Previously (10/13/26): Update and upcoming events; new ad coming tomorrow; more

Dear friends -- 

Good afternoon everybody.

First, last night (10/14/26) three of us (myself, Ella Katz, and Jean Nichols virtually) spoke again to the Santa Fe City Council in support of our proposed city resolution. Here's the City's video; petitions from the floor run from 1:58:54 to 2:15:45 inclusive; the three of us can be found within this section at 2:01:30 to 2:05:56 (Greg and Ella) and 2:10:54 to 2:12:54 (Jean). 

There were only a few people in attendance, so the atmosphere was somewhat more intimate than usual. We hope the Council and news media do not mistake the natural ebb and flow of participation on this issue as something permanent. 

Stay tuned. While it isn't visible in public, we are hearing interest from some on the Council and there was an indication of some media interest also. So it's important to stay involved at this stage, to not let the issue of LANL's nuclear weapons expansion be lost amidst the many others that will come up over the coming two weeks in the run-up and aftermath of the election. 

It is likely that nothing of substance will be done by the Council until after the election. After the election, we do not want this issue to be lost in the holidays as the end of the year approaches. 

Second, don't forget the joint press conference outside Santa Fe City Hall at 11 am, Oct. 19th. As we said in Tuesday's letter and this week's ad, let's make this visually (and acoustically) interesting and fun as well as serious. Tomorrow we will start calling allied organizations for other guest speakers (one is already on board). 

Some of you already have beautiful and sometimes elaborate signs and banners. Let's dust them off along with what fresh creativity we can muster "in our spare time" (our running joke here -- like us, we are sure you have very little of that). This won't be the last time those signs, songs, and speeches are needed, so think of it as an investment rather than an expense. We and allied organizations will help however we can. Some of us will meet afterwards for discussion and fellowship.

Other musings: 

• For New Mexico young people, the siren song of nuclear weapons has never been more seductive. Yesterday we heard from an impeccable source that teenage college sophomore interns at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) can and do make $32/hour and more. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives an average wage in Albuquerque over all jobs of $31/hr; ZipRecruiter estimates the average hourly wage as $26/hr, roughly the same as the average wage in Santa Fe. 

To see what LANL pays to those working on pit production, you can get an idea from this 2023 recruitment presentation (see pp. 19-22). In 2023, non-degreed workers at the plutonium facility topped out at the salaried equivalent of $64/hour, while those with degrees could make up to the equivalent of $188/hour, plus benefits of course. It is more now. 

Often it is the benefits package that attracts adults and heads of families to LANL. As you can see it is quite generous -- and it can be "gamed." We know of some who can take paid vacations lasting months. 

Bear in mind that a) these salaries are 3 years old and b) Triad has the authority to craft individualized pay and benefits packages for people it wants. That is, the weapons labs are in a position to out-bid any and all alternatives, if they truly want a particular soul person. 

We believe those who run the labs make in the high 6 figures and we suspect, based on what previous lab directors made, that Thom Mason makes over $2 million/year. NNSA tells us that information is "proprietary" and not subject to FOIA. We won a lawsuit about that in the 1990s but at present we lack legal representation. FOIA seldom pays out these days...

We mention this because people often say we need to devise alternative careers for our young people. They are right. We very much do need to do that, but those jobs will not pay this much in dollar terms. Life is about a lot more than a new truck or electric Mustang in which to commute up "The Hill." Somebody very important once said that "Man does not live by bread alone," as you may recall. People who make this much money for doing what amounts to an easy job need to ask themselves whether they are actually in a fairy tale that does not have a happy ending. We could pick a few candidates, but perhaps the central one is the legend of Faust, which is pretty much the story of Los Alamos. It's usually best not to "go there," although there can be mitigating circumstances.  

You don't have to be a Buddhist to understand that Right Livelihood is a real thing. Listen to your heart. What serves the community? Do you need a high salary to feel validated by society? If so, I am sorry to tell you that you are among those easily manipulated. Don't despair, that's normal. So -- what aligns with your deepest values, not just your need for validation? This is something we all need to figure out, urgently, because our already-poor locale especially cannot withstand the widespread recruitment of its talent (young and old) into the service of death-oriented solutions to human problems -- which is LANL's specialty. It is a rich and important question, worthy of respectful discussion with the young people around us. (And for this note, a rabbit hole in which we cannot afford to go further.) Unfortunately too many authority figures in New Mexico, even some on the political left and in positions of religious leadership, have not properly thought this through. 

See some of you on Monday,

Greg, and Trish

Permalink for this letter; prior activist letters. 
To unsubscribe send a blank email here.To subscribe send a blank email here.
Home page; Press releases; Bulletins; Plutonium Pit Production; Nuclear weapons modernization
Contact Greg or Trish; What You Can Do
Ukraine war and peace page, updated daily more or less
Please help us build the "Call for Sanity, Not Nuclear Production"