THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010018
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
``Does Virginia Power suffer from a vision crisis?'' (news, Feb. 11) was misleading in one respect. The article implied that those salaried Virginia Power personnel who left were somehow deficient or that their performance was lacking in some respect. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Some were released because their positions were eliminated. Others were not retained because their skills and experience did not have a place in the reorganized Virginia Power. Still others were offered positions but voluntarily separated from Virginia Power to pursue careers elsewhere.
In the past, Virginia Power had gone to great lengths to attract, train and retain these people, the best available. The company had on its payroll a very high population of excellent salaried employees. Virginia Power did not rise to its present prominence in the utility industry because its employees were undesirable or incapable, nor did it weather the withering public and political criticism of the 1970s by maintaining a substandard work force.
The professionals being released by Virginia Power in this season of downsizing are the very ones who helped pull the company out of the economic and operational morass it was in 15 years ago. My greatest hope is that local industry will take note of and tap into the managerial, supervisory and technical talent of these displaced workers. They are truly a cut above.
DALE G. MEYER
Chesapeake, Feb. 14, 1996 by CNB