Mayors lobby to stop Fermilab layoffs

Reeling from news that Fermilab plans to lay off 200 workers because of pending budget cuts, local mayors came together Thursday to urge federal lawmakers to enact supplemental funding for the Batavia laboratory early next year.

The high-energy physics laboratory, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, employs scientists and other workers who make their homes in Kane, DuPage, Cook and surrounding counties. Layoffs and further cuts could have a ripple effect in the greater community, some fear.

"I think there's going to be a strong reaction from the regional community here," said Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke. "The impacts of this are not necessarily on any one community."

The largest concentration of Fermilab employees -- 340 -- is in Aurora, followed by Batavia with 301. Schielke, along with Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, is crafting a letter to municipal leaders across the Chicago area seeking support for a supplemental budget request.

The layoffs, which could take effect as soon as April, represent about 10 percent of the facility's work force. Remaining employees will be forced to take off two unpaid furlough days every month starting in February, Fermilab Director Pier Oddone said in a 45-minute meeting with employees Thursday.

The lab also will immediately stop conducting research for the proposed multibillion-dollar International Linear Collider, Oddone said.

Nearly a year ago Fermi officials pondered layoffs and a temporary shutdown when Congress stalled in approving a budget for the U.S. Department of Energy. That crisis, however, was averted. Oddone called the current situation the most difficult in the facility's 40-year history.

Fermi officials said they hoped to receive $372 million for fiscal 2008, which began Oct. 1, but instead stands to get just $320 million. The fiscal 2007 budget was $342 million.

Sen. Dick Durbin blamed Republicans for the budget shortfall.

"The Democratic budget rejected by the president would have funded Fermilab's programs," the Illinois Democrat said in a prepared statement. "But the president and his Republican allies in Congress refused to fund those programs and we were left with stark choices -- reduce funding for high-end physics or cut money for veterans, reduce spending at Fermilab or eliminate funding for rural hospitals."

The early retirement of U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert, a Plano Republican, last month has left the area without a congressional representative to look out for Fermi. That left local officials unprepared to respond to the budget cuts, which surfaced just this week.

"They hit us on this thing in the darkness of night and before the Christmas holiday," Schielke said.