Shipyard Workers Will Not Be Furloughed

More than 4,700 Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers who were bracing for at least 14 days of federal furloughs because of sequestration learned Tuesday afternoon they will be spared.

Paul O'Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council, said he learned Tuesday afternoon that Department of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is scheduled to announce that all civilian shipyard workers nationwide will be exempt from the federal furlough program.

But O'Connor said they still do not know if all 6,000 PNSY workers will be exempt or the more than 4,700 men and women who actually work on the physical maintenance of the Navy's submarine fleet.

"For the men and women here, that's great news," O'Connor said. "For the community, that's great news. But there are still hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the country that will be furloughed."

The federal furloughs were triggered when sequestration went into effect on March 4 after Congress failed to reach an agreement to cut the federal budget deficit. In March, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers learned they would be furloughed for 22 days beginning in June, which amounted to one month's pay.

A week after they and other federal workers from Maine and New Hampshire staged a rally in Prescott Park, they learned the furloughs were cut to 14 days.

As pleased as O'Connor is that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers will not be furloughed, he said the larger issue of sequestration must still be resolved.

"We have had a stay for the rest of the fiscal year, but what happens next year or the next 9 1/2 years?" O'Connor said. He noted that sequestration is a 10-year program and shipyard workers could be forced to endure furloughs or layoffs during any one of those years. The current fiscal year ends on Oct. 1, he said.

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, and Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, issued the following joint statement about the news:

We’re pleased that the Department of Defense and the Navy recognize the importance of shipyard workers to our national security.  This exemption should allow the workers at our four public shipyards, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, to continue their critical work maintaining our nation’s naval readiness without interruption.  This announcement gives our shipyard employees the financial certainty they deserve and allows the shipyards to avoid furloughs that would have resulted in costly delays in ship and submarine maintenance.

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH, issued the following statement after learning the shipyard workers would be exempt from the furloughs because it would be particularly difficult to make up delays in maintenance work on nuclear vessels.

The work done by the men and women at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is vital to our national defense and local economy. I am very relieved that shipyard workers will not face furloughs due to the reckless sequester, but this announcement does not change the fact that Speaker Boehner and the House Majority need to allow a vote on legislation that would end sequestration once and for all and replace it with a balanced approach to deficit reduction that helps create jobs.