Progress job cuts gaining speed

Having trimmed its management rolls, the utility turns its cost-cutting efforts to about 700 hourly workers.

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- Progress Energy has fired nearly 50 rank-and-file workers since last week, the first large number of non-management employees cut as the North Carolina company consolidates its takeover of the former Florida Progress Corp.

More layoffs are on the way. A total of about 700 rank-and-file workers in St. Petersburg and Raleigh, N.C., will have received pink slips by April 30, said Keith Poston, a Progress Energy spokesman.

"Obviously, layoffs are difficult," he said. "But overlapping functions have to be cut in order for the combination to work. The end result is good people will lose their jobs."

The job cuts aren't sparing managers. Almost all the 115 employees who lost their jobs in the first round of cuts last year were managers or senior managers.

When Raleigh, N.C.-based Carolina Power & Light announced plans to buy Florida Progress for $5.3-billion in 1999, executives said they would squeeze out at least $100-million in annual costs, largely by cutting duplicate jobs at the two utilities.

They estimated that would mean the loss of 1,200 positions. By not filling some jobs as people left, the company has gotten the number of employee firings to about 800, Poston said.

The cuts are targeted at overlapping administrative support jobs -- such as in accounting, human relations and legal services -- in the combined company, renamed Progress Energy last month.

Nearly 3,400 employees filled out electronic resumes and stated whether they'd be willing to relocate or take a different position.

All management-level cuts were completed by Dec. 31. The first rank-and-file pink slips in St. Petersburg went out Dec. 12 to three workers in the former Florida Progress auditing department, said Jim Gower, a senior auditor fired after 20 years with the company.

A supervisor called the employees into private meetings about 9 a.m., handed them information about their severance packages and told them to leave that day, he said. By noon, their computer access was shut off and security badges disabled, Gower said.

"They whacked all the senior people, the highest-paid people," he said.

Poston disputed that Progress Energy is targeting experienced workers with the highest salaries when determining who stays and who goes.

Managers consider fired employees' access to sensitive materials, their impact on remaining workers and other factors when deciding how long to keep them, Poston said. Some are being asked to stay up to 90 days to help the transition, Poston said.

So far, the company's audit, safety, security and energy ventures departments have notified fired employees, he said. Rank-and-file workers in St. Petersburg and Raleigh have received pink slips, but Poston didn't know how many were from each location.

Non-management employees who lose their jobs receive seven weeks of paid administrative leave with benefits. For severance pay, they get a minimum of 12 weeks of salary. Workers with more experience get two weeks worth of pay for each year of employment. The maximum allowed is 52 weeks of pay.

The fired workers also get pay for 2001 vacation, along with some holiday pay and job counseling.

"It's pretty good, it's fair," said Gower, president of the Florida Power Club, an association of current employees and retirees.

- Contact Steve Huettel at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

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