Fermilab lowers layoff estimates
Durbin working to restore some funding to retain staff
By Russell Working | Tribune reporter
Fermilab expects to lay off about 140 employees in the coming weeks—about 10 percent of the Batavia physics laboratory's staff, once retirements and resignations are factored in, an official said Friday.
The figure is lower than the 200 layoffs of scientists, engineers and other employees the lab had projected after it was surprised in December by budget cuts.
"We've had a number of people who have retired and resigned in recent weeks, and that brings the total number that we need to lay off closer to 140," lab spokeswoman Judy Jackson said.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory still is working out layoff numbers with the Department of Energy and will have a better idea the week of May 19, it told employees this week.
The prospect of cutbacks began when officials learned this year's budget would be cut by $52 million from an expected $372 million. That left the lab scrambling. Fermilab Director Pier Oddone described the cuts as "a bolt out of the blue."
Now the lab is hoping Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will help restore some funding to head off the cuts. Durbin and a bipartisan group of senators are requesting an additional $350 million for the energy department's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation, saying this would help both Fermilab and the southwest suburban Argonne National Laboratory continue research and retain staff.
In a statement, Durbin said he may seek the money as an amendment to an emergency supplemental Iraq war funding bill pending in Congress. If any funding solution passes, laid-off employees would be considered first for jobs that reopen, Jackson said.
rworking@tribune.com
By Russell Working | Tribune reporter
Fermilab expects to lay off about 140 employees in the coming weeks—about 10 percent of the Batavia physics laboratory's staff, once retirements and resignations are factored in, an official said Friday.
The figure is lower than the 200 layoffs of scientists, engineers and other employees the lab had projected after it was surprised in December by budget cuts.
"We've had a number of people who have retired and resigned in recent weeks, and that brings the total number that we need to lay off closer to 140," lab spokeswoman Judy Jackson said.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory still is working out layoff numbers with the Department of Energy and will have a better idea the week of May 19, it told employees this week.
The prospect of cutbacks began when officials learned this year's budget would be cut by $52 million from an expected $372 million. That left the lab scrambling. Fermilab Director Pier Oddone described the cuts as "a bolt out of the blue."
Now the lab is hoping Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will help restore some funding to head off the cuts. Durbin and a bipartisan group of senators are requesting an additional $350 million for the energy department's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation, saying this would help both Fermilab and the southwest suburban Argonne National Laboratory continue research and retain staff.
In a statement, Durbin said he may seek the money as an amendment to an emergency supplemental Iraq war funding bill pending in Congress. If any funding solution passes, laid-off employees would be considered first for jobs that reopen, Jackson said.
rworking@tribune.com
Labels: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Illinois, layoffs
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