During a special town hall meeting Monday, Blue Grass Army Depot officials announced the facility may soon be forced to reduce its workforce at the Madison County chemical weapons storage site.
According to a BGAD news release, the reduction “may be necessary to balance the workforce with a shrinking workload.”
Blue Grass Army Depot is working with Joint Munitions Command to reduce the impact through normal attrition, hiring controls and voluntary retirement as well as pursuing public-private partnership workload and funding streams, according to the release.
BGAD must receive Congressional approval before any decrease in its workforce can begin.
If approved, the Depot will open a transition office to provide affected employees with a transition office that will provide information and assistance on local job opportunities, the Priority Placement Program, Army and DoD job placement programs, available job re-training, tuition assistance and resume development and job searches.
BGAD’s civilian workforce grew significantly between 2007 and 2010, according to the release, primarily due to the Depot expanding its industrial capability to support Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) program and to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“With the end of the conflict in the Middle East and the termination of the MRAP and related programs, the Army simply does not have the workload to maintain the current workforce levels,” the release states.
