ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
Participants in a whistleblower forum Wednesday night were excited about prospects for more effective protections for whistleblowers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and others who suffer retaliation from speaking out on the job.
"The whistleblower movement is blossoming and becoming better organized," said Betty Gunther, a board member of the University Professional and Technical Employees Union local at LANL.
...
Among the panelists Tuesday were Peter Stockton of POGO, Tom Carpenter of GAP and Glenn Walp, the security investigator who was fired by LANL during Thanksgiving week, 2002, after discussing his concerns with staff of the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General. Walp was later awarded nearly $1 million in a settlement with the University of California.
...
"We will be formulating a strategy paper in support of a congressional hearing, which will be addressed to our New Mexico legislators and our joint legislators in California, not only about the situation here in Los Alamos, but also on behalf of our sister labs in Berkeley and Livermore," Trujillo said.
...
"The problem is that if you use them - if your're lucky you'll be ignored and if you're unlucky you'll be retaliated against," said Gunther. "They have a very good rule, if only they followed it."
"We were impressed by the attendance that we had," Trujillo said. "We noticed that people felt very secure in speaking out at this forum."
UPTE stewards are currently involved in 25-30 cases involving some kind of retaliation, and, Trujillo said, more are coming forward, as people realize that there is a support network.
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