Shipyard Furloughs Cut to 14 Days

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers have learned that 22 days of furloughs caused by sequestration have been reduced to 14 days.

Paul O'Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council at the shipyard, said they learned about the Department of Defense's decision to take eight days off of the previously scheduled 22 weeks of one day furloughs on Wednesday evening. But he said the reduction is not good enough.

"That's the right direction for sure," said O'Connor outside of the shipyard's Gate 1 on Thursday morning, "but that's still 14 days too many."

Based on the new decision, O'Connor anticipates the 14 days of furloughs that will be carried out over 14 weeks will begin in June and run through September, which is the end of the Navy's 2013 fiscal year. He said the 14 days of furloughs will still amount to a 20 percent pay cut for the nearly 6,000 workers at the shipyard and they will still not save the federal government any money.

O'Connor said the furloughs will still put the maintenance programs for the Navy's nuclear submarine fleet behind schedule and more overtime will have to be paid out.

O'Connor said the continuing resolution that was passed by Congress earlier this month allowed President Obama and Department of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to have more flexibility with the existing DOD budget to move some money around, which led to the reduction in the previously scheduled furloughs that were set to begin in May.

On the day that shipyard workers and other federal employees held a rally in Prescott Park on March 21 against sequestration, the Department of Defense decided to postpone implementation of the furloughs by two weeks.

to learn more about how sequestration would affect the Kittery, Maine facility. She announced that the $450 million repair work on the USS Miami would not be affected by sequestration that went into effect on March 4. U.S.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, is scheduled to visit the facility on Thursday and meet with the media at 2 p.m.

Ultimately, O'Connor said he would rather see the decisions made at the shipyard level and not at the very top level when it comes to how best to use the extra funds.