Foundry Event Indoors;
BASIC Forum to Follow

The possibility of showers this morning is good, so event planners have decided to move today’s 11:30 a.m. Molecular Foundry groundbreaking indoors, to the Building 66 Auditorium. Due to limited seating, attendance will be limited to pre-registered guests. At 1 p.m., the celebration will conclude with a 90-minute forum on nanoscience in the Bay Area, sponsored by the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC). A complete agenda of the day’s activities can be seen here.

Saving Money With
Energy Audits

By any other name, energy audits might be more acceptable to consumers. But many people don't take advantage of the service, often provided free by utility companies, because energy audits sound suspiciously like tax audits or some other official intrusion that could lead to unexpected payments or penalties. Detailed energy audits can also be conducted over the Internet. The most complete approach is a program prepared by Berkeley National Laboratory. Go here to read the full story, and here to visit the Lab’s “Home Energy Saver” online audit.

Berkeley Lab, CUE Reach
Tentative Wage Agreement

Berkeley Lab has reached tentative agreement on wages for Fiscal Year 2004 with CUE (Coalition of University Employees). The tentative agreement, if ratified by the CUE membership, would provide for a 3.1 percent merit pool, 3 percent range adjustment and 0.4 percent pool for posted promotions, reclassifications, and individual equity adjustment. This agreement covers about 220 Lab employees and provides for the continuation of a merit-based pay system from Oct. 1, 2003 to Sept. 30, 2004. Full story.

New EH&S Expectations
For Supervisors Piloted

Supervisor goals in Environment, Health and Safety as reflected in the annual Performance Review and Development (PRD) are undergoing a pilot study within Operations. Changes were incorporated to clarify safety performance expectations for managers, to more actively encourage accident and injury prevention, and to improve the Lab’s overall safety performance. Similar performance standards are anticipated for supervisors and employees lab-wide. Go here to see the new PRD expectations for Operations supervisors.

Last Chance for Lab
Merchandise Discounts

Today is the last day of the “Blow Out Sale” at the cafeteria, which features merchandise with the Lab’s logo on it, such as shirts, hats, and coffee mugs. Costs will be cut up to 59 percent between 2 and 4 p.m.

The Lab’s central servers used for Novell file sharing and printing, as well as Windows domains, will be unavailable from 5:45-6:15 a.m. Monday. Central services, such as email and calendar, will not be affected. The servers, which will be shut down for a network upgrade, are expected to be up and running before most employees arrive for work. Employees who encounter any problems should reboot their computers before calling the Help Desk (x4357).