LOCATIONS
23 Aug 06. DoD Announces Installation Realignment in Germany. The Department of Defense announced that the United States would cease operations at four U.S. Army, Europe, locations in Babenhausen and Aschaffenburg, Germany. Due to U.S. European Command force structure realignment and transformation, and the attendant reduction in installation and personnel support requirements that have occurred during the past several years, U.S. Army, Europe, has identified Aschaffenburg Family Housing, Aschaffenburg Training Area, Babenhausen Kaserne and Babenhausen Family Housing as excess to the Army’s needs. Closure of these facilities will affect 21 U.S. service members, 44 U.S. DoD civilian employees and 20 host nation employees. U.S. Army units stationed in the area with nearly 1,000 soldiers were previously announced for departure or inactivation. This latest action is expected to save more than $9m annually.
08 Sep 06. HMS Clyde, the first ship to be built in Portsmouth Naval Base for nearly 40 years, has been named in a spectacular night ceremony at VT Shipbuilding’s facilities. The Royal Navy’s new 80m. Offshore Patrol Vessel (Helicopter) was named by Mrs Lesley Dunt, wife of Vice Admiral Peter Dunt, Director of Defence Estates. The VIP event was attended by leading figures from the RN and defence industry, along with around 1,000 specially invited guests and VT employees.
JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
08 Sep 06. Jet repair job losses ‘unlawful’. Amicus said workers at Dara should have been protected. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) may have acted unlawfully when it made hundreds of staff redundant from a fast-jet repair site, BBC Wales
has learnt. Workers were laid off from the Defence Aviation Repair Agency (Dara) facility at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan after work was transferred to England. Union Amicus claims the redundancies were a breach of employment law. The MoD, which could face multi-million pound pay-outs, has suspended decisions on future redundancies. But the MoD said in a statement that the issue did not call into question the decision taken to transfer support of the Harrier and Tornado fleet from St Athan to two RAF bases in England. Amicus has launched a legal challenge on behalf of the workers who lost jobs, which it said it was confident of winning. The union said the MoD has broken regulations under legislation known as the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (Tupe). The regulations protect employees when one business is transferred to another business. Employees cannot be dismissed, but should be transferred with their existing terms and conditions, the legislation states. (Source: BBC)
05 Sep 06. Intel slashes 10% of global jobs. The high-tech chip industry is one of the most competitive. Intel, the world’s largest computer chip-maker, is to cut 10,500 jobs – or 10% of its total staff, by mid 2007. The move follows a fall in Intel’s quarterly profits of 56% and the launching of an efficiency review. Intel’s earnings have been suffering after the firm cut chip prices to fend off increased competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The cuts, focusing on marketing, management and IT employees, are tipped to save the firm $3bn (£1.6bn) by 2008. Meanwhile, the severance packages are expected to cost the firm about $200m. (Source: BBC)
21 Aug 06. Boeing upped the ante Aug. 18, directing program suppliers to stop work on uncommitted C-17 aircraft. The move will be the first step in an orderly shutdown of the production supply chain should no further orders be received from the U.S. government, the company said. Boeing has been saying for weeks that it needs some type of a commitment from the U.S. Air Force, or a foreign air force, for another 10 C-17s, worth about $2bn, in order to keep a whole production line going. (Source: Aerospace Daily & Defense Report)
PERSONNEL
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
08 Sep 06. The Iraqi government began to assume formal control