The Virginian-Pilot
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NEWPORT NEWS
Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News on Friday announced the layoffs of 378 salaried employees, effective immediately.
No hourly workers are affected, said Margaret Mitchell-Jones, a Northrop Grumman spokeswoman.
"All of the salaried employees who are impacted will be paid through Nov. 26," Mitchell-Jones said. "After Nov. 26, they're eligible to receive a full range of separation benefits, including severance and transition assistance."
With nearly 20,000 employees in Newport News, the shipyard is Virginia's biggest industrial employer. It's the nation's only facility that builds Navy aircraft carriers and one of just two that build submarines.
The action comes as Northrop Grumman Corp. prepares to exit the shipbuilding business. In July, it announced it was exploring "strategic alternatives" and would close a shipyard in Avondale, La., that employs 4,800.
After soliciting bids from potential buyers for its shipbuilding unit, which also includes a Mississippi shipyard, the company last month filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for a possible spin off to shareholders.
The uncertainty at Northrop Grumman is set against the backdrop of a growing debate in Washington about the future of the nation's economy and federal spending in general, including on defense.
"I'm concerned," said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, when asked about the shipyard layoffs Friday after a maritime function in Norfolk. "After over 3,000 new workers added in the last few years, I think it is one more shot across the bow that federal business as usual, even in the defense area, is going to be re-examined.
"We're going to have to - at every level of government, DoD side and clearly on the civilian side - recognize there's probably going to be cuts and we're going to have to find greater efficiencies," Warner said.
The laid-off workers, roughly 2 percent of the shipyard's total, represent a "range of nonmanagerial and managerial positions across Newport News," Mitchell-Jones said.
Their average pay was not available.
Of the 378, more than 100 have trades experience and have been offered hourly positions, such as welders and electricians.
"This is a necessary step to improve efficiency across the organization," Matt Mulherin, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, said in a statement. "While this is a very difficult decision, it is a critical and necessary step in order to control costs, effectively manage overhead, improve efficiency and lower the acquisition costs of our products to better secure the future of our shipyard and the affordability of the ships we build and overhaul for the U.S. Navy."
The announcement Friday marked the first reduction Newport News has experienced in more than a decade.
The shipyard has more than 8,500 hourly workers, none of whose jobs appear to be in jeopardy at the present time, said Arnold D. Outlaw, president of United Steelworkers Local 8888.
Robert McCabe, (757) 446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com
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Know what You are Talking About
For those individuals to blame on the a political party or to blame this on the Governor of the State of Virginia is completely off base. The shipyard had to me a difficult choice yesterday - laying off workers. This squarely has to do with the Shipyard becoming attractive when they are spun off from Northrop Grumman; I mean you all have heard the news that Northrop Grumman was looking to get out the shipbuilding business, right? Educate yourself and do some simple research SEC.gov and do a company name search of New Ships. It is all public knowledge; do not expect things to be written for your in the liberal media. If you do your own research, you begin to understand.
Bob McDonnell: The JOB-LESS Governor
Hmmm.
Northrop lays off 378.
This is in addition to 330 Northrop layoffs at Fort Eustis.
But Governor McDonnell spent almost $14 million to lure Northrop's corporate HQ to Northern Virginia, bringing about 300 jobs.
Let's do the math: + 300 - 378 - 330 = net LOSS of 408 jobs.
And for that, we VA taxpayers gave Northrop $14 million in incentives. We paid Northrop over $34,000 for each job they killed.
At this rate, McDonnell will kill more jobs in his one term than did George Bush in his two terms.
RE Bob McDonnell: The JOB-LESS Governor
Dumb libb this is a direct result of Obama and the defense cuts to the Military.
Just like VIT
Maybe they're getting ready to merge with another shipyard and they have to get rid of some of the employees so when the merge happens they can absord the "new enployees" so the added expense to payroll will not effect the high mangement's bonus checks and everything looks hunky dory on the paper trail. I feel for the employees that got laid off. Good luck with getting your life back.
Just like VIT
Maybe they're getting ready to merge with another shipyard and they have to get rid of some of the employees so when the merge happens they can absord the "new enployees" so the added expense to payroll will not effect the high mangement's bonus checks and everything looks hunky dory on the paper trail. I feel for the employees that got laid off. Good luck with getting your life back.
Over runs
Why is there always over runs?
but it isn't
There really isn't "cost overuns". What happens is that the government wants changes to the contract. When that happens, the contractor gets more money. The people who originally authorized xyz amount for ship (or plane or base or etc.) complain that there are "overuns" blaming the contractor. If the government would know what they wanted and stuck to their ORIGINAL plan then they wouldn't have to pay for "EXTRA" work.
Not Just Extra Production Work
Everyday when we went to work, we would find some new rule or worthless regulation (typically environmental) imposed by the government that made our job more costly and time consuming. I watched a degreed engineer spend all day trying to calculate the volume of a painted, oval shaped screw head so he could determine the proper disposal method.
Not so
If you follow any government contracting, you find out it works both ways. Material costs go up unexpectedly. What looked good on paper doesn't fit in reality. This happens less often with computer aided designs, but it still happens. Then there are errors made by shipyard workers: damaged parts, holes made where they're not supposed to be, wrongly manufactured pieces . . . the list goes on. These days it takes so long to get from design to finished product that technology typically changes in the middle of the process, so changes have to be made to keep up with it. The retro-fitting of the Aegis class cruisers is an excellent example of this. Cost overruns are an issue of both the shipyard and changes in designs.