News Release

FROM: Janet Michel, President

Coalition for a Healthy Environment [423/966-5918]

FOR RELEASE AT WILL, March 10, 1998

COALITION TO PROTEST HARASSMENT, RETALIATION, AND FIRING OF DOE AND

LOCKHEED MARTIN EMPLOYEES

The Coalition for a Healthy Environment will hold a demonstration on

Wednesday, March 11, 1998, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to protest the

harassment, retaliation, and firing of employees engaged in protected

activities. The two-part demonstration will begin at the Federal Building

in Oak Ridge at 11 a.m., and the second portion will be from 2-5 p.m. in

front of the main entrance to the Y-12 Weapons Plant.

The numbers of employees publicizing their concerns about health, safety,

and fraud have been growing exponentially in the past year. It is time to

let the citizens of Tennessee know that the U.S. Department of Energy's and

Lockheed Martin's blatant disregard for protected, legal activity. Freedom

to raise concerns about one's work environment is protected by the First

Amendment.

Our demands are as follows:

- All managers must cease illegal activity (retaliation for protected

activity);

- Those committing illegal actions must be removed from any position of

authority and responsibility and prosecuted;

- Vice President Gore and Secretary of Energy Pena should come to Oak Ridge

to meet with whistleblowers without managers being present (meetings have

been requested with Pena on several occasions with no reply);

- Floyd Glenn, a recently fired 20-year veteran security guard, must be

immediately restored to his position; and

- Floyd Glenn's union leaders should meet with community leaders,

activists, and others about their plans to defend Floyd from this illegal

reprisal.

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News Release (continued)

By law, employees have the protected right to raise concerns about health

and safety in their workplace without fear of reprisal. DOE and Lockheed

Martin have conducted extensive internal and public campaigns to inform

their employees about their commitment to identifying and remediating

deficiencies in health, safety, waste, fraud, and abuse at federal

facilities. For all intents and purposes, these campaigns have proven to

be window dressing with little substance.

Despite judges ruling in favor of whistleblowers, millions of tax dollars

have been spent by DOE and LMES on fighting whistleblowers. Oak Ridge

leads the country both in whistleblower retaliation and in spending to

fight whistleblowers.

Among the concerns raised by whistleblowers are the following facts:

Employees are working in hazardous areas without being told that the areas

are hazardous and without being provided appropriate and required

protective equipment. Employees have filed Medical Incident Reports on

heavy metal poisoning and DOE and Lockheed Martin have not followed up with

Workers' Compensation. Employees are filing Employee Concern forms only to

have them passed from desk to desk until they arrive back in the employee's

workgroup with no actions taken. Employees are filing safety inspection

reports only to have them thrown in the trash. Employees have reported

safety violations.

DOE and Lockheed Martin have retaliated in the following ways:

Employees are having their security clearances revoked making it difficult

to perform their job but making it easier to downsize them. Employees have

been barred from going to Health Services to report illnesses. Employees

have had disability benefits denied in spite of numerous medical doctors'

reports. Employees are being re-assigned and idled. Employees are

experiencing false charges which are then used as a pretext for firing.

Employees are being sent for psychiatric evaluations and forced to work in

hostile working environments.

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