You Can Help Make Dreams Come True

Christmas Past 
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Photo 
Times Leader/alejandro A. Alvarez

By CHARLES H. BOGINO; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Saturday, December 05, 1992 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 5A QUICK WORDS: TOBYHANNA 





TOBYHANNA -- The U.S. Army has ordered the Tobyhanna Army Depot to cut 36
jobs over the next nine months, but an official at the post said layoffs are
not expected. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The normal attrition rate at the Monroe County depot is eight people per
month, who either leave their job for some reason or retire, said Kevin
Toolan, the post's public affairs officer. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "So by every indication we will be able to accomplish it through
attrition," Toolan said. "We won't be looking at involuntary separation." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The depot, the Army's key maintenance center for a wide range of
communication systems, is caught up in an Army-wide reduction in force as a
result of the post-Cold War military draw-down. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Two weeks ago, the command to which Tobyhanna ultimately answers, the Army
Materiel Command, ordered across-the-board reductions in each of its
subordinate units and posts, and employees at the depot received a memo
warning them that job cuts could be on the way. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Tobyhanna was able to avert layoffs partly as a result of a
three-year-old hiring freeze, Toolan said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We came out of it pretty well," he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There have been a few exceptions to the hiring freeze in jobs that cannot
go unfilled once an employee leaves, such as those who guard the installation,
Toolan said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "But it is very narrow who can be hired," he said. "Security and human
safety are about the only exceptions to that." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 At its peak in the late 1980s, Tobyhanna had about 4,700 peopled employed
primarily at repairing such electronic items as radios, radar systems,
telephones, satellite terminals, surveillance equipment and anti-intrusion
devices. Currently, the work-force on the post is down to about 3,900, more
than 1,200 of whom live in Luzerne County, according to a Tobyhanna Depot fact
sheet.

Tobyhanna Will Cut Jobs Without Layoffs Tobyhanna Loses Positions In Armywide Job Cuts, But Post Officials Believe There Will Be No Layoffs