Saturday, Sep. 27, 2008

More than 180 Fluor layoffs announced

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Fluor Federal Services has given layoff notices to more than 50 employees.

In addition, Fluor Hanford has accepted voluntary layoff applications from 134 employees. It also has named Bruce Hanni as president and chief executive officer to replace Con Murphy.

Those are some of the initial work force changes at the Hanford nuclear reservation as the Department of Energy replaces two expiring contracts with three new ones, including one contract that is on hold until a protest of the award is decided.

Fluor Hanford's contract expires Tuesday. Its work to clean up central Hanford will be handled by new contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., but Fluor Hanford will continue to provide services such as security and information technology until a new Mission Support Contract is final.

The Mission Support Contract award is being protested, and Fluor Hanford is working with DOE on a path forward beyond next week when its contract expires, said Judy Connell, Fluor Hanford spokeswoman. Fluor Hanford is likely to continue to provide site services at least until spring and possibly much longer, depending on the outcome of the protest.

In early September, Fluor Hanford allowed most of its 3,600 employees to apply for voluntary layoffs. The program is being offered in two phases with 134 employees being accepted for voluntary layoffs in the first phase. Almost all who applied were accepted, Connell said.

Employees can apply for voluntary layoffs in the second phase of the program until Oct. 30. Most of the employees approved for voluntary layoffs will receive a week of pay for every year worked up to 20 years.

Fluor Hanford told employees that the opportunity for voluntary layoffs was offered as CH2M Hill was evaluating its staffing needs for central Hanford cleanup and Fluor was evaluating its needs as it provides site support services until a new contractor for that work is in place. Fewer employees are expected to be needed, staff was told.

However, the voluntary layoffs were not offered at Fluor's other branch in the Tri-Cities, Fluor Federal Services.

The Fluor Federal Services workers who were laid off include most of the 63 people not picked for employment by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. They include workers across a broad range of jobs, said George Jackson, manager of Fluor Federal Services. They will not receive severance pay.

Fluor Federal Services had 650 employees, including 350 assigned to work on central Hanford cleanup. All but 63 of the 350 workers are transferring to the new contractor. The remaining 300 workers at Fluor Federal Services will continue to do other work at Hanford and work elsewhere.

About 200 employees from both branches of Fluor attended an event Thursday night at which information was provided on about 1,000 Fluor openings worldwide, from Indiana to Mongolia.

Among the Fluor employees who are transferring under the new contract for central plateau cleanup is Con Murphy, the outgoing president of Fluor Hanford. Fluor Federal Services is a major subcontractor on the new central plateau project and Murphy has been named to head soil and ground water remediation under the new contract.

The new Fluor Hanford president, Hanni, was vice president for business services there. His former job has been give to Dave Fraley, who was the chief information officer.