PADUCAH LAYS OFF 101 CLEANUP WORKERS

A total of 101 cleanup workers at the Department of Energy’s Paducah sites will be laid off by the end of the year, according to a notice sent Monday, impacting more than a quarter of employees for cleanup contractor LATA Kentucky . The layoffs are part of a workforce restructuring plan approved by the Department in May, and will impact 91 LATA employees and 10 subcontractor employees. The layoffs will occur by Dec. 27. LATA, which currently has a workforce of about 340, originally notified workers in May that it would cut its workforce by 145 due to budget constraints.

While a DOE reprogramming approved by Congress was able to stave off the layoffs, the impact of the current Continuing Resolution brought about the need for the cuts at this point. LATA is not sure if additional workforce reductions will take place in 2014. “We really can’t predict future layoffs. It’s just too complex due to the funding uncertainties we have,” LATA spokesman Joe Walker said. He noted that this year LATA has completed demolition of the C-340 metals complex and plans to have the  C-410 feed plant in “near demo-ready” condition by the end of the year, but work will halt on that project after the layoffs occur. Work will continue in 2014 on efforts to treat groundwater at the C-400 Cleaning Building.

DOE Portsmouth Paducah Project Office spokesman Brad Mitzelfelt said in a statement, "The Department of Energy’s Paducah Site and its contractor, LATA Kentucky, have completed some important legacy waste cleanup activities at the Paducah Site and other activities are nearing completion. The workforce restructuring is necessary at this time due to the completion of selected activities and enactment of the continuing resolution. We are working closely with our site contractors and the local community to support the workers affected by these changes and to ensure that moving forward, our contractors have the right set of workforce skills on-site to achieve our mission at the greatest value for taxpayers." LATA Kentucky Project Manager Mark Duff yesterday emphasized recent worker achievements. “Amid these difficult economic times, our workforce at the Paducah site has met very vigorous cleanup program objectives and set new safety standards with the safest work record among all DOE cleanup prime contractors in fiscal years 2012 and 2013,” he said in a statement. “We appreciate all the accomplishments these workers have achieved toward DOE’s cleanup mission at the Paducah site and hope that new opportunities develop at the site in the future.”