Labor & Employment Law

Workers Vow to Fight to Save Avondale as Layoffs Begin

By James Parks

Just days after some 175,000 people came together to march for jobs, justice and education, a real life struggle for jobs is being waged at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. Today, the first layoffs at the shipyard began. Eventually, Northrop Grumman plans to lay off all 5,000 of the workers and get out of the shipbuilding business altogether.

We will not let this happen, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. 

Avondale is the hidden pillar for the entire Gulf Coast. It directly pumps over $2 billion a year into the economy. On top of 5,000 shipbuilders, 7,000 more will lose their jobs when Avondale closes. The economic impact will be many times that of the BP oil spill.

This region cannot afford another economic disaster. Yet that is exactly what the Gulf Coast is facing.

In mid-September, the U.S. Navy, the shipyard?s biggest customer, committed to complete the construction at Avondale of two warships currently being built at the yard, which will allow workers to stay on the job until the end of 2013.

Describing the developments as a ?tremendous boost? for union efforts to keep the  shipyard operating, AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault said a permanent solution to maintaining shipbuilding in the Gulf Coast will hinge on finding a qualified buyer for Northrop Grumman?s three  shipyards?Avondale, Ingalls in Pascagoula and Newport News in Virginia. Northrop Grumman appears intent on shedding its shipbuilding division, regardless of the future work prospects, he said.

Speaking at a Sept. 24 rally to save Avondale, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said the fight to save the shipyard will not be easy (see video above).

Northrop Grumman is telling us they don?t care about the Navy. They don?t care about the community. They don?t care about Avondale. They don?t care about you.

Our unions must stand with the community. We must stand together and we must fight.

In his statement, Trumka said this struggle ultimately is not just about Avondale, it?s also about who we are as a nation.

Northrop Grumman?s policy of profit over people is the latest example of how corporations have run roughshod over our jobs and our communities.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 04, 2010 (boomark / email).