IT agency workers: Stay or go?
VITA will encourage many to seek jobs at Northrop Grumman
BY PETER BACQUE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The state's information-technology agency now says it wants to shed as many of its employees as possible in its $2 billion outsourcing deal with Northrop Grumman.
Virginia's information-technology agency is urging its workers to join Northrop Grum- man because "if you're an information-technology career person, that's where all the jobs and promotions are going to be," Stewart said yesterday.
[entire article]
I am made strangely uncomfortable by this article...
Monday, March 06, 2006
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14 comments:
is any of thsi a surprise? reading through this blog, it looks like everyone knew vita was planning on screwing over it.
I can remember when we first had those "Town Hall" meetings with George "Hamilton Tan" Newstrom promising better times ahead. What a car salesman that one was. So many of the people in the meetings were buying into the not-so-quite true promise that VITA would provide training. Well they did do some of that by telling employees here's a link to a Microsoft tutorial. Whee!
Now those same employees are facing being booted out of state government entirely. The NG deal is a young man's game. And not all of us are so young. But we should just bend over and take it because according to Lem there are no guarantees in life.
That's true. But he is guaranteed his position until he ticks off another administration and that couldn't come soon enough. All the fat cat managers have guarantees of a hefty paycheck and little work except for managing the manager of the manager of the mangled mangee.
The General Assembly shouldn't be worried about coming up with a new state song because VITA selling a large amount of people to the lowest bidder is proof that part of the lyrics is still true - "There's where I labored so hard for old massa,..." and that employees were sold downriver.
I envision those employees as cattle being led to slaughter and Lem just took the blindfold off and is saying "surprise! now isn't this a good thing".
The really pitiful thing is... some people still believe it.
I guess it depends on what Mr. Stewart thinks is "comparable or better than". I wonder if he would take the deal he has negotiated. I imagine he must have some years locked up in VRS as well. Or maybe things look better when you're making 100,000+?
This article was interesting to me as well.
"We believe the total package we're offering the employees is in most cases, not all, better than staying with the state..."
"I don't think we ever said that you could go to the private sector and retire at 50-and-30,"
Did they mean better than staying with the state after the deal or or did they mean better than what you had before the NG deal? I sense a bit of double-speak here.
Looks like the choices are:
A) ------------------------------
**3% (or 4%) increase in December that would most likely not be reduced unless there is some proof that you are not doing your job and are demoted.
**Unknown plans for the employees that stay? Are they really going to keep them on? How long?
**Keep growing your retirement you've been building for 20-30 years with the state. Full retirement at 50/30.
**Cash match savings. State matches 50%, up to $40/month
**Better long term disability
**Better life insurance (2 x salary with the state or 1 x salary with NG)
**Preferred treatment/interviews if there is a lay off
B) ------------------------------
**4% increase guaranteed for only 1 year. Reductions in salary are at the whim of the company who has had to absorb 1,000 new employees. A company who announced today it was laying off or "re-locating" 300+ employees in Maryland.
**Sign on bonus (half of which gets eaten up in taxes)
**Savings Plan (Is this part of the pension or retirement?) - 4% of compensation for 3 years then match of up to 4% employee contributions.
**1 year stint guaranteed with NG
**If there are lay offs - Regular Joe looking for an IT job with 300 - 1,000 other employees that got laid off at the same time.
**Looks like the health care plans have higher out of pocket maximums ($500 - $2,000/year higher!). Prescriptions, co-pays, mental health expenses, substance abuse services and charges that exceed allowable amounts do NOT count towards the maximums. No vision. Does cover domestic partners! I don't see what the monthly cost of the plans are...
------------------------------
Does anyone have any history on what has happened to employees that were absorbed in prior outsourcings?
And I think it's disgusting if they don't let the military members keep the time they bought. Wouldn't that just be hypocritical? Government is NG's bread and butter!
"Overall, it's a very good package for employees," Stewart said. "If it doesn't fit them personally, then they can continue doing what they're doing with VITA." .....
for how long Mr. Stewart? 18% of the agency will be eligible to retire in 2 years. That's at least 182 people that really have no choice but to stay with the Commonwealth. How many can retire in 5 years?
NG Benefits for Commonwealth employees here.
It would be nice, since these decisions are being made by the state, if there was some way for voters to let their opinions be known in a way that carried some weight. For example, if Lem Stuart was an elected official, if someone at VITA was an elected official, or if someone could be held accountable for angering so many registered voters.
I guess the only place left to apply pressure is with the General Assembly. So let your GA reps know what you think. Direct them here. Make some noise.
Not sure who to contact? Go Here.
You are right, Shadow. That's a good idea. I don't know how to stop the train other than yelling louder to the font of the line.. I've sent my emails and letters.
The problem is, I think, that the bottom line is all that matters anymore. So what if a thousand employees get hosed after committing 20+ years of their lives growing the commonwealth into what it is. Think back 20 years... there was no Internet, no WAN/LAN, no eGovernment. These employees have been harnessing the waves, self-educating, and bringing the Commonwealth's technology to where it is on a string and a prayer. Do the politicians really think they're going to get that kind of commitment from Northrop? Not hardly! I fear the Commonwealth is just a drop in the bucket as soon as the next big deal comes along. All of that thrown away in a couple short years to the lowest bidder to do what? Keep from paying retirement and health care benefits to those employees?
I don't know about you but I can feel the rumble already starting in other agencies. I think they'll be riding on the outsource train soon enough. It's intoxicating.. saving the citizens a few bucks... it's the politically correct thing to do no matter what it does to the humans involved.
Does hard work and committment mean anything to the Commonwealth politicians anymore? When did it become the "correct" thing to do to save money on the backs of the ones who brought you to the top?
I hope if Mark Warner ever runs for any office, the word gets out that while he was supposedly being the great Governor he claims he was, he was actually running around India making deals while simultaneously selling out on American workers right here in good ole' Virginia. And Lem Stewart is right in there with him. A million bucks shaved off the bottom line is not worth this. Neither of them deserves anyone's respect.
I am so hurt for the VITA employees and I don't even work there! They don't deserve this.
i've sent my email. pass the word, folks!
Another great example of the state being in bed with corporations: The Commonwealth of Virginia endorses Crisco products. I wonder how much the state makes off THAT deal?
I doubt the state realizes it's giving free advertising to Crisco. It's probably just a lack of understanding the implications of their actions (read: poor management). They'll catch on when some other company demands equal "airtime." Someone like a competitor of Crisco, or an adult product company.
Anyone know if the NG deal was approved by the GA? Or is that part of the budget?
only the capital lease part needs approving.
on another note...I for one am sick and tired of the bellyaching on here from those that apparently feel they "have a right" to their paycheck and job just because they show up and do the minimum. Those of us confident in our abilities are chomping at the bit to leave the state and go to a real company like NG where our co-workers will either pull their weight or pay the consequences for once!
Oh, now there's a challenge if I ever heard one...
Let's tackle this point by point, as I'm sure it's a common belief.
on another note...I for one am sick and tired of the bellyaching on here from those that apparently feel they "have a right" to their paycheck and job just because they show up and do the minimum.
You make a pretty big assumption. For some reason you lump anyone who disagrees with you as 1) a state employee and 2) lazy. As if holding a belief different from yours would be impossible from any right-thinking individual. Several of the "belly-achers" that post here are not state employees. Some people just don't like seeing their state screw up at the cost of dollars and lives.
No, no one has a right to a paycheck, at least not in Virginia. But it seems somehow unfair to take someone who joined the state workforce, put in 20 years of quality work, and tell them they're now SOL because you've decided to have a private contractor do everything. We bitch and moan about sending labor to India, about private security policing New Orleans, and about cars built in other countries. But when Virginia decides to do the same thing to its IT workers, no one seems to care. And the problems associated with the whole deal get swept under the rug by people who get paid huge salaries to "do the minimum" and still keep their jobs with the state.
Those of us confident in our abilities are chomping at the bit to leave the state and go to a real company like NG where our co-workers will either pull their weight or pay the consequences for once!
So why haven't you left state service and joined the corporate ranks before now? Maybe your skills and talents don't rate high enough for a "real company" (and might I point out that the state is not a company and therein lies your first fallacy)? So, the real plus to the NG deal for you is to sneak into a job position beyond your abilities, and leech off a business instead of the state? Better be careful what you wish for, or you may be one of the first to feel those aforementioned "consequences."
And that bit about the consequences shows your corporate experience isn't what it could be. I've know people without a clue in the world make it through the corporate world with ease. The difference is that in the state you usually have to document why someone needs getting canned, and in business, you often never notice that someone needs to get canned.
i'm not a state employee, but i think it sucks. i am lazy, tho.
Wow. Lem reads the blogs!
I'm one of those people you see in the auditorium specie quite often.
And speaking as a VITA employee who has seen the state of NG competence at this juncture (see post date)... the Commonwealth is well and rightly fucked.
Good luck with your exciting new opportunity working a corporate gig kid. They aren't making any more intelligent decisions than I've seen DITA make over the past seven years.
Do me a favor, if you work in an agency with 2,000+ employees, ask your Director how their new VITA/NG bills are looking with consolidation. I've heard rumors that some agencies are looking at a minimum $500,000/yr increase. GG KTHX NO N00B
Ah well I expect to get fired any day anyway, but I'm the kind of guy that tends to point at the table and ask, "Why is there a pie with a turd in it on the table?"
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