7 walk off job
at Pearl Harbor

The work stoppage is at a Naval
warfare center at West Loch

Seven civilian maintenance employees of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Pearl Harbor's West Loch walked off the job Monday to protest what they feel are unfair changes in working conditions.

Union spokesman Maria Santiago Lillis said the employer, Massachusetts-based Raytheon IDS, is the subject of several unfair-labor-practice charges.

The National Labor Relations Board is investigating the charges dealing with the timekeeping system and changing the status of workers, said Lillis, of the Hawaii Federal and Amalgamated Local Lodge 1998 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Agnes Tauyan, Pearl Harbor spokeswoman, said the dispute is "a matter between the employee and their employer" and that "there was no immediate impact on operations."

She said only one of the eight-member labor force reported to work Monday. Five showed up for work and then left. Another worker was already on leave for the day.

Yesterday, all workers other than the one on leave did not show up, Tauyan said. The workers perform maintenance on test equipment used to repair torpedoes.

Lillis said Raytheon has the Navy contract to maintain and repair torpedoes at West Loch.

In February 2003 the workers rejected Raytheon's contract proposal because the company cut the wages for half of the work force.

The union and Raytheon have been in mediation since April 2003.

Last fall, the union also staged a one-day work stoppage.