Delegation Questions Air Force on Civilian Personnel Decreases at Alaska Bases

Press Release

Reacting to the announcement that the U.S. Air Force will be eliminating 53 jobs at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and several at Eielson Air Force Base, the Alaska Congressional Delegation wrote a letter today to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Norton Schwartz expressing concern and asking for more details on the cuts to the workforce.

The letter expresses concern with the decision to find budget cuts by arbitrarily laying off Alaskans and calls on the Air Force to help these Alaskans find new employment.

"We are extremely concerned about workers impacted by this decision. We have to keep in mind these are real people and this bad news piles on to an already bleak outlook on jobs. More than 50 Alaskans will be dealing with the financial and emotional realities of losing their job during the holiday season. We urge you to work directly with displaced works and provide every opportunity for training and assistance to transition them into vacancies at the installation."

"We were not provided detailed justification for reductions in civilian personnel at JBER and Eielson. We understand budget constraints demand better business practices and civilian personnel decreases totaling 9,000 are now occurring at Air Force installations across the county. However, information provided to our offices to date provides no substantial evidence the Civilian Personnel Restructuring was executed in a thoughtful and concise manner to achieve savings and efficiencies."

To ensure the Air Force doesn't unjustifiably lay off more Alaskans and further compromise base support in future rounds of reductions in the civilian workforce the Alaska Delegation has requested that the Air Force provide several details regarding the layoffs.

* Conditions of separation for eliminated civilian personnel;
* Identifying the number and nature of open billets being eliminated;
* Justification and details behind the elimination of billets related to joint basing at JBER.

Delegation letter is found below text.

Dear Secretary Donley and General Schwartz:

We are writing in regards to the Air Force's Civilian Personnel Restructuring Initiative. As a result of this initiative some 50 civilian employees at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and many employees at Eielson Air Force Base were notified today their positions are being eliminated. Further, JBER will no longer be able to fill over 200 vacant billets within the 673rd Air Base Wing required to support the joint basing initiative and the increase in base population over the last several years.

We are extremely concerned about workers impacted by this decision. We have to keep in mind these are real people and this bad news piles on to an already bleak outlook on jobs. More than 50 Alaskans will be dealing with the financial and emotional realities of losing their job during the holiday season. We urge you to work directly with displaced workers and provide every opportunity for training and assistance to transition them into vacancies at the installations.

In November the 4/25 Brigade Combat Team of JBER will begin a ten-month long deployment to Afghanistan. Airmen from JBER and Eielson Air Force Base continuously deploy in support of overseas operations. Many of Alaska's military spouses are employed at our installations. Worrying about degradation in quality of life and job loss is an additional stressor created by this decision.

Further, we are concerned this may add to the anxiety of our troops, many of whom have spouses who are Air Force civilians. Already faced with the demands of regular deployments this action places even greater stress on our service members. Additionally, we were not provided detailed justification for reductions in civilian personnel at JBER and Eielson. We understand budget constraints demand better business practices and civilian personnel decreases totaling 9,000 are not occurring at Air Force installations across the county. However, information provided to our offices to date provides no substantial evidence the Civilian Personnel Restructuring was executed in a thoughtful and concise manner to achieve savings and efficiencies. Instead, it appears formulaic, across-the-board cost savings were ordered up at the expense of hard working Alaskans and by eliminating personnel growth necessary for the 673rd Air Base Wing to continue to provide quality base services and support to military members and their families. Additionally, these civilian personnel reductions may b e in violation of previous agreements between the Air Force and the Army for joint basing.

In order to ensure the Civilian Personnel Restructuring initiative does not result in additional unnecessary job loss and degradation of base services we request the following information be provided to our offices:

For eliminated encumbered civilian personnel positions:
Number of employees accepting voluntary retirement
Number of employees accepting voluntary separation
Number of employees to be involuntarily separated
Number of employees to transition to other vacant positions on the installation and a detailed description of plans to provide assistance and training
Number of military spouses in encumbered positions

With regard to the major factors identified by the Air Force as driving the civilian personnel reductions at JBER and Eielson, identify the number of billets that fall into each category and provide a position description for the following:
Civilian to Military Conversions
Tailoring Installation Support
Joint Basing

For billets identified as being eliminated due to joint basing at JBER provide:
Number and description of billets previously identified as necessary growth with the Army to support joint basing requirements
Detailed description and results of an assessment conducted which determined those positions are no longer required
A list of billets eliminated that were funded by the Army.
A detailed description of how services and support agreements with the Army to support joint basing will be executed without the previously identified manpower

We thank you for your attention to this important matter and look forward to the response.

Sincerely,

Mark Begich

Lisa Murkowski

Don Young

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