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May 26, 2007
PORTSMOUTH - As a submarine conversion program nears its end at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, dozens of local workers hired for the four-year project will soon be out of jobs.
The work involved converting two nuclear ballistic-missile submarines into conventional guided-missile subs able to carry out special operations missions. Conversion of the second Ohio-class Trident submarine, the Georgia, is expected to be finished around November.
But General Dynamics Electric Boat - the Groton, Conn., shipbuilder under Navy contract to do the conversions - plans in mid-June to start laying off dozens of workers hired locally to assist on the project.
So far, the company intends to permanently lay off at least 57 employees in June and July, according to legal notices filed recently with the Virginia Employment Commission. The company later plans to close an office it opened at Porte Centre here before starting work in July 2003.
Bob Hamilton, an Electric Boat spokesman, said Friday that the majority of employees on the project, around 600 workers at its peak, were brought down from the company's Groton and Quonset Point shipyards.
"As we wind down the program, we'll be trimming back as the work force requirements diminish," Hamilton said.
The company declined to disclose how many Hampton Roads residents were hired, but Hamilton said they were told their jobs would end when the work was finished.
"That was made clear right from the start," Hamilton said. "We knew it was going to happen."
Electric Boat, which is building the Navy's new Virginia-class submarines with partner Northrop Grumman Newport News, snared $1.4 billion in Navy contracts in 2002 to convert four of the Cold War-era Ohio-class submarines into vessels better equipped to combat enemies in the era of terrorism. The Navy overall is spending about $4.2 billion on the program, including a refueling overhaul that will add 20 years of life.
The work includes modifying the subs to carry as many as 154 conventional Tomahawk cruise missiles and to berth and support 66 Navy SEALS or other special operations forces.
Electric Boat worked on two of the nuclear-powered subs - the Ohio and Michigan - at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on the West Coast. The work has occurred as the submarines undergo refueling at the naval shipyards.
In Portsmouth, the company finished converting the Trident submarine Florida a year ago. During a test last week, the submarine successfully hit land targets on an Air Force range in Florida with four Tomahawk missiles fired from the Gulf of Mexico.
"Overall, everything is going very well," said Rory O'Connor, spokesman in Washington for the Navy's submarine program.
Some employees from the Connecticut shipyard spent weeks or months at a time in Hampton Roads, staying in hotels and renting apartments or houses, said John Worobey, president of a labor union representing designers and technical workers at Electric Boat. Others bought houses and now plan to return to jobs up north, he said.
For the local workers facing lay offs, state employment officials have begun meeting with them to assist in finding jobs and lining up unemployment benefits, said Harold Kretzer Jr., manager of the State Dislocated Worker Unit in Richmond.
Hamilton said the skilled workers should be able to find shipyard work elsewhere.
"Once people are trained and working on submarines, they're valuable commodities," he said.
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