total of 256 being laid off.
Thoughts?
Here the march goes...From WRPS president today...More coming:
have tough news to share with you today.
In our last few all-employee meetings, I talked about the status of the Fiscal Year 2012 budget process and, most recently, the fact that we had submitted a Workforce Restructuring Plan to DOE.
We have now received approval to move forward with that plan. Depending on final FY-12 funding levels, the restructuring could affect up to 475 WRPS employees, both represented and non-represented. The Workforce Restructuring Plan includes a Self-Select option, to be followed by an Involuntary Reduction of Force (IROF).
Information and a detailed schedule for both the Self-Select and IROF actions will be distributed to all employees in a separate announcement today. The last day of employment for employees affected under the Workforce Restructuring Plan will be no later than Oct. 13, 2011.
I know this is sobering news. Early in the year, we had not anticipated an involuntary reduction of force would be necessary as we had planned for growth in our FY-12 base funding. This growth in base funding was expected to offset the loss of Recovery Act funding and allow us to maintain stable employment levels. The President’s budget request, submitted to Congress in February, supported that approach.
However, implementation of the Workforce Restructuring Plan is necessary to address the current budget shortfall that exists between the President’s Budget Request of $521 million and either the House-approved budget of $408 million or a potential Continuing Resolution funding level of $397 million. Once Congress returns from its August recess after Labor Day, it could finish an FY-12 budget with a tank farm funding level different from the numbers above. If this happens, we would adjust our workforce restructuring plan accordingly. But, significantly reduced funding levels appear likely to take effect Oct. 1, and we must prepare to reduce our workforce to match the expected decrease in funding.
I know job security has been a concern for many of our bargaining unit employees since at least last January when the CHPRC and MSA reductions were announced, and that concern has spread to many more of us during the past several months. Yet, despite this, you have set a new safety record for the tank farms, working more than a million hours without a recordable injury, and you continue to successfully complete project milestones. I’m truly proud of what you have accomplished despite difficult circumstances.
Unfortunately, as you can see, the trying times are not over, and I ask for your continued professionalism, empathy for those who will be leaving and extra attention to safety during the weeks ahead. Please take care of yourself and those around you.
Chuck
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well new number for revsion 1 is 176 house and 72 contract......
Well a little good news...CHPRC just revised their layoff numbers downward by 4. The total number continues to evolve.
105KW
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http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/08/19/1608413/1100-hanford-layoffs-planned.html
The Department of Energy has authorized its environmental cleanup contractors at Hanford to lay off up to 1,100 more workers in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
That's in addition to up to 1,985 layoffs already announced this year, the majority of which will be Sept. 29.
Hanford started the year with about 12,000 employees, meaning the potential layoffs announced this year would cut jobs by about a quarter.
That does not include the jobs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where about 50 jobs are expected to be trimmed from its staff of about 4,470 in Richland.
The most recent projected layoffs are to prepare for the new fiscal year federal budget, which is expected to reduce Hanford's annual budget. The number of layoffs required will not be known until Congress passes a Hanford budget.
The projected 1,100 new layoffs will start with up to 475 jobs at the Hanford tank farms, where 56 million gallons of radioactive waste awaiting treatment are stored in underground tanks. The last day of work for those employees will be no later than Oct. 13.
The layoffs announced earlier this year are mostly linked to the end of federal economic stimulus money. Hanford received $1.96 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money that should be mostly spent by Sept. 29.
The 1,985 layoffs announced earlier this year also include up to 210 jobs at Washington Closure Hanford in fiscal 2012, as it begins the gradual ramp down of work as cleanup along the Columbia River is completed.
The Tri-Cities has known that layoffs were coming as the last of the Recovery Act money was spent, said Gary Petersen, vice president of Hanford programs for the Tri-City Development Council.
But the layoffs announced Thursday are different, he said. They are linked to the annual budget money Hanford receives.
DOE is allowing the cleanup contractors to cut up to 1,100 positions starting soon, rather than waiting until a budget is approved.
If a substantially lower budget is approved months into the fiscal year, contractors run the risk of overspending early in the year and having to make even deeper cuts in the remainder of the year to meet the budget.
"By approving work force restructuring even before we receive our final budget for next year, we are giving our contractors more time to plan for the transition," said DOE spokesman Geoff Tyree.
Under the administration's budget proposal for fiscal 2012, Washington River Protection Solutions, the tank farm contractor, would have received $521 million. This year it received more than that with $397 million in annual baseline money plus $157 million in economic stimulus money.
The House budget proposes dropping the $521 million proposed budget for the coming year to $408 million. The Senate has yet to take up the budget. If Congress does not pass a budget, the tank farms must operate on a budget based on the $397 million in baseline money in received this year.
The announced cuts of up to 475 jobs at the tank farms are based on what Washington River Protection Solutions believes is the worst case funding scenario. The number could be adjusted after Congress returns in early September from its August recess.
Washington River Protection Solutions had announced no layoffs tied to Recovery Act money, because long-term DOE spending plans called for an increase in spending at the tank farms to prepare for the start of treatment of tank waste at the Hanford vitrification plant. That would create jobs to replace the Recovery Act jobs.
Work needs to be done to prepare to transfer the waste to the vitrification plant and to store the glassified waste after it is created. Plans also called for increasing the money spent to retrieve radioactive waste from leak-prone underground tanks.
"I know this is sobering news," said Chuck Spencer, president of Washington River Protection Solutions. "Significantly reduced funding levels appear likely to take effect Oct. 1, and we must prepare to reduce our work force to match expected decrease in funding."
Tank farm workers can volunteer for layoffs until Sept. 1.
Union workers will be given layoff notices Sept. 19 and their last day of work will be Sept. 29.
About 85 tank farm union workers already were expected to be laid off Sept. 29 as part of Hanford's union "bump and roll" policy that eliminates jobs of workers with the least seniority sitewide when any contractor has layoffs.
Nonunion tank farm employees will be given layoff notices Oct. 3 and will work no later than Oct. 13. They will be eligible for severance pay of a week's pay per year worked up to a maximum of 20 years.
CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. told workers Thursday that it is not planning to lay off more workers in fiscal 2012, but that will depend on the budget Congress passes.
It plans to lay off about 1,350 union and nonunion workers Sept. 29, including experienced and new workers for CH2M Hill and its preselected subcontractors, as Recovery Act spending ends and it adjusts its mix of skills needed for the coming fiscal year. The total includes about 150 workers approved for voluntary layoffs in June.
Mission Support Alliance told workers Thursday that a possibility of budget shortfalls could require further staff cuts in the coming months. It laid off 125 workers in March and is preparing to lay off up to 300 more Sept. 29.
Washington Closure Hanford does not anticipate any job cuts linked to the fiscal 2012 budget. However, it has notified workers that it will be cutting up to 210 jobs in the coming fiscal year linked to the ramp down of work as cleanup along the Columbia River is completed.
"We realize this is already a difficult time for the work force as stimulus work comes to an end," Tyree said. "The department is doing everything possible to minimize the overall impacts to the work force and community in the coming years."
CH2M Hill has organized a job fair 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at TRAC for Hanford workers, including those laid off earlier this year.
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It is almost criminal what the big dogs around here raked in off of the ARA money.
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Rumors are out for the WRPS layoff numbers. :-\ Check with your steward for the latest word on numbers. I really don't want throw something out there that might shake some up and be WAY off base.
105KW
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Number out from WRPS today. 40 RCT head Count to be excessed. Seniority List number seems to float around the 447 Level give or take a few. Self Selects have not been figured yet in WRPS. This will effect the final number as well.
105KW :o
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so what if your in or out. I left the in 87 and never looked back. as far as I am concerned I never be in a union ever.
as I recall HP is a support craft and that's what we have to deal with no matter where you work. I my self no my project will be done in oct and off to find one more. and I never heard so much complaining when a craft is told they are not getting the double bubble day . a friend showed me a list of the NPOs left at hanford if I had stayed being 54 years old now I would have been #4 on the list all that gets you in a better pick on your vac. day. I recall when we had some new rad tech off the road trying to tell us he was stopping a job down in the tank farms. seems he did not NPO were all meter qaul. we did not need him. by the time they came back we had closed the tank took out the cameras and moved on to another project and he was no longer covering our work. Hum. ( support as I recall . ) that place is dead a lot of people are going some day take your package and move on. I got a friend out there who is a good Rp and she was talking some of the DOE techs who are leaving and never worked nukes, and have to come in as JR hPTs. will they have a lot to learn it is just like the F.O.B.s elts they made them SR. HPs but did not know jack for a few outages.
any ways hanfords is done unless you want to dig dirt. no more q clearance's no more running plants FFTF is dead. and you might as will do the same with the old WPPS what a night mare that sight is no wonder they are 103 out of 104.
oh if I had waited two more weeks in 87 I would have got a buy out then but I did not know it was coming but who cares take it and go there is a lot of good work out there .
heck I am looking at wall-mart greater that could be a great job if the diem was right
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I can tell that, like your motto, you are fully armored.
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heck I am looking at wall-mart greater that could be a great job if the diem was right
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I left the in 87 and never looked back.
I believe you should have inserted the words "English Language" after the word in!
I recall when we had some new rad tech off the road trying to tell us he was stopping a job down in the tank farms. seems he did not NPO were all meter qaul. we did not need him. by the time they came back we had closed the tank took out the cameras and moved on to another project and he was no longer covering our work. Hum.
This shows how much you care about nuclear safety. If I had been that new tech I would have went straight to DOE and got your ass fired.
Next time sober up before you post a rant. The techs I worked with at Hanford where some of the best techs I have ever worked with, Commercial, DOE, or Navy.
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Becoming an English teacher isn't in your future.
LM
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Regardless of Dukes grammer, I have to agree with him. This union is out of control, and everyone suffers because of it. I dont see how alot of these people can be honest and hold their head high, knowing the amount of crap that they pull at work, not to mention the amount of tax payer dollars that they waste. It makes me wonder if they see some of the young techs that are willing to work losing their jobs, and feel at all guilty. When do leave Hanford, I will do it with the knowledge that the union has ruined the work ethic and productivity of many employees here. That is the truth if you are being honest.
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Regardless of Dukes grammer, I have to agree with him. This union is out of control, and everyone suffers because of it. I dont see how alot of these people can be honest and hold their head high, knowing the amount of crap that they pull at work, not to mention the amount of tax payer dollars that they waste. It makes me wonder if they see some of the young techs that are willing to work losing their jobs, and feel at all guilty. When do leave Hanford, I will do it with the knowledge that the union has ruined the work ethic and productivity of many employees here. That is the truth if you are being honest.
I agree. It amazes me every day when I think of so many turds that will be keeping their jobs while so many of us that work hard are sent packing.
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Someones bitter. I have been here for about 15 months. I am out of here at the end of Sept. I had the same mindset as you 2 when I got here. It is just not the union that has fostered the work ethic here. I have been told by management in a round about way that it is best to just wear blinders here. It is just not the union it is the whole site in general. When management sends out 5 techs to do a job that 1 tech could do it is just all about the billable hours.
Granted there are a lot of younger techs here who have been Hanfordized. But can you blame them or the union alone? When in Rome do as the Romans. This place will never change. And in defense of a lot of the techs here, they do as they are told. The DOE does not seem to mind about any of this at all. All they care about is if your sweatshirt hood is under your PC's.
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As this has been stated numerous times on this thread and other Hanford topics, if you came to Hanford (or any other DOE cleanup site) under ARRA, Stimulus Funds, or whatever program you want to call it, and had expectations other than being there for the duration of that funding you were being naive. Take the opportunity that you were given there to learn from and be grateful for the good money you made in a bad economy. Constantly posting rants about the union and techs who are senior to you that you perceive to be lazy and unworthy of staying behind makes you sound like a whiny sniveler. It does you and this forum no good.
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Snowman I have to disagree. The total site layoffs are projected to exceed 2,110 and that number will be revised upward during the first quarter of fiscal 2012 barring a near miracle in Congress passing a larger budget. To say that people being laid off are naive when their start date at site is as early as 2003 is at best a crass generalization based upon ignorance, at worst... well that might offend some so I will leave those details to the imagination.
I think this forum is a perfect place for the exchange of ideas, virtual conversation in which not all parties will agree, plans for the future which at this point is quite bleak for many, regardless of what fantasy land you thought they were living in. Can you have some empathy, and not be another union genius who thinks they owe nothing at all to seniority?
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As hard as it is for some to accept, Hanford is just another contract job. The "prime contract" people often forget that they took the job as a contractor and need to be ready to accept the terms of the contract when they got the job. Right now Hanford is going through some changes that are within the contract. From now on we should try to remember that we're all contractors here and just like all the rest our part of the contract is over and it's time to move on. So I'll see some of you down the road. But don't I always?
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Snowman I have to disagree. The total site layoffs are projected to exceed 2,110 and that number will be revised upward during the first quarter of fiscal 2012 barring a near miracle in Congress passing a larger budget. To say that people being laid off are naive when their start date at site is as early as 2003 is at best a crass generalization based upon ignorance, at worst... well that might offend some so I will leave those details to the imagination.
I think this forum is a perfect place for the exchange of ideas, virtual conversation in which not all parties will agree, plans for the future which at this point is quite bleak for many, regardless of what fantasy land you thought they were living in. Can you have some empathy, and not be another union genius who thinks they owe nothing at all to seniority?
Just to clarify here... NO RCT with a hire date before May of 2009 will be involuntarily laid off so far. If your date of 2003 is talking about exempts, then it has more to do with rankings that the management gives themselves than it does anything else.
105KW
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Also Frosty, not everyone being laid off was hired with ARRA money. I dont feel that expressing my disdain with the union and way of doing things is sniveling. I simply dissagree with the wasting of tax payer money and the absolute lack of accountability that is the norm here. Is that wrong? Is it wrong to expect people to show up on time, act like adults, or just have a little bit of pride in general? I apologize for being honest. I agree with Soul Merchant, this forum is a perfect place to express opinions, even if they counter your strong views.
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Anyone who thinks things will stay the same at Hanford is fooling themselves. Eventually it will have an end, and just like at Rocky Flats, that end will have some major changes associated with it, including most likely the subcontractors starting to take over the RP duties. At RF everyone in the end was a subcontractor, and all "house" were either laid off or rolled over. It might take a while, but someday there won't be enough techs to continue the union and it too will cease to exist. If you see any push for the W T F, then that is just a push in this direction.
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I stand corrected. Not counting WRPS 475 announced layoffs and proposed further reductions being considered by DOE of allegedly 600-1000 in December 2011 - January 2012 time frame, here are the oldest estimated site seniority dates of the trades facing actual layoff:
NCO- 2001
RCT/HPT- 2009
Most of the rest are start dates from 2008-2010, with some trades facing as much as 70% reduction in force.
And, the RCT trade is still a solid 100+ layoffs away from reaching the 2003 date stated above. What's that? Wait, oh WRPS is estimating 40 RCT layoffs as part of their 475, now at least 60+ RCTs away from 2003 start date... It was 204 away not counting as many as 105 contractors at one point. Even those that planned on changes at Hanford didn't realistically expect 309 RCTs to be unemployed at the end of fiscal 2011.
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I stand corrected. Not counting WRPS 475 announced layoffs and proposed further reductions being considered by DOE of allegedly 600-1000 in December 2011 - January 2012 time frame, here are the oldest estimated site seniority dates of the trades facing actual layoff:
NCO- 2001
RCT/HPT- 2009
Most of the rest are start dates from 2008-2010, with some trades facing as much as 70% reduction in force.
And, the RCT trade is still a solid 100+ layoffs away from reaching the 2003 date stated above. What's that? Wait, oh WRPS is estimating 40 RCT layoffs as part of their 475, now at least 60+ RCTs away from 2003 start date... It was 204 away not counting as many as 105 contractors at one point. Even those that planned on changes at Hanford didn't realistically expect 309 RCTs to be unemployed at the end of fiscal 2011.
OK, granted I am not counting the Temp/Contract Techs. The best Number we have as of today is 154 from CHPRC, 40 from WRPS, and 1 head count from MSA. Currently we have 8 self selects that effect the bottom line number ( this may change by the end of the day ) giving us approx 187 from the 54A list. CH has been pulling folks off the layoff list pretty consistently these last weeks. I would like to think WRPS is tweaking their numbers and we will see the original 40 come down. My original best guess would been about 160..I was not counting the WRPS reduction due to congress not approving a budget..Should have expected that though. :'( Today is the deadline for the self selects over at WRPS to submit paperwork, so we should know something next week, but I really think we will see the number continue to evolve even after the Sept. 19 date.
105KW
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"Just to clarify here... NO RCT with a hire date before May of 2009 will be involuntarily laid off so far."
That is part of the problem, no?
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"Just to clarify here... NO RCT with a hire date before May of 2009 will be involuntarily laid off so far."
That is part of the problem, no?
It's called seniority. That's how unions work.
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"It's called seniority. That's how unions work."
That is part of the problem, no?
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I know that I will be hammered for saying this...but....The whole Hanford site could be run by about 100 techs. Like I said in my previous post, 5 techs to do a job 1 or 2 could do. Granted I am an Obama tech here but come on, there have been times that I would have nothing to do all day. There are some days that we would work all day but the vast majority of time it was 2 or 3 hours per day. Come to think of it maybe 100 techs is a bit heavy for the whole site. Once again just my opinion. I do not want to see anyone loss their job, but lets be objective here. Can that be blamed on the union? Can this be blamed on management or the DOE? Rant over. Peace to all.
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I know that I will be hammered for saying this...but....The whole Hanford site could be run by about 100 techs. Like I said in my previous post, 5 techs to do a job 1 or 2 could do. Granted I am an Obama tech here but come on, there have been times that I would have nothing to do all day. There are some days that we would work all day but the vast majority of time it was 2 or 3 hours per day. Come to think of it maybe 100 techs is a bit heavy for the whole site. Once again just my opinion. I do not want to see anyone loss their job, but lets be objective here. Can that be blamed on the union? Can this be blamed on management or the DOE? Rant over. Peace to all.
Not going to get hammered here :-) Just like remind those who don't know that the techs here are not hired/fired by any union, job assignments are not done by any union, nor does the union have anything to do with the allocation of resources. When the "system" works correctly RCT's are flying fast and furious from one job to another. RCT's available at the morning staff meeting are hard to come by..Like I said when the system works correctly. RCT's at Hanford are a service organization..That is we respond with support for a given work package. Work Packages are generated up the line and RCTs have very limited input, we wait until called upon to provide support. You really can't blame the RCT for that. Honestly, I think alot of the blame goes to having way to many chiefs and not ENOUGH Indians. EVERY group wants and gets a say in the simplest evolution at Hanford including the DOE, DNSFB, multiple state agencies, multiple site contractors, independent work groups, WDOH, EPA,then you have the WAC codes and lets not forget the current buzz words of ISMS,VPP etc etc..And this is for the simplest of work packages. In the contractors ( Management ) defense they are walking on egg shells. None of the Managers wants to be the one to say " they can't get it done "..They only acceptable answer ( especially in times of excess ) is "yes sir, I'll do it " :P
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I will be the first to agree government is part of the problem, not part of the solution. So the question is, what do I get for my union dues and the answer is seniority. It would make more sense if you could buy your spot like politicans do. I learned something here today. Working in a union position is the best possible job you can have, as long as you like your dues going to politics, as long as you like the politicians being bribed, as long as you don't care how bad their ideas are for government, as long as you don't like being judged on your merits, as long as you like getting paid exactly the same as everyone else regardless of how much effort/skill/knowledge is put forth, as long as you don't like to be held accountable, as long as you don't like to show up to work on time, be in your assigned location, perform actual tasks, act responsibly, and as long as you keep your job regardless of any of the above because... because... you were first?!?!?! What, is this kindergarten and the snot nosed kids who can't tie their shoes and count from one to ten are the only ones who get cookies because they were first...?
Wow I used to think there were a few bitter people out there, and maybe some posters here just had a bad experience. Now I wonder, if all unions are like this how is it possible companies don't fold faster and create much more of a mess- well the government is an exception I guess because they can't possibly do it slower or for more money. I for one would not have been open to working at this government site for this union if I had known the mentality and that work may have been overstaffed by about 50%.
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Not going to get hammered here :-) Just like remind those who don't know that the techs here are not hired/fired by any union, job assignments are not done by any union, nor does the union have anything to do with the allocation of resources. When the "system" works correctly RCT's are flying fast and furious from one job to another. RCT's available at the morning staff meeting are hard to come by..Like I said when the system works correctly. RCT's at Hanford are a service organization..That is we respond with support for a given work package. Work Packages are generated up the line and RCTs have very limited input, we wait until called upon to provide support. You really can't blame the RCT for that. Honestly, I think alot of the blame goes to having way to many chiefs and not ENOUGH Indians. EVERY group wants and gets a say in the simplest evolution at Hanford including the DOE, DNSFB, multiple state agencies, multiple site contractors, independent work groups, WDOH, EPA,then you have the WAC codes and lets not forget the current buzz words of ISMS,VPP etc etc..And this is for the simplest of work packages. In the contractors ( Management ) defense they are walking on egg shells. None of the Managers wants to be the one to say " they can't get it done "..They only acceptable answer ( especially in times of excess ) is "yes sir, I'll do it " :P
Thats funny. We had a manager tell us that during a managers meeting the discussion was.."what are we going to do when the contractors leave, they get things done properly". I stayed and worked over one night with fellow contractors and the manager could not belive we finished the job. He tould us that if his house techs did the job it would take them a week.
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Thats funny. We had a manager tell us that during a managers meeting the discussion was.."what are we going to do when the contractors leave, they get things done properly". I stayed and worked over one night with fellow contractors and the manager could not belive we finished the job. He tould us that if his house techs did the job it would take them a week.
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It's nice always to get a compliment ::) Oh course sometimes there might be another reason they had the contractors stay complete the work. :-X
Have great holiday weekend all !
105kw
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I will be the first to agree government is part of the problem, not part of the solution. So the question is, what do I get for my union dues and the answer is seniority. It would make more sense if you could buy your spot like politicans do. I learned something here today. Working in a union position is the best possible job you can have, as long as you like your dues going to politics, as long as you like the politicians being bribed, as long as you don't care how bad their ideas are for government, as long as you don't like being judged on your merits, as long as you like getting paid exactly the same as everyone else regardless of how much effort/skill/knowledge is put forth, as long as you don't like to be held accountable, as long as you don't like to show up to work on time, be in your assigned location, perform actual tasks, act responsibly, and as long as you keep your job regardless of any of the above because... because... you were first?!?!?! What, is this kindergarten and the snot nosed kids who can't tie their shoes and count from one to ten are the only ones who get cookies because they were first...?
Wow I used to think there were a few bitter people out there, and maybe some posters here just had a bad experience. Now I wonder, if all unions are like this how is it possible companies don't fold faster and create much more of a mess- well the government is an exception I guess because they can't possibly do it slower or for more money. I for one would not have been open to working at this government site for this union if I had known the mentality and that work may have been overstaffed by about 50%.
Soul Merchant,
I'm not going to try and get in a debate about the virtues or corruption of "unions" . Not enough time or space and this very subject has already beat to death. But for the ones reading this and don't know I will point out a couple things as it pertains to Hanford.
1. The union does not hire you.
2. The union does not fire you.
3. The union does not write the procedures.
4. The union does not make Job assignments
5. The Contractor can fire ANYONE they choose for whatever reason they choose. The only thing a union member ( non member for that matter ) has is to file a grievance.
6. Termination cases almost always take 12 to 16 months to get a answer back from arbitration ( your dues pay for that. Not just seniority )
7. To work on the Hanford site you DO NOT have to join the union. Check out agency fee if you have a real aversion to "unions"
While I will not defend any particular element of the union here, I will give my impression of what the goal is..
1. Provide a safe working conditions for ALL the workers on site..Including you.
2. To provide a stable work force for the site. This where seniority and the work stabilization agreements come in.
3 To provide fair and equal treatment under the contracts that all the parties have agreed to.
4. The "union" strives to provide a living benefit accrual after sometimes 40 years service to the government.
5. Provide a living wage and benefits for all the site workers. Remember what the bargaining unit gets the management gets ( if not better ) in terms of benefits.
Seems you believe that Union is responsible for the company having to put up with people you feel who do not do their jobs. I would ask how is that the unions fault ? Only management can reprimand, terminate or other wise punish a worker. What has the Union done to specially that you feel so upset ? Is it your paying dues and not getting to stay ? Would you expect to stay after an outage at Comanche Peak ? Where you wronged somehow on Overtime ? It seems that most of these rants are on the "union" in general, but I fell to see any specifics. I will be the first to agree there are a lot things that need fixing. The rants would be better served if we had some specifics. Believe it or not there are some who would do their best to try and fix a wrong done to you. After all we all are RCT/'HPT here, temps or not.
105kw
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105 KW: Yes, the Union doesn't hire or fire you, but you are in the union and the company hires anyone, it has to be you if you are on the recall list. The union doesn't write the procedures, but has input and most times will block a procedure unless it benefits the union. The union doesn't make job assignments, but when a worker is a poor performer, the union will pretty much force the company to make concessions so that worker can sit and collect a paycheck, because like you said, it takes 12 - 16 months for someone to go through the arbitration process, during which the worker is collecting a paycheck, normally while sitting at home. As far as agency fees, they are as much as the dues, and go to the same kitty paying for the same things, such as the union bosses large salaries and bene's, political payouts, etc.
What I would have wanted from that union is to police its own. No, the union cannot "reprimand, terminate or other wise punish a worker", but when a worker is not working or is causing trouble through neglect or malicious intent, then the union after quick investigation shouldn't back said worker, but should do the right thing and back the decision of the company. Never saw it at Hanford. Tell me if you have or if anyone has ever seen an action by the company against a worker that hasn't been fought vigorously by the union, except for the case where said worker had been put in jail for a violent crime. As far as overtime was concerned, the subcontractors got overtime only after the prime contractors refused it, and then there was even a time when the overtime was offered to the RCT's of another company first. That was another agreement between the union and the company which the union insisted and the company had to comply.
The worst thing I have to say about the time we spent at Hanford was the infighting between the different groups at the tank farms. East area and Projects were always at odds, with East area techs even taking the time to try and find things wrong with the Projects techs job coverage so they could write them up. I'm not talking about noticing, because that is everyone's job, I'm talking about going out to a farm across site for no other purpose than to try and find something.
For everyone we left there at projects who helped us and were our friends, we wish you the best, and if you have to come work commercial, come to Mississippi in the spring and visit. We would love to have you.
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105 KW: Yes, the Union doesn't hire or fire you, but you are in the union and the company hires anyone, it has to be you if you are on the recall list. The union doesn't write the procedures, but has input and most times will block a procedure unless it benefits the union. The union doesn't make job assignments, but when a worker is a poor performer, the union will pretty much force the company to make concessions so that worker can sit and collect a paycheck, because like you said, it takes 12 - 16 months for someone to go through the arbitration process, during which the worker is collecting a paycheck, normally while sitting at home. As far as agency fees, they are as much as the dues, and go to the same kitty paying for the same things, such as the union bosses large salaries and bene's, political payouts, etc.
What I would have wanted from that union is to police its own. No, the union cannot "reprimand, terminate or other wise punish a worker", but when a worker is not working or is causing trouble through neglect or malicious intent, then the union after quick investigation shouldn't back said worker, but should do the right thing and back the decision of the company. Never saw it at Hanford. Tell me if you have or if anyone has ever seen an action by the company against a worker that hasn't been fought vigorously by the union, except for the case where said worker had been put in jail for a violent crime. As far as overtime was concerned, the subcontractors got overtime only after the prime contractors refused it, and then there was even a time when the overtime was offered to the RCT's of another company first. That was another agreement between the union and the company which the union insisted and the company had to comply.
The worst thing I have to say about the time we spent at Hanford was the infighting between the different groups at the tank farms. East area and Projects were always at odds, with East area techs even taking the time to try and find things wrong with the Projects techs job coverage so they could write them up. I'm not talking about noticing, because that is everyone's job, I'm talking about going out to a farm across site for no other purpose than to try and find something.
For everyone we left there at projects who helped us and were our friends, we wish you the best, and if you have to come work commercial, come to Mississippi in the spring and visit. We would love to have you.
I am not adressing the national or even the state level of the "Union". Please take my comments as they apply only to to our work here at Hanford. I say "union" because I'm not sure if we are talking about IBEW or HAMTC itself. But in either case the statements still apply.
1.The "union" at Hanford has No power to block any procedure. None. The worker ( union, non union, exempt ) can comment on a procedure, but the company has final say and almost never does the leadership ever see the thousands of procedures generated on site.
2. How does the "union" FORCE the company to anything ? It is far easier for the company to fire a "poor "performer and wait 14 months for an arbitration than to tolerate the worker. Remember the company pays nothing ( Zippo) for their cost of an arbitration. The company cost is picked up by DOE. The "union" on the other hand pays 50% of the arbitration.
3. When a worker is fired that is exactly what it is. Nobody sits at home being paid. They either go out and find a job somewhere, They draw unemployment ( if approved by the state ), or they go unpaid. Period.
4. Agency fee's don't go into same Kitty. Agency fee payers are generally charged the same dues and initiation fees uniformly required of IBEW members. However, agency fee payers who object to supporting certain union activities may pay a reduced fee to ensure that none of their money is used to support those activities. In particular, objectors are charged only for activities or projects that are reasonably related to collective bargaining. Examples of such “chargeable” activities are negotiating collective bargaining agreements; meeting with employer representatives; meeting with employees on employment-related issues; participating in proceedings on behalf of workers under the grievance procedure, including arbitration; and managing internal union affairs.
Among activities considered “nonchargeable,” which objectors are not required to support, are support of political candidates, general community service, legislative activities, certain costs of affiliation with non-IBEW organizations, and members-only benefits.
5. The union At Hanford has No power to discipline ANYONE. So I fell to see the point of your comment about "policing your own". The "union" frequently withdraws grievances at the step 2 level if the evidence so dictates.
Tell me if you have or if anyone has ever seen an action by the company against a worker that hasn't been fought vigorously by the union, except for the case where said worker had been put in jail for a violent crime
6. Answer to your above question. First Please understand a Union steward is like a defense attorney and is required by law to represent the member interest. So frequently the first response of the steward is to file a grievance. This accomplishes a couple of things. 1. It starts the clock were the company has provide a reason for the discipline. 2. It allows the steward to investigate the reasoning for the company action. Now if that is what you consider fighting vigorously for the member then the "union" has to plead guilty. Many cases of discipline never even make to the first step, because they are resolved in the pre-grievance meeting.
As far as overtime was concerned, the subcontractors got overtime only after the prime contractors refused it, and then there was even a time when the overtime was offered to the RCT's of another company first. That was another agreement between the union and the company which the union insisted and the company had to comply.
7. Overtime is offered to the house folks first. That is correct. It is part of the Contract and the MOU that you agreed to when you came to work at Hanford. I would be REAL interested in where Overtime was given to another company ? That would be contractual violation and I guarantee that would have been fought. Are you saying work in tank farms was given to CHPRC or MSA or ESHI ? Please give me some specifics. You can PM I would appreciate it.
I did do some inquiring this morning regarding the overtime issue. It seems you might be refering to an issue in the project group of base ops. I am told there was some dicussion whether contract techs would be offered overtime before the backup overtime group was offered the overtime. The union stance of offering overtime to the backup overtime group is supported by the contract language. It is important to note that no overtime was offered to another company, but was offered inside WRPS to the backup overtime group prior to offering to the contractors. It would be almost impossible today to give overtime to another 'company" due to access restrictions of working in Tank Farms. Just wanted to let you know I did chase this down for you.
Hope this clears up some misconceptions...
While the working environment at Hanford is far from perfect, there are mechanisms that can make it better. It is up to us to try and use those mechanisms to ensure a safe, and reasonable working environment. And yes the "union" is one of those mechanisms
105KW
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More good news Today..WRPS just pulled 13 more off the layoff list. +K
105 KW
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More good news Today..WRPS just pulled 13 more pulled off the layoff list. +K
105 KW
And they have 8 self selects to help out. So i guess the number is about 471.
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I think that is close...I need to break it down by company..the list changes almost daily right now.
105KW
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September 8, 2011
Late yesterday, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee took another step toward finalizing the FY-12 budget for tank farm operations when it sent a $467 million tank farms budget allocation to the full Senate for approval. The tank farms budget number was part of an overall $25.5 billion allocated to the Department of Energy.
What does yesterday’s Senate action mean in terms of our workforce restructuring currently under way?
1.) The committee action is a positive sign that Congress ultimately may approve a tank farms budget higher than the $408 million approved earlier this year by the House. But, the $467 million budget number is still significantly below the President’s FY-12 tank farms budget request of $521 million, and a reduction in the WRPS workforce is still necessary in late September and early October.
2.) Some steps remain before a final budget number is known. The Senate and House must resolve the difference between their respective tank farm allocations. Final House and Senate approval is then necessary before it goes to the President for signature.
3.) With these steps to go and just weeks remaining before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, we may still be required to begin the year under a Continuing Resolution and at funding levels based on tank farms’ FY-11 base budget of $397 million. Yesterday’s Senate action does offer hope for some additional funding later in the fiscal year, if a final FY-12 budget is approved.
4.) As the budget process continues to evolve, we will work with DOE to adjust, and I hope reduce, impacts to staffing and scope.
As to the status of our workforce restructuring process, those employees approved for the voluntary self-select option will be notified by tomorrow, September 9, and we will communicate the number of “self-selects” early next week.
Thank you for your continued focus on safety during this unsettling time.
Chuck
WRPS had 8 self selects with 7 above the layoff line
105kw
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SO the excess letter from WRPS this morning shows 33 to be excessed.... where does that leave us? and does that account for the 8 self selects before, after or inside that 33 number.
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The number is the same. 33 is the gross. It's 33-8 with 7 above the layoff line..same as last week. The letter just didn't clarify it very well.
105Kw
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105KW what's your estimation for seniority number on the layoff? still around 471?
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105KW what's your estimation for seniority number on the layoff? still around 471?
Close--You have PM. I tried to explain my best guess. Most here probaly don't care, so I took it PM.
105KW
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I’m still hearing 472. Any news?
Some more questions:
Let’s say number 480 today with the -8 from wrps will that make him 472 on the final day making him able to stay.
Or is that -8 already figured in and he will be the 8th called back?
And what about severance pay to involuntary? Do we have to pay that back if we are called back?
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Either way, this layoff has been the biggest cluster I have ever seen. Who ever is incharge should be held accountable for this.
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I’m still hearing 472. Any news?
Some more questions:
Let’s say number 480 today with the -8 from wrps will that make him 472 on the final day making him able to stay.
Or is that -8 already figured in and he will be the 8th called back?
And what about severance pay to involuntary? Do we have to pay that back if we are called back?
Good day,
The count at this moment is about at the 471 mark give or take 3. call back will be in reverse order of layoff..meaning the highest senior will be called back first.
Severance pay might have to be repaid if called back within 6 months. Ask see to article 22 section 4 (d) of the CBA. Remember call backs goes by seniority across site, so If you get laid off at CHPRC and the opening is at ESHI and your next up the offer is for that spot. Never give up hope. The word is both CH and WRPS were working late last night still tweaking numbers. Don't know if it will change the RCT numbers or not. keep your fingers crossed ;D
Have a great rest of the week.
105KW
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Either way, this layoff has been the biggest cluster I have ever seen. Who ever is incharge should be held accountable for this.
And just how many layoffs involving over 3,000 people with 500-700 additional workers being transferred to new departments have you seen, Kris Pringle? What would you have management do next time... just give folks the old today notice instead of the 3-4 months they gave workers to prepare for the workforce reductions?
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Kris Pringle? That is very witty. If only I had the ability to come up with such deep cutting insults. This layoff has been handled deplorably. Many people here have been through several layoffs, most all are of the opinion that this is the worst handling of a layoff that they have seen. Hopefully you made the cut Snowman. Love you.
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With ARRA money these labs piled us up like cord wood. Lots of projects lots of work. Now that the time and money are gone, whether through careful/thoughtful spending or waste we are being cast adrift like ashes in the wind. I don't know about you guys and girls but at $35 an hour and a hundred a day only a dumb ash wouldn't do it again. Happy motoring to the next job, may your future be filled with health and wealth.
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So do we have a final head count for RCT's. What's the last person who's bieng laid off seniority number?
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I heard the number was back above 480. At least one of the ARRA techs is staying now. Don't be surprised if the number is back above 500 by the end of the year. CH2MHill is still trying to figure out what it takes to do the work they're committed to complete. After that all bets are off on call backs.
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I heard the number was back above 480. At least one of the ARRA techs is staying now. Don't be surprised if the number is back above 500 by the end of the year. CH2MHill is still trying to figure out what it takes to do the work they're committed to complete. After that all bets are off on call backs.
As of late Wednesday CH has called back 7. This is unconfirmed as the company has not informed the union of the actual numbers. I suspect the numbers will continue to change. Right now the challenge is make sure the bump and roll process is done correctly. A few mistakes have already been caught and corrected. I would suspect the numbers would firm up a bit by 10/3.
105 KW
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I myself was called back after life 70 hours of being laid off!
Yes there was indeed 8 called back. so the that makes us around 480 right now.
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I myself was called back after life 70 hours of being laid off!
Yes there was indeed 8 called back. so the that makes us around 480 right now.
The "official" number is sitting at 482. Rumor has it there are 2 more that have been contacted, but the hall has not received notice on them. And the Beat goes on and on and.... :)
105 KW
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New rumor has it that WRPS is bringing back 55 bargaining unit employees. Any guesses as to how many of those could be RCT's.
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RCTs whats going on withthe operators if it was not for them the rcts would not have a job
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RCTs identify that work needs to be done, RCTs define the scope of work that needs to be done, RCTs determine whether or not the work is being done successfully, RCTs verify that the work is complete, RCTs to the final status survey documenting that the project was successful. Perhaps RCTs and Operators have equal parts to play in the D&D process. When they bring back NCOs perhaps they will need to bring back RCTs to cover them.
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New rumor has it that WRPS is bringing back 55 bargaining unit employees. Any guesses as to how many of those could be RCT's.
haven't heard of any RCT's being recalled at the farms.
105KW
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Heard over the weekend that Tank Farm Projects re-organized to 19 techs. That's down from about 30.
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Heard over the weekend that Tank Farm Projects re-organized to 19 techs. That's down from about 30.
True. Took some from projects and spread them out to base ops, labs and closure.
105Kw
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Here we go again.
Well I survived the cut ad was bumped down to WCH\ESHI. On Friday some guys were talking about layoffs in January here on this side. So i asked my group of people including my supervisor and he said if there is any for Radcon that it would be more on the lines of after April of 2012.
Anybody have a clue on this new rumor? And what is our new number as off today of techs?
I sure hope we don’t get laid off 3 months after being called back......
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Here we go again.
Well I survived the cut ad was bumped down to WCH\ESHI. On Friday some guys were talking about layoffs in January here on this side. So i asked my group of people including my supervisor and he said if there is any for Radcon that it would be more on the lines of after April of 2012.
Anybody have a clue on this new rumor?
I sure hope we don’t get laid off 3 months after being called back......
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I know that there's a new rumor a day - or an hour - at Hanford but I've talked to some friends still there who say that most places are ghost towns with no work getting done. I've heard rumors about staffing up again to some level in the spring to start getting things done. Maybe the pendulum will swing back toward the middle just a little?
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The numbers are out !! More than 1 and less than 3000. Pink slips are a flying......
Meanwhile I type away on another procedure in sunny Houston.....
Good luck to those leaving
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Here we go again.
Well I survived the cut ad was bumped down to WCH\ESHI. On Friday some guys were talking about layoffs in January here on this side. So i asked my group of people including my supervisor and he said if there is any for Radcon that it would be more on the lines of after April of 2012.
Anybody have a clue on this new rumor? And what is our new number as off today of techs?
I sure hope we don’t get laid off 3 months after being called back......
Looks like hiring is slowly starting again....Check your PM
105KW
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I've heard that work is very slow. Once a week or so someone gets a big idea to start a project and calls for a pre-job where not enough people show up (remember it takes about HP six techs and two IH techs to do anything) so everyone ambles back home. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back to the middle somewhere over the next couple of years. I wouldn't expect much until after the next election cycle.
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Hearing all sorts of rumors of call backs. Any truth to them?
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Herd today about about 20 give or take 5 being called back perm. negations in the works now.
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Herd today about about 20 give or take 5 being called back perm. negations in the works now.
doomed
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If they are hiring people back from the lay off list, they should be pushed over to the WCH side, and let the senior people go back to CHPRC. Seems like they are bending every rule they can, holding the forced over to WCH for a year, to do what dig dirt? The union is all for the companies, and not for the people who pay them every week.
Take there tests, that have nothing to do with the work. Never train, just have books thrown at you, for you to read, and they test on what you read.
I glad they are taking people back, just torture, them on this side.
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Herd today about about 20 give or take 5 being called back perm. negations in the works now.
Currently 8 Openings at WRPS. I would expect them to be filled by lamp and possibly the backfills could come off the recall list...
105KW
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Well looks like the various companies have called back to about # 501 ( possibly more ) on the "old" prelay off list... at least for some temporay work...WRPS has 8 openings posted for lamp. The backfills could possibly be filled by permanent call backs after the shuffle is done
105KW
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There was a letter that just came out for 1000 to be layed off at PFP??? Not sure if its all legit but thats what I just herd. Weird after they just brought back techs.
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There was a letter that just came out for 1000 to be layed off at PFP??? Not sure if its all legit but thats what I just herd. Weird after they just brought back techs.
You herd wrong. They aren't 1000 people at PFP to be laid off. The DOE last fall gave the four major contractors at Hanford the OK to lay off up to 1000 employees during the fiscal year 2012. And apparently with the new budgets coming out, that hour at Hanford is fast approaching.
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good stop wasting my tax money on something that will never be cleaned. its better to pay the operators to keep an eye on the site. keep in the the 2 east and west buril grounds and track the waste in the tanks it has worked for 45 plus years all it has done was take moeny from good hard workers where it could be spent on new roads and POWER plants
give me a break they give rad techs trucks to drive into town to wash off.
duh they have cleaning stations at site not at burger king , ok did you work ot and were at the atomic lanes casino .
oh we had a DOE hp on our last job made a good jr tech. I think the use of FOB is not allowed have to be nice.
But I was there when they did have problems with certain good guys saying they were at work when they were in town on a sunday. there are people who do try to take system. any ways we have or people at every site.
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Sound like the Duke can't hang at the Lazy H. Sounds like this Carnie is Jealous. Let’s think about this, who is smarter, the Hanford RCT or the Carnie Duke. The Hanford RCT sleeps in his own bed with his own family every night. The most likely multiple time divorced Carnie named Duke travels around the country sleeping in sleazy hotels while someone else is at his home sleeping with his wife. What sounds better: $37 an hour, unlimited overtime, no respirators or $20 an hour sucking rubber all day working outages? I made 150K last year, how much did you make last year Dukie? You make yourself look quite silly with your atrocious spelling and grammar. (That means bad) I could run circles around you as an HPT. You wouldn't last a week at PFP friend. Let's just pay the operators to sit there and watch the Plutonium instead of cleaning it up. Good call Dukie! After reading your post, it is apparent to me that you have an IQ bordering on mentally disabled, and I am shocked that there are people at our nation’s power plants calling themselves HPT's with your intelligence level. You are the reason they stopped building power plants in America. It is obvious to me that is doesn’t take brains or intelligence to be an HPT at a power plant, but as you mentioned in your post, Burger King is always looking for a good washed up, middle aged, 4 time divorced, back child support owing, milkshake maker. Yes I will have cheese with my whopper. How about 150K worth of cheese Dukie!
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Better watch what you say, Devildog, you might have to prove it. As far as the PFP goes, I worked the equivalent job at SRS, and worked the tank farm at Hanford. I might be a "Carnie", but I can hold my head up high and say I worked for my money. Except at Hanford. Even at SRS, we did jobs with the right number of techs, not more, but not less than what was necessary. At Hanford, there were normally more techs than workers, with most of them standing around begging to watch work instead of sitting in the truck. Most of the techs at the projects were good people to work with, but others in the other areas were always stopping their jobs so they could find fault with ours.
Try working an outage one time and see who is the better tech. And remember that "everything that has a beginning has an end" Just look at Rocky Flats to see what is coming down the road for Hanford. Its already started.
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Just in case anyone else has forgotten let me remind y'all of the forum rules that YOU agreed to when you created your profile:
4. Please learn to be respectful, tolerate and support each other. NukeWorker.com's goal is to help others, not see how many people we can annoy. Do not initiate arguments or tension. This will only cause the triggering of other members and make this site less professional.
Thanks in advance!
Tom
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Rocky Flats was a 176 acre site that was worked around the clock for 10 years to clean up. The contamination was mostly confined to the glove boxes inside buildings. Hanford is a 500 square mile site that is the most complex environmental cleanup in the world and has been ongoing for over 20 years. An HP tech has to be present to stick a shovel in the ground anywhere on that site. The people who work out there know it will not last forever but the cleanup will still be there long after we are all gone. It is that big, that complex. To compare Rocky Flats to Hanford is like comparing Palo Verde to a university research reactor, and I've been to all four. As far as the quality of technician at DOE sites, I've worked with the gamut, both at commercial and DOE. There is no correlation. Is Hanford run the most efficient, cost effective way possible? No. But there are a myriad reasons of why that is happening, very few of which are in the technicians control.
But to get back on topic, the union numbers at Hanford are in flux right now. A few folks have been called back but people out there are holding their collective breath for the layoffs that will be coming later this year. My wag on HP numbers after the fallout? 400
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I am betting between 450 and for 480...Thats is until Eshi starts the ramp down, then 400 sounds reasonable.. Have great weekend everyone !
105KW ;D
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Rocky Flats was a 176 acre site that was worked around the clock for 10 years to clean up. The contamination was mostly confined to the glove boxes inside buildings. Hanford is a 500 square mile site that is the most complex environmental cleanup in the world and has been ongoing for over 20 years. An HP tech has to be present to stick a shovel in the ground anywhere on that site. The people who work out there know it will not last forever but the cleanup will still be there long after we are all gone. It is that big, that complex. To compare Rocky Flats to Hanford is like comparing Palo Verde to a university research reactor, and I've been to all four. As far as the quality of technician at DOE sites, I've worked with the gamut, both at commercial and DOE. There is no correlation. Is Hanford run the most efficient, cost effective way possible? No. But there are a myriad reasons of why that is happening, very few of which are in the technicians control.
My point is that after the cleanup started at Rocky Flats, the "house techs" who were telling the workers the contractors didn't know anything about RP soon found themselves working for the contract companies when there were no more house techs. All of us were in the Steelworkers union, but when we first joined the union, we had to join a local out of Pueblo because the local in I think it was Boulder wouldn't allow us to join. Now the signs are there that Hanford is heading the same way, with union numbers going down, projects getting awarded to smaller individual companies, which will hire the carnies due to the short term nature and cost savings. And although I haven't had the pleasure of working at a research reactor, unless you include the DOE research reactors, I have worked at 11 of the major DOE sites including Hanford and SRS, 10 years Navy, and dozens of commercial sites, including Palo Verde.
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Enough with the 'Carnie" talk. we are all one family. Embrace each other as brothers and sisters. United we stand, divided we fall.
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Enough with the 'Carnie" talk. we are all one family. Embrace each other as brothers and sisters. United we stand, divided we fall.
Some people are just too insecure to see others as their equals.
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There are good and bad technicians everywhere you go. I am currently employed by DOE and have been for the last decade, but I was also a CARNIE in my previous life. I did the road thing for 11 years before I came here because the outages were short and I found a home. Remember, Duke started this cycle of negativity with his put downs of Hanford RCT's comparing us to Juniors at Nuke Plants. As you all can see, I rarely post much, but Duke really upset me. He obviously has no idea what is going on out here as I work pretty dang hard for my money. I do admit, there is down time, and a fair amount of laziness, but that has nothing to do with my work ethic. It has to do with errors in procedures, work packages, and issues way above my pay grade. I have worked at Diablo for 4 years and if you know anything about being a Carnie, you know that only the best work Diablo. There are good techs in both industries, and there are bad techs in both industries. It is a shame that many of the techs pass judgement on DOE based off of inaccurate biases. The work is different. I learned how to excel as a Roadie, and I have learned how to excel as a DOE House Technician. I have ambition and heart and I am willing to work hard when I am asked to do so.
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Same players, same mud slinging, different thread,...
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,26218.0.html
You guys need to start a Hanford haters thread,...
Peace,.... :P ;) :) 8)
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There are good and bad technicians everywhere you go. ... but I was also a CARNIE in my previous life... Remember, Duke started this cycle of negativity with his put downs of Hanford RCT's ... Duke really upset me. He obviously has no idea what is going on
I agree with everything you said, except with the use of 'carnie'. I'm just surprised that you stooped to duke99301's level.
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Same players, same mud slinging, different thread,...
http://www.nukeworker.com/forum/index.php/topic,26218.0.html
You guys need to start a Hanford haters thread,...
I have merged the threads.
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Nice call devil dog I really do not need to work to much this phase in my life I can pick and chose as for being an RCT or hp or what ever sorry not my small field.But as it go's I do have friends there most of the place. Most of them should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.
but I seen a 77 year old rp at my site during this outage taken out in fact two went out.
so dog save your money do the right thing and maybe you will not be one of the ones still coming in past retirement
as for my wife you do not know her. it shows your level and I will not go there,
oh by the way I spent 11 years of my life at the big H when the place was running.I left the place when the party was over and they gave VROF. When I was there rad con was a support group and thats all they are.
it was sad for me when I worked Columbia station and seen the 300 area look like a dump. but thats wha happens when funding is pulled , But I see no future of having people sitting on a dirt job doing little of nothing.
from what I see they need better oversite. oh i do not stay in flea bags motels I roll with a new state of the at RV. or if I chose I fly to the site they put me in the hampton and I have a rental car as for PFP it was called 234-5 Z plantad I was there I closed the room that went Boom with 4 other operaters when it was called do to the fact it would not come clean. or you can go in to the redox canyon but then agin you would be bruned out in 15 min.
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Hope y'all don't have to eat your words.
Hanford had a shake and bake class. The burger king people came in for money and thinking they could be here for years. Two years later they are seniors, ha. Plant seniors take six years. When the lay off hit, they where offered to take the Northeast test, not many pasted, and if they did it was with help. Whining it was to hard, now that is nuclear, not digging dirt, or playing at PFP, which I have worked at. Y'all think you are seniors I can work plants, wrong. And for the ones who are old timers from the real world, you might dislike plants as an HP, but it kept food on the table.
DOE people have no idea about the real world of plants, to lazy to see a different state. To comfortable in a desert state. I totally enjoyed my visiting every state that had a plant, so now we are smart a-----, because I didn't chose to sit and wait for my family to pay my bills. I can say been there saw it done it.
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Duke, I will try to use small words,so you can understand what i am saying. It's great that you don't have to work. There are lots of 70 year old millionaire HPT's out here too. They just like waking up at 3 AM and standing outside all day so they choose not to retire. (right) I can only make out about half of your post. I am not sure if you are insulting me, or agreeing with me. There is a button called SPELL CHECK at the bottom of the page. You should really try to use it. I do agree with you that they need better oversite. The people running this place are one step under Mafia.
A bunch of thugs from Rocky Flats. They ran that place like a bunch of criminals and now they are trying to do the same up here. Sorry that I have to be brief, but some of my other HPT buddies are down at the "Atomic Casino" on double time, using taxpayer money to gamble and they are saving me a spot! When I was a Roadie, they never flew us to the plants so you must really be a special bread of HPT. If you have a 77 year old RP taken out at this outage, how does that make you better than us? The party isn't over quite yet friend. This whole trend started by saying that Power Plant HPT's are better than DOE HPT's. I have been both so I don't feel your argument holds water. It is a shame that the NRC doesn't feel that DOE HPT's are qualified to work the plants as Senior HPT's and that there is this line in the sand between us. Anyways, good luck in your state of the "AT" RV. I wish you all the best. If you are ever in this part of the world drop me a line and I will buy you a beer. I mean that. Maybe we will realize we are not so different after all.
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Rad Honey? Obviously I am not a shake and baker as I am still employed here. I agree there were a ton of Burger King people out here. I like to call them "Stimulus Pukes" or "Obama Babies". We were very happy to see them leave. I don't doubt that many of them failed your precious test. I have no doubt I can work at any plant and cover any job. I was a house tech for 11 years, a Bartlett tech for 9 years, and now I have been with DOE for nearly a decade. I have worked in the real world. I do agree with you totally, there are a ton of worthless, jaded, people out here that don't have a clue. Only worked at one place taking tech smears on clean tools coming out of a CA for the last 20 years. If it took you 6 years to become a senior you must've been sitting at a step off pad getting so much experience!!! It should only take 3 years, RadHon! Oh by the way, where did you work before you became a Roadie? Sounds like you are the whiner! Good luck. If you ever come to Washington shoot me a message and we can go dig dirt together since that is all I know how to do!!! Oh and play in the sandbox at PFP!!!
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You are such a jerk. I worked here I worked there, been here for a million years, who cares. Grow up. Must be a smart and great in your own mind, if you have one
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ah please
all I am saying is the DOE is wasting good money on bad cover it with plastic seal it. and it will go no where they have some good people called NPOs who track the leakers run the plants they come in every day and never heard of the big B until this site came up. oh we clean up go to east area and tell what your going to do with the 20 navy reactors there or the the steam Gennys from surry. or the hot bunny turds
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[chill] [chill] [chill]
Forum Rules
"You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum."
4. Please learn to be respectful, tolerate and support each other. NukeWorker.com's goal is to help others, not see how many people we can annoy. Do not initiate arguments or tension. This will only cause the triggering of other members and make this site less professional.
[GH] <3
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Rad Honey?....
You are such a jerk.....
Take a deep breath folks,...
devildog I don't know as far as I know, don't see any flags either,...
Rad Honey was one of my techs once upon a time, she did just fine, got that little yes check mark in the eligible for rehire box at RIF time,...
anybody in D&D is working themselves out of a job from day one, just substitute time, budget and skills for time, distance, and shielding and you'll be where you should be,...heading down the road,...eventually,...
peace,... 8) - (lighten up already)
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Rad honey, lets not get carried away. I have worked in both worlds as well. First off, the NUF exam is no tougher that the DOE Core in my humble opinion, even less so. I personally know several of the "burger king" techs who passed it, and were thankfull for the opportunity. Some I was happy to see leave, some were good techs.
As far as Hanford, it is a joke, but about like the rest of the industry, save a few places. It is my opinion that may on this site take themselves way too seriously and should put down the crosswords and help out. I have seen some of the worst techs in the world here at the Lazy H, but they are some of the most senior. There are also slugs in the comercial world. The unions are usually in charge, lets not forget.
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Sorry, Road HP, but you are mistaken and we know what your point was. The numbers at Hanford now are actually right where they were before ARRA and that is a fact, Jack. All of the smaller companies that are being awarded subcontracts are performing work for one of the three major contracts who conduct cleanup work and they fall under the Radiation Protection program of those companies. These main companies in turn supply the RadCon management and the RCT's to perform surveillance and oversight for those subcontracts. Reason being? DOE acceptance of their RP programs and that is no small feat.
Short of a major reallignment of the moon and stars, that is how work is and will be performed at all the major DOE sites... Hanford, SRS, INL, LLNL, LANL, etc. But seeing how you've been to all the DOE sites and pulled the rods on the sun, I'm sure I'm telling you something you should know already. Have a nice day.
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Snowman, I didn't pull the rods on the sun, matter of fact I haven't done as much as I wanted to, but I have worked Fernald, Mound, and Rocky Flats. At each of these sites, the house techs all said they would never be replaced by contractors while there were techs on site, and at each of these sites they were. No, they aren't as big as Hanford, but the bigger they are, the harder they fall. It's just a matter of time, and you might still have all the time you need. But to your point that the number of techs equals the techs that were there before ARRA is just my point. Before ARRA, they didn't have the projects they had during the ARRA, and all of the plants were in mothballs. Tell me this, since I don't know and don't have access to the seniority list anymore: were there any techs hired before the ARRA started that were laid off? End of line.
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. Tell me this, since I don't know and don't have access to the seniority list anymore: were there any techs hired before the ARRA started that were laid off? End of line.
No.
105KW ;)
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I know many techs out there that are NRRPT qualified and to tell you the truth I would not trust them with surveying dirt, and on the other hand there are many techs out there that have trouble passing the DOE or NEU that are the best techs I have ever been around. The tech who came up from the trenches. The point I am trying to make is a tech is a tech. This is not the 80's or 90's where if you failed the drug test you went to work for DOE for 5 years and return to the power plants. The outages are so short you need to supplement your income. I prefer to sleep in my own bed watch my kids grow up instead of missing birthdays, holidays and chasing outages. Some techs do not want to travel far . I was always willing and able to travel and when the man asked me to. Does that make me a better tech? NO !!! Being on the road is the best job in the world if your 20 , 30 with no family. It is not that much fun when your older and have a family. The work in the DOE world is different than an outage. The plant is losing millions of dollars a day they are not running. Your pushed to get it down fast and on time.To tell you the truth i got burnt out because I have I have all my limbs, not 100 years old and then you have techs bragging about "throwing no hitters" DOE we do not have that pressure. We do it slow and steady. After working 19 years in nuclear power and picking up 17 R lifetime it was time for a change. In a decade at DOE i picked up 500 mrem and wore a respirator a dozen times. Which job sounds better? Steady income,benefits,home with the family or chasing outages,being away from your family and cobra? The great thing about being a US citizen is the Choice is yours. Just don't call people out for choosing DOE or the road. that is not fair. You are no better than us and we are no better than you.
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Good Evening, I’m John Snowman and this… is America’s Least Wanted. Tonight, we need your help in finding a nuclear blogger that goes by the name of…El Duke’. He’s the ringleader of a gang of former DOE subcontractors earning $100K/year that made union scale wages plus per diem during the Stimulus years, only to later post negative, spiteful writings on the Internet about the union and their former places of employment. These are bad people, America.
El Duke’ himself is wanted for questioning in connection with the rambling posts he has made on several nuclear web sites and we need your help in getting this guy off the internet…and fast. Authorities say he can be easily identified by atrocious spelling, poor grammar, massive run-on sentencing, and perhaps the worst… the heinous use of dangling participles. Law enforcement officials state to use extreme caution while reading his writings, they’re that dangerous.
El Duke’ avoids staying in sleazy motels, instead preferring to travel the USA in a start of the art RV, or flying in private jets to nuclear facilities around the country where he has luxury rental cars waiting for him. Authorities believe he’s headed to a 14 day outage, give or take a day, somewhere east of the Mississippi. He will then disappear until the fall where he will re-surface to work another 14 day outage, give or take a day. He’s gonna be one tough cookie to find.
But if you know the whereabouts of one El Duke’, please call our Crime Stoppers hotline tonight and let’s get this disgruntled guy off cyberspace before he posts more bad stuff about the former places he has worked. America, let’s catch this guy.
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Good Evening, I’m John Snowman and this… is America’s Least Wanted. Tonight, we need your help in finding a nuclear blogger that goes by the name of…El Duke’. He’s the ringleader of a gang of former DOE subcontractors earning $100K/year that made union scale wages plus per diem during the Stimulus years, only to later post negative, spiteful writings on the Internet about the union and their former places of employment. These are bad people, America.
El Duke’ himself is wanted for questioning in connection with the rambling posts he has made on several nuclear web sites and we need your help in getting this guy off the internet…and fast. Authorities say he can be easily identified by atrocious spelling, poor grammar, massive run-on sentencing, and perhaps the worst… the heinous use of dangling participles. Law enforcement officials state to use extreme caution while reading his writings, they’re that dangerous.
El Duke’ avoids staying in sleazy motels, instead preferring to travel the USA in a start of the art RV, or flying in private jets to nuclear facilities around the country where he has luxury rental cars waiting for him. Authorities believe he’s headed to a 14 day outage, give or take a day, somewhere east of the Mississippi. He will then disappear until the fall where he will re-surface to work another 14 day outage, give or take a day. He’s gonna be one tough cookie to find.
But if you know the whereabouts of one El Duke’, please call our Crime Stoppers hotline tonight and let’s get this disgruntled guy off cyberspace before he posts more bad stuff about the former places he has worked. America, let’s catch this guy.
Now that is funny stuff :P..This what we need more humor!..I enjoy reading the more upbeat and informative posts than bashing each other.
have a great weekend
105KW
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I am not going to point out the guys name who never spells anything right. lol snowman if your looking I right here in the tri cities. do not have to go far.
I spent my time in some of these places and more. but I moved on and out of the heard. now as for the older techs I see I am saying it sad they have to be here working , rad honey told me of an old friend out there thats 70 years old .
outage I was just at site and they took to older hp's out , when I was at SQN last fall we had a DOE tech that been around a long time but had to be re trained. he was could not belive they used puters to do surveys. and no they do not use impactors here. I had to train a lot of FOBs in thed old days
And now we have other coming back trying to catch up DOE can make yo for get things in the HP world . But I made some good money during the super fund days. what did my friend say? sit in the truck do not touch t radio and leave the AC alone.
as for hanford 11 years there good place when it was running ha some very good people there sad most oare gone .
if I had stayed I woul be at the Vit plant running it why you say will I was an NPO back then. smeone showed me a list of operators still there I would have been #4 on the list. I am glad I am gone and never looked back. No regrets it funny to hear storys about something I around when it happend out there sad to see some of the buildings go.
so snowman comeone over to the dug out and say hi and spend a few and have fun . the owners a good friend of mine I be there this summer when the baseball games over. maybe rad hony and her friends will come to wean all have a hot dog and root for the home team.
now enough of this I got to go watch some guys put a RX back in place and make some steam. have a nice easter and I hope you understand my life is good thanks
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Y'know? The old joke about the difference between a deconner and an HP being a pen really wasn't far off the mark.
You can train any idiot to carry a meter and get readings, but what good are they if they are not communicated clearly to the people who have to do the work?
If you can't communicate a clear thought, you have no business bashing ANY other tech for being too old, or needing to be retrained, or anything else.
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Okay. Time for my two-bits and thanks for asking.
I've worked DOE, commerical ,and university. I find it hard to believe that a few presumably professional adult men and women and sticking their tongues out at each other and playing the 'I'm better than you game.' Key word is 'presumably.'
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[chill] [chill] [chill]
Forum Rules
"You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum."
4. Please learn to be respectful, tolerate and support each other. NukeWorker.com's goal is to help others, not see how many people we can annoy. Do not initiate arguments or tension. This will only cause the triggering of other members and make this site less professional.
[GH] <3
[BH] [BH] [BH]
Forum Rules
"You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum."
4. Please learn to be respectful, tolerate and support each other. NukeWorker.com's goal is to help others, not see how many people we can annoy. Do not initiate arguments or tension. This will only cause the triggering of other members and make this site less professional.
:old:
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I am not going to point out the guys name who never spells anything right. lol snowman if your looking I right here in the tri cities. do not have to go far.
I spent my time in some of these places and more. but I moved on and out of the heard. now as for the older techs I see I am saying it sad they have to be here working , rad honey told me of an old friend out there thats 70 years old .
outage I was just at site and they took to older hp's out , when I was at SQN last fall we had a DOE tech that been around a long time but had to be re trained. he was could not belive they used puters to do surveys. and no they do not use impactors here. I had to train a lot of FOBs in thed old days
And now we have other coming back trying to catch up DOE can make yo for get things in the HP world . But I made some good money during the super fund days. what did my friend say? sit in the truck do not touch t radio and leave the AC alone.
as for hanford 11 years there good place when it was running ha some very good people there sad most oare gone .
if I had stayed I woul be at the Vit plant running it why you say will I was an NPO back then. smeone showed me a list of operators still there I would have been #4 on the list. I am glad I am gone and never looked back. No regrets it funny to hear storys about something I around when it happend out there sad to see some of the buildings go.
so snowman comeone over to the dug out and say hi and spend a few and have fun . the owners a good friend of mine I be there this summer when the baseball games over. maybe rad hony and her friends will come to wean all have a hot dog and root for the home team.
now enough of this I got to go watch some guys put a RX back in place and make some steam. have a nice easter and I hope you understand my life is good thanks
Sir,"duke", your grasp of the written language is horrendous! Almost unbelievable!!!
Based on your writings alone, how can anybody take anything you "say" seriously??
I too thought that if you hit the Spell Check button, which it seems that you have, your posts would have been easier to comprehend, but this last post clearly shows I was wrong.
I have not been an HP very long...20 years this year and if one thing(not the only thing) stands out in those 20 years it is that an HP needs the ability to communicate verbally and in the written form...judging from your writing skills, one wonders how well you verbally communicate with your peers. Although I am not as educated as other in the industry, I did receive a GED and have the skills to read, write and comprehend the English language.
Rock on!
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Time for a cool off period.
Temporarily locked.
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Sad to see all the negativity on this thread. And to the comments made about the "burger king" people from the shake and bake class, I take personal offense. I was in one of those classes. While some of us in that class were better than others, most were good people that wanted to learn. I felt we were held back or pushed aside. Most of us were stuck to routines and surveying crap out of the CA. This was not ok with me. How do you expect us to learn anything? I had to fight, beg and plead to get on job where there was job coverage. I would take any overtime and be the first to volunteer to muzzle up for a job. And when the lay off came, I sat and waited for a few months to go back to Hanford, (because everyone told me "Don't worry, you will be back soon. This always happens.") but soon I realized that wasn't going to happen. I traveled to a few naval bases and spent sometime at Los Alamos National Lab before I made Argonne National Lab my new home. Ive been very lucky to have worked with some great techs and I learned a lot from them. I now see the Hanford layoff as a blessing. Now that I have traveled and wound up at Argonne I have learned more than I ever would have at Hanford. And I will always be open to learning more. So if you ever find you way to Argonne, hit me up and maybe you can teach me something, or who knows, maybe a Burger King shake n baker can teach you something! :P
P.S.
Ive never worked at Burger King, before I was an HPT I was an electrician.
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....Ive never worked at Burger King, before I was an HPT I was an electrician.
well regardless of how, it was your destiny to eventually wear a paper hat,...
...Fear profits a man nothing...
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It's too bad Argonne pays so poorly. One would think being near Chicago would warrant more than $30/hr for a senior tech.
They're only paying $25/h and $95 per diem for the latest contract work.
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Agreed. But I'm in it for the long haul. Just recently got married and the Mrs. is already talking babies. Wanted a stable place with good healthcare.
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Agreed. But I'm in it for the long haul. Just recently got married and the Mrs. is already talking babies. Wanted a stable place with good healthcare.
When momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy. ;)
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Its been my experience that the "shake and bake" techs are some of the best, (hardest working if nothing else) that the site has. It would be nice if the site could find a way to trim the fat, and let more people who deserve a job get them.