Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Mark Reynolds
Journal staff writer

JOHNSTON -- The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. has laid off 19 workers to bring the agency's finances out of the red, the corporation's director said today.

The volume of trash flowing into the state's Central Landfill has decreased steadily since the middle of 2007. Along with that drop, Resource Recovery, the landfill's overseer, has seen a corresponding decrease in the amount of tipping fees it collects, according to the corporation's director, Michael O'Connell.

Resource Recovery's finances ran into the red this past summer, forcing a 16 percent reduction in the work force, O'Connell said.

"It's one of the last things we want to do because it has such a huge impact on people," O'Connell said, "but at the end of the day, we couldn't continue to run in the red."

The layoff affected all types of employees, including those earning an hourly wage and some managers, O'Connell said.

Seniority governed which hourly earners lost their jobs while some salaried employees were released after a decision about cutting a particular working unit, he said, emphasizing that no employees were laid off for performance reasons.

O'Connell estimated that the layoff would save Resource Recovery about $1.9 million over the next year and allow it to bring its finances into line.

Last spring, a preliminary audit of the trash agency found signs of mismanagement, cronyism and possible corruption, from inflated land deals near the Central Landfill in Johnston to questionable charitable donations to handling of pension funds.

The audit was ordered in January by Governor Carcieri following concerns raised last November 2007 by O'Connell, then the agency's new executive director.

 Tags  layoffs

Comments

former employee said:

What a laugh! RIRRC cleaned house a few months ago to get rid of political appointees of former Board members, now they lay off hourly workers to make room in the budget for the new round of Carceri political appointees. What else would you expect from this Governor??? It is absolutely sickening.

Link | December 11, 2008 2:31 AM
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George said:

Obviously the last blogger was one of the problem employees and should have been let go.
This new guy in charge is shaping up at least one area of the state. A great example to the rest of the state agencies. Saving us money and landfill life.

Link | December 12, 2008 11:13 AM
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