ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040035
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
One hundred salaried employees at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant have accepted an early retirement offer, a plant official said Wednesday.
It is too soon to say what effect those retirements will have on the potential need for further job reductions, said Nicole LaMarr, the plant's public affairs officer. "The company will be looking at the situation," she said.
The arsenal's work force has been reduced steadily since the early 1990s, reflecting the nationwide shrinkage of the defense industry. After the early retirements are complete, the plant should have approximately 1,100 employees, down from 3,900 in early 1991.
Sixty-eight of the 100 workers were off the rolls by Jan. 1 and the other 32 will be leaving during the next six months, LaMarr said.
In November, plant operator Alliant Techsystems Inc. offered extra early retirement benefits to 168 salaried employees. The three-and-three offer - it added three years to eligible employees' ages and years of service - was made to workers who had 10 or more years service and were at least 50 years old.
One of the 68 who retired New Year's Day is Henry Jablonski, a longtime member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. Jablonski started working for Alliant's corporate predecessor, Hercules Inc., in 1959. He came to the Radford arsenal in 1967 after assignments in Wilmington, Del., and Salt Lake City, Utah. Most recently he'd been an executive in the product assurance department.
Jablonski, who turned 60 in the fall, said he had intended to continue working for another two years. But the offer and pending changes in laws affecting retirement procedures made it more advantageous to take early retirement.
Jablonski said he will have more time to devote to local government - the elected board will select its new chairman next week - and also has bought a home computer and intends to learn to use the Internet. He said he also intends to keep up with the regular exercise program he's been on since recovering from a heart attack in the summer of 1994.
And then there are chores.
"I have a big list of items that have to be done around this house," he said.
Jablonski becomes the fourth retiree on the Board of Supervisors and the third from the arsenal, along with Ira Long and Joe Gorman.
"I think it's going to be a lot of fun, really," he said.
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