Oak Ridge Today

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

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Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We are seeking licensed and insured general contractors to construct five, single-family homes on scattered sites in Anderson and Morgan County. The goal is to provide first-time homeowners with safe, quality, and energy-efficient new housing for economically disadvantaged residents.

Contractors will be required to provide documentation of contractor’s license, current liability, and workers compensation insurance. Contractors must be eligible to participate in state or federally funded projects. Each home constructed must meet ENERGY STAR standards and will be HERS rated for energy efficiency.

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CORRE has annual membership meeting on Monday

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CORRE Logo

The Coalition of Oak Ridge Retirees will have its annual meeting at 2 p.m. Monday, October 20, at the Heritage Fellowship Church in Oak Ridge.

CORRE is an organization of retirees that works to improve the welfare of more than 12,000 former employees and surviving spouses of the various managing contractors of U.S. Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge. All retirees, their spouses, and surviving spouses are urged to attend and are encouraged to bring other retirees, a press release said.

CORRE expects about 200-250 retirees and spouses to attend, and invitations have been extended to members of the East Tennessee congressional delegation. [Read more…]

Federal contractors, agencies consider shutdowns, furloughs as funding dispute drags on

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Joe L. Evins Federal Building

The U.S. Department of Energy will soon start shutting down nonessential operations, resulting in employee and contractor furloughs, unless Congress passes a spending bill. Pictured above is DOE’s Oak Ridge Office at the Joe L. Evins Federal Building.

Furloughs possible at DOE, UCOR, other federal contractors; some SAIC employees on leave

The government shutdown is now in its second week, and the U.S. Department of Energy could start shutting down nonessential operations soon—resulting in employee and contractor furloughs—unless Congress quickly approves a spending bill, officials said Tuesday.

Federal contractors with operations in Oak Ridge are also considering possible shutdowns and furloughs because congressional Democrats and Republicans have failed to reach an agreement on a spending bill to keep the government operating in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

In a Tuesday message to employees, UCOR President Leo Sain said the company, the government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, has not been told to shut down yet. [Read more…]

Asbestos removal in final stage at Federal Building

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Joe L Evins Federal Fuilding

A four-month project to remove asbestos-containing insulation from the Joe L. Evins Federal Building in Oak Ridge is wrapping up, and federal employees and contractors could move back in next month.

Work crews are wrapping up a four-month project to clean up and remove asbestos-containing insulation from the Joe L. Evins Federal Building in Oak Ridge, and displaced federal workers and contractors could move back into the building next month, a spokeswoman said Friday.

“We have reached the final stage of the project and expect to have the building available to tenants in May,” said Saudia Muwwakkil, regional public affairs officer for the U.S. General Services Administration, which owns the building.

There have been about 350 workers in the five-story building, which is home to the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office as well as a district office for U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. The workers include roughly 200 federal employees and close to 150 contractors. [Read more…]

Sequester scenarios: DOE contractors in Tennessee could furlough 1,400, lose $90 million

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Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman

The federal funding cuts that went into effect March 1 could result in 1,400 furloughs or layoffs for U.S. Department of Energy contractors in Tennessee, an official said this week. The furloughs could start as early as April 1.

There could also be spending reductions of about $90 million for DOE contractors in the Volunteer State, DOE Deputy Secretary Daniel B. Poneman said in a March 5 letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.

Funding for contractors at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge could be cut by roughly $41 million, and more than 1,000 contractor employees could be furloughed, Poneman said.

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CORRE president: Pension plan prospects dim now, but future brighter

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CORRE and President Dub Shults

CORRE President Dub Shults, right, tells several hundred federal contractor retirees on Monday that prospects for pension adjustments aren’t good now, but the situation could improve.

Living expenses for essentials such as housing and utilities rose between 37 percent and 72 percent in 14 years, but pensions didn’t increase at all for local retirees of some U.S. Department of Energy contractors.

A local nonprofit organization hopes to change that.

“We must continue to strive for an increase in pensions for all retirees,” said Dub Shults, president of Coalition for Oak Ridge Retired Employees, or CORRE. “This is our basic need.”

During an annual membership meeting Monday, Shults cited factors that have hampered the organization’s requests for pension adjustments for more than 13,000 retirees and surviving spouses of managing contractors of DOE facilities in Oak Ridge. Among those are the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, tighter budgets, and changes in contractors, pension plans, and leaders at DOE sites in Oak Ridge.

“The answer to our quest for pension adjustments is that prospects are dim,” Shults told several hundred people during the Monday afternoon meeting at the Heritage Fellowship Church in Oak Ridge. “We are not likely to get a pension increase in the foreseeable future.”

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Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees has annual meeting today

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The Coalition of Oak Ridge Retired Employees, also known as CORRE, will have its annual membership meeting at 2 p.m. today.

The meeting is scheduled to include reports on activities this year, election of board members and officers, and a presentation by CORRE President W. D. “Dub” Shults on frequently asked questions.

CORRE is an organization of retirees that works to improve the welfare of more than 12,000 former employees and surviving spouses of the managing contractors of U.S. Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant (also known as the former K-25 site), and grandfathered employees of WSI and UCOR.

In a press release, CORRE said it expects about 250-350 retirees and their spouses to attend today’s meeting. Members of the Tennessee congressional delegation have been invited to attend.

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