The first layoffs have begun at Deseret Chemical Depot, which is about 10 days away from finishing the destruction of its share of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile. The jobs of 52 employees of the contractor that runs the plant, URS Corp, were terminated Friday. URS earlier in the fall had announced that even more employees would lose their jobs, but some took other jobs or left early.
The 1,500-employee workforce at the depot, including contractor and U.S. Army employees, will lose their jobs in phases until mid-2014, when the depot 27 miles south of Tooele will be shuttered. The next URS layoffs, of 23 workers, will be in March. Salt Lake Tribune
