This blog was started to document the truth about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Rocky Flats Plant, which purified and fabricated plutonium and other parts for nuclear weapons at a relatively small site sixteen miles northwest of Denver. Last week, RF_Alum posted on changes to retirement benefits for these “Cold War Warriors”. This week I will explain how I lost my retirement benefits, despite twenty-two years of service at the plant.

At the time, the retirement calculation used at DOE sites considered both years of service and age of the employee, so when I left in 2003 I would have qualified for a full retirement package except for one problem: Twenty months short of earning my retirement, I was laid off from the prime-contractor and shifted to a job with a subcontractor (or “third tier” company).  Time with such a subcontractor didn’t “count”.  The day I was laid off, the Human Resources representative handed me my twenty-year service award, thanked me for my loyalty, and held her breath hoping I wouldn’t explode.

I thanked the nice HR lady (it wasn’t her fault) and left her office shaking my head.  The next day I reported to my subcontractor job.  The DOE still wanted my labor, but they didn’t want to follow through on the promise of retirement benefits that had been part of my compensation package for twenty years.

The DOE had wanted to keep turn-over rates low. The promised retirement encouraged employees like me to stay at the Flats, and this benefited the nation since hiring, paying for security clearance investigations, and developing employee expertise cost a lot of money.

America’s needs changed when the Cold War fizzled out.    Labor was a big part of the Rocky Flats budget and the DOE set about shedding that cost.  Individuals were brought in from the outside specifically to cut future commitments like retirement.  “We” were called legacy employees, a scornful term.  Consultants were hired to craft plans to keep “us” working at the plant (experience was still needed) while compensation was cut.  Promised employee awards for cost-cutting ideas were reneged on when those awards promised to be large.  Upper managers received bonuses for reducing the number of employees on the prime-contract, even as those employees were retained on subcontracts and the number of new subcontract employees grew.  These new bosses seemed more like vultures than brilliant budget managers to me.

Inevitably some of the new managers began to appreciate “us”.  Silver lapel-pin type stars were given out for each ten years of service; I proudly added mine to my employee identification badge.  Most of the new employees were good people and a pleasure to work with.  I learned that one callous manager went out on a limb to keep a legacy employee, who had developed a nasty chronic illness, on the prime contract for several extra months so he could qualify for retirement health insurance.  Some people might think that manager failed to save the government a few dollars, but I was touched.

My situation wasn’t as infuriating as some.  Pensions were not affected, even though I feel that the hatchet-men (they were almost all men) would have taken pensions away if they could.  Laws protected me there. And my subcontract job was in a different department; I knew people who were laid off one day and returned to the same job, the same boss, and the same desk the next day – that seemed more insulting.  Our representatives in Congress made speeches thanking Rocky Flats employees while they watched our compensation erode – rather hypocritical.

At least, unlike today, we were not vilified in the media; there wasn’t pundit-talk about greedy government workers “cheating the taxpayer” and deserving to have their contracts unilaterally changed and retirements cut. I see from last week’s post, however, that the current retirement package is “too generous” and will be cut soon.

The main impact on me personally was I lost health insurance, but in the decade since I left the Flats, I’ve stayed healthy, so the impact was mitigated. Current reductions to the “overly generous” retirement package for retirees means I lost less than I knew at the time.

As I write this commentary, I am surprised to feel my heart rate rise, my throat tighten, and to discover some bitterness lingers.  Beyond the financial loss, I felt my loyalty and hard work were devalued, that managers who knew nothing about me or the plant dealt callously with “legacy employees” while reaping excessive bonuses.

While it hurts emotionally, there’s really no point in taking it personally – I was one of many and it was just business.  Like this blog, my life has moved on beyond Rocky Flats.  I’d rather focus on the memories I have from the Flats – of my colleagues and our accomplishments.  Ham-handed management and misguided myths about Rocky Flats can’t take those from me.