Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180159
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN LENGTH: Medium
ARSENAL PLANS 190 LAYOFFS
In the first major blow to the New River Valley's economy this year, the Radford Army Ammunition Plant announced Monday that 190 employees will be laid off during February and March.The layoffs began immediately and will bring to 668 the total number of arsenal workers laid off in the last two years.
Coupled with early retirements and other attrition, the reduction will leave about 3,178 employees at the 52-year-old plant - the lowest employment level since the late 1970s.
The announcement came as no surprise to the workers, the union or Hercules Inc., which operates the munitions plant for the federal government.
Almost everyone connected with the arsenal has stood by for the past year as Congress and the White House sliced and trimmed the nation's defense budget.
"They want us to make less powder overall," Chuck Lee, human resources director, said Monday. The arsenal makes many different kinds of powder propellants for the military.
The layoff affects salaried and hourly, support and administrative personnel, but it will take another week to determine how many salaried and how many hourly workers will lose their jobs, Lee said.
"We know how many people we have to get off the rolls," he said. "It's about spread evenly throughout the departments - engineering, human resources. We're talking everyone this time."
Lee would not speculate on whether Monday's announcement indicated a trend toward further layoffs.
Ken Thompson, president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union Local 3-495, said he'd expected more than 190 layoffs, but hopes this is the last cutback for the arsenal.
He said the company notified the union last week of impending cutbacks affecting about 111 hourly jobs, but then delayed the layoffs. He did not know why, he said.
Most cutbacks would be among the maintenance staff, which makes up half or more of the union's membership, Thompson said.
"Of course, some of the salaried personnel may have bumping rights back into the bargaining unit," he said.
The union's bumping process, guaranteed by the labor contract, allows qualified workers to bump others with less seniority off the job.
In a news release, the arsenal said the layoff is also due to "overall operating cost reduction initiatives."
Lee said that includes the yearly negotiations between Hercules and the Army on annual production cost, which is tied directly to the defense budget.
He said he did not know how much the Army is cutting back its contract with Hercules.