
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994                   TAG: 9411160111
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN                                LENGTH: Medium

RE-HIRED WORKERS LAID OFF AT ARSENAL

For 231 re-hired workers at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, the word they knew would come came Tuesday: Your job's done. Prepare to be laid off, again.

The arsenal announced Tuesday that the workers, most of whom were recalled last winter to complete a yearlong contract making stick cannon propellant, would be laid off in two phases. Over the next week, 140 will leave; the rest will be gone before Christmas.

Charles Lee, director of human resources for Hercules Inc., the arsenal's operator, said the wage-earners started receiving notices during the midnight shift Tuesday. Employment at the arsenal, already at its lowest level since 1950, will stand at 1,405 once the layoffs are complete.

None of the workers will be able to "bump," or move into other jobs held by less-experienced workers - as is normally the process following a layoff announcement - because the workers affected are of less experience than those who were working on other contracts, Lee said.

Last December, the arsenal announced that it would recall 230 workers for the propellant contract. Then in August, it announced it would recall 74 wage-earners to fill positions left open through attrition or workers' retirements.

Those employees also went to work on the yearlong contract, and knew their status was temporary.

For Ken Thompson, president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, Local 3-495, Tuesday's news came as no surprise.

"There's just not any work for them to do after the work is done," Thompson said. "We were hoping that we might get something to keep them on." But that didn't happen.

Thompson tried to paint an optimistic picture, saying that with the recently announced news that Alliant Techsystems will purchase the aerospace operations of Wilmington, Del.-based Hercules, the union is hopeful that more contracts and increased employment opportunities will arise at the arsenal.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get these people back to work," Thompson said. "We keep working on it."

Lee said he wouldn't speculate on future employment increases or layoffs at the arsenal.

by CNB