[ MILITARY ]
Union wary of
Navy’s shipyard plansSome fear forming a
joint work force could
lead to conflict
Nearly 4,800 workers at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard will be pulled off their jobs this morning to be briefed by their three-star boss on a modernization plan union officials criticize as fostering conflicts of interest.
Vice Adm. Phil Balisle, head of the Naval Sea Systems Command, was to address the shipyard's 4,200 civilian workers and 600 uniformed personnel at "a stand down" to discuss a plan he approved Sept. 9, which the Navy maintains is supposed to combine the work force at the country's six nuclear yards into one force.
But Ben Toyama, spokesman for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said shipyard unions have gotten few details on the Navy's new "Shipyard Transformation Plan."
Unions believe Balisle's plan fosters a Navy culture that "gives too much latitude to the most senior commanders of the Navy and will lead to unchecked conflicts of interest," Toyama said.
Toyama said the Navy's high command is responsible for determining the specifics of private contracts, and "after they put them out to bid, they end up working for these private companies."
In addition, "these admirals can pick their successors, perpetuating this system."
As an illustration, Toyama said, a Pearl Harbor one-star admiral was in charge of maintenance operations for the Pacific Fleet until last summer. After he retired from the Navy, Toyama said, the admiral went to work as a senior vice president for a shipyard repair company that does electrical work for Pearl Harbor.
"There will be no real oversight since no one wants to challenge the specificity of these contracts or who will be running them," Toyama said. "There will be no checks and balances. It will just foster the old-boy network."
In the past, Toyama and the Metal Trades Council, which represents unionized Pearl Harbor Shipyard workers, have complained of the Navy's practice of swapping civilian workers between its four shipyards.
Sean Hughes, Navy spokesman, said more details will be available after Balisle's talk, but "there has been no discussion of any jobs removed or moved to the mainland."
He said that the Navy expects the workload to climb over the next five years because of a planned increase in maintenance jobs on nuclear submarines.
Hughes said the plan is based on what the Navy has learned from the Iraqi and Afghan wars, requiring flexibility on when and how long warships are sent to sea. In the past, shipyard maintenance was done while warships were in port following a regularly scheduled six-month deployment.
However, the Navy is abandoning that practice and now wants to send its six carrier groups worldwide with little warning, giving those tasked with maintaining them little advance notice.
The Navy wants an easier way to move pipefitters, steamfitters and nuclear mechanics between the country's six nuclear shipyards.
Besides Pearl Harbor, the other military shipyards affected are Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. Included in the plan are the private shipyards run by Northrop Grumman in Newport News, Va., and General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut.
About 23,000 Navy civilian workers, 27,000 workers at private nuclear-capable yards and 75,000 workers at non-nuclear private shipyards perform shipbuilding and repair.
