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Wednesday, March 27, 2002

Laboratory under scrutiny at hearing Tuesday in Santa Fe

Laboratory Director John Browne, right, was on one panel Tuesday that addressed the Senate Select Committee on the Oversight of the Department of Energy laboratories operated by the Department of Energy. At the meeting Tuesday in Santa Fe, Browne talked about the University of California's contract to operate the Laboratory, budget, accountability, work force and security issues. Next to Browne is Robert Van Ness, UC assistant vice president for Laboratory management. At left in the photo is Ronald Cochran, executive officer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

New Mexico legislators criticized the Laboratory for what they called a lack of progress in hiring and promoting Hispanics and in recruiting scientists and engineers from New Mexico schools during a hearing Tuesday at the State Capitol in Santa Fe.

“We will continue to hold the Laboratory’s feet to the fire,” Rep. Ben Lujan, speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives told Rich Marquez, the Lab’s associate director for administration, who represented the Lab on one of the hearing’s panels.

The hearing was called by California Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, who four years ago established the Senate Select Committee on the Oversight of the Department of Energy Laboratories Operated by the University of California. Polanco and Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, who plans to take over leadership of the panel when Polanco leaves office because of term limits next year, have held three previous hearings on workplace issues at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories.

Laboratory Director John Browne in his testimony pointed to the progress the Laboratory has made in improving diversity in Laboratory employment and in recruiting from New Mexico universities. He noted that 24 percent of the Lab’s new hires this year are graduates of New Mexico colleges and universities.

“I think that is a good track record,” Browne said, adding that he is committed to building a pipeline through collaborations with area universities so that recruiting efforts can begin before students get their degrees.

“I remain committed to Northern New Mexico. I remain committed to diversity. I remain committed to our employees,” Browne emphasized.

Min Park of the Bioscience (B) Division, and chair of the Lab’s Asian Pacific Diversity Working Group, said Lab management takes employee issues very seriously and that he believes the responsibility for solving employee problems must be shared between employee groups and management.

Alarcon pointed out that Los Alamos and its sister laboratories protect not only national security but also the diversity of the United States.

“If we are going to remain as leaders in the world we have to reflect that diversity,” Alarcon said.

Lujan said Polanco and the New Mexico legislators on the oversight panel deserve credit for recent improvements in the hiring and promotion of Hispanics at the Laboratory. (See link)

“You might be the product of this committee,” he told Marquez, referring to Marquez’s hiring last month.

The New Mexico legislators frequently expressed frustration at what they perceived as the Laboratory’s failure to improve diversity and resolve longstanding disputes over the rehiring of employees who lost their jobs in the 1995 reduction in force.

Browne led the Lab to a negotiated settlement of most of the issues stemming from the reduction in force shortly after becoming director, including a plan for rehiring an agreed upon number of employees.

“When are we going to stop having these hearings?” asked Sen. Phil Griego, D-Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Los Alamos, Sandoval, San Miguel, Torrance. “When is the Laboratory or UC going to step up to the plate and do what they have to do with minority hiring?

“When you all walk away from these tables, nothing gets done,” Griego told Browne and Robert Van Ness, UC assistant vice president for Laboratory Management.

Both Browne and Van Ness pointed to the success of the Los Alamos Foundation, which Van Ness said has pumped $11.5 million into local non-profits, scholarships and other causes. Browne said he was particularly proud of the $450,000 Laboratory employees have donated to the Foundation’s scholarship fund for local students.

Sen. Manny Aragon, D-Bernalillo, Sandoval, charged that the Laboratory in the last five years has increased the number of managers to the point that every other employee is a manager.

“At the risk of offending some of our neighbors here, I’ll say you’ve got too many chiefs and not enough Indians,” Aragon said.

Browne disputed the figure and promised to provide the committee a list of management categories and the number of people who hold them.

Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Taos, said that as a member of the University Professional and Technical Employees, she’s concerned about union issues and the upcoming letting of the facility and maintenance support subcontract that has been held for the past five years by Johnson Controls Northern New Mexico.

Other representatives questioned why the Laboratory decided to compete the contract instead of renewing it, saying they feared some local residents might lose their jobs if the contract changes hands.

Rodella also said the Laboratory hires too many post-doctoral fellows from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology instead of from New Mexico schools.

“It begins with understanding the culture of Hispanics in New Mexico and the family ties,” she said, telling Marquez that he fails to understand why local students attend local schools.

“I won’t be satisfied until three out of four or four out of four TSM’s (Technical Staff Members) are from New Mexico schools,” Rodella said, adding that the Laboratory must “get rid of that good old boy mentality.”

Both Lujan and Sen. Roman Maes, D-Santa Fe, praised Browne for his cooperation with the committee’s work.

“During the last five years, I think the cooperation has gotten much better,” Maes said. He asked Browne to prepare a report to the New Mexico Legislature on how to increase the number of Hispanics who pursue studies and careers in math and science.

Polanco also praised Browne’s efforts, saying that when he formed the committee, “a very ugly situation” dominated the Laboratory’s relationship with legislators and the Hispanic community.

“You’ve done an incredible job, given where we’ve started,” Polanco said.

He asked Browne to focus on four areas:
• providing the committee and the New Mexico Legislature with Laboratory budgets and financial planning documents;
• developing a better pipeline for collaborating with and recruiting from New Mexico colleges and universities;
• improving ongoing communications with the New Mexico Legislature; and
• looking beyond Northern New Mexico to the rest of the state for procurement and subcontracts.

Aragon disagreed, saying Northern New Mexico businesses should continue to receive preference. He also urged the university to appoint a New Mexico representative to the UC President’s Advisory Board.

--Jim Danneskiold

Sen. Manny Aragon, left, D-Bernalillo, Valencia, makes a comment at Tuesday's hearing at the State Capitol in Santa Fe. At center in photo is Saeed Ali, aide to California Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, second from right. Photos by John Bass, Public Affairs

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