Parsons to close Pasco shop, lay off 103 workers

Richland — Parsons Technology Development and Fabrication Complex in Pasco plans to lay off 103 workers starting Aug. 19, it notified the state of Washington today.

The layoffs will continue through Sept. 28.

“The entire facility will be closed,” said Mark Breer, Parsons vice president, in a letter to the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council (HAMTC).

“This action is expected to be permanent,” the letter said.

In 2004 the Hanford fabrication shop was transferred from Hanford to the Parsons shop at the Port of Pasco’s Big Pasco complex.

Then Parsons Hanford Fabricators was given a contract worth at least $9 million to do cutting, welding and assembling of metals for Hanford pumps, small tanks and sampling systems.

At the time at least 45 Hanford workers were transferred off Hanford to the shop.

The shop also has supported Department of Defense work to eliminate chemical weapons stockpiles, designing, testing and fabricating process components for pilot plants for destroying military chemical weapons in Colorado and Kentucky.

Among the employees who will be laid off are 13 HAMTC workers.

Those workers will be allowed to take the jobs of other HAMTC workers at Hanford with less experience in a “bump and roll.”

Article source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/06/20/2188538/parsons-to-close-pasco-shop-lay.html