Labor & Employment Law

Avondale Rally to Spotlight Need for Permanent Shipbuilding Solution

By Mike Hall

Workers, unions and lawmakers successfully mobilized to keep open Northrop Grumman?s Avondale, La., shipyard after the company announced plans to end its shipbuilding operations, with the U.S. Navy saying last week it will accelerate shipbuilding plans that will keep the yard open to 2014.

Tomorrow, Avondale workers will rally to celebrate the new construction plans and urge the shipyard to stay open beyond 2014. Joining them will be AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault along with New Orleans community members.

More than 5,000 workers would be directly affected had the shipyard closed. Says Holt Baker:

The shipyard industry is a vital lifeline to the Gulf Coast region. This region has been pummeled by disaster after disaster, and the working community in Louisiana cannot afford the massive economic crisis that would result if this shipyard closes.

Ault says that Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Rep. Charles Melancon ( D-La.) were instrumental in persuading the Navy to alter its ship construction plans to buy Avondale more time.

This has been a team effort between the White House, the lawmakers and the labor movement. This is also an opportunity to examine the status of shipbuilding?America?s only remaining heavy manufacturing industry?and make policy changes that will make it more viable in the future.

The Metal Trades Department, along with 10 of its affiliated unions and the AFL-CIO, last month launched a public campaign to gain community support for the shipyard. Avondale workers joined with religious leaders and the New Orleans business community to save the shipyard. Members of  Super-Bowl champion New Orleans Saints also have joined in the ongoing effort, which includes a billboard campaign running across New Orleans.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 23, 2010 (boomark / email).