Town hall meeting explains civilian workforce restructure

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt Tim Jenkins
  • 354th Fighter Wing public affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Eielson Air Force Base leadership held a town hall meeting Thursday to address how the recently announced Civilian Workforce Restructure would affect civilians here.

The Air Force announced the restructuring initiative Nov. 2, which involves eliminating approximately 9,000 positions Air Force wide to increase efficiencies, reduce overhead and eliminate redundancy.

Brig. Gen. James Post, 354th Fighter Wing commander, and Howard Rixie, 354th Force Support Squadron Manpower and Personnel flight chief, described to the audience the steps Eielson has made, and will continue to make, in order to meet the overall Department of Defense goal of reduced manpower costs, while limiting the impact on Eielson personnel.

"We've got some substantial realities to come to terms with," Post said. "Biggest of all is the budgetary constraints we're now under to try to get back within a responsible realm of where we ought to be and should have been all along."

Pacific Command's share of the force reduction includes 858 positions. The impact on Eielson equates to the elimination of 45 positions in civil engineering, services, base support functions and information technology.

The cuts, however, do not directly translate into job losses.

Some positions are currently empty or will be reallocated and some will be eliminated through the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority or Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments.

"I think the civilian personnel office here has done a superb job of doing their very best to help us all hold a job, despite the cuts," Post said. "Despite the fact that many of our vacant positions and some of our filled positions will be cut ... we are going to be able to move some folks around to keep their jobs."

The Air Force is making every effort to ensure every voluntary reduction opportunity will be exhausted before initiating any involuntary actions.

"When we were faced with this here, I put my team together and we came up with a specific strategy on how to minimize the impact of these cuts to you," Rixie said. "The reduction of positions doesn't necessarily mean individuals will lose their jobs."

Thirteen of Eielson's 45 positions were already vacant, allowing them to be eliminated without directly impacting people. To eliminate the remaining 32 positions, the wing looked to available voluntary programs, including the VERA and VSIP programs.

Once voluntary programs are exhausted, people will be shifted from positions marked for elimination into vacant positions, allowing workforce restructuring goals to be met without involuntarily forcing a person out of a job.

"Our team's efforts are concentrating on capitalizing on existing vacancies to offset the reductions and reinvest our human resources," said Rixie. "So, ideally, in the end no one loses their job or sees a reduction in pay."

Job shifts could include direct reassignment to a vacant position in the same job, reassignment to a lateral job, reassignment to a new job, or reassignment to a vacant position in a lower grade.

Those facing a reduction in grade or move to a new job series will face the Reduction-in-Force process to garner priority placement and retention pay entitlements.

"The fact that we're here is something we all have to come to terms with," Post said. "How we deal with it is what's important for all of us to understand."

According to Post, Eielson is focusing on preserving the family here, while supporting the DoD efficiency efforts of shaping the force within our limited resources.

Lawrence Chapin, 354th Civil Engineer Squadron heavy structure shop, is the interim vice president for American Federation of Government Employees Local 1836. He said the civilian personnel staff has gone above and beyond to support the civilians here during this process.

"Our main purpose here is to ensure the rights of the employees are all preserved within the limits of the contract," Chapin said. "We've been working hand-in-hand with civilian personnel through the restructuring process to ensure that happens."

Post added the wing and senior civilian leaders here are doing everything possible to continue our legacy of excellence, while preserving jobs in the wing and on the base, but there are no guarantees.

"We've got some force shaping to do, and it's not easy," the general said. "It hits home ... and trust me, my heart is with every one of you who are affected by this."