June Labor Views

Congratulations go out to Bill Richmond and Alfred Boucher who retired in May. We wish them many years of good health in their retirement.

The time of our monthly union meeting has changed from 3:15 to 2:45pm. Hopefully, this will allow more opportunities for the back shift to attend our meetings before they start work. Meetings are always the second Thursday of the month. Participation by all members is encouraged and appreciated.

Carpenters have been relocated from Building 107 to the second floor of the machine shop. Change is always difficult, especially when you have been in one area for a long time. Hopefully, people have gotten used to our new location. Mark Makoid has bought new microwaves and a refrigerator for the carpenters. The Union would like to thank him for that.

Tool crib moved to lead area: Does surface contamination remain a problem? I have asked Industrial Hygiene to swipe various surfaces in the lead area where the tool cribs have been relocated. I saved the test swipes from the earlier testing when lead contamination was a problem last year. A comparison of the old swipes with new testing would tell us if surface contamination is still present. If the area is clean (like we were told it is), then the swipes will come back clean, and if they are showing that contamination exists, we need to examine the possibility that the tool cribs need to be moved. So far, the Company has not conducted any tests. 

Scaffold tagging: During the trial period of scaffold tagging a number of deficiencies and improper practices were documented and corrected in the 260 Building. So far, this system seems to be the right approach to get our stagings back to where we once were. They were inspected daily, problems were addressed, and they were corrected in a timely fashion. We believe that it would be a good idea for this system to be implemented throughout the shipyard. I will inform you of the results of the thirty day trial period. 

Isn’t it hard to believe that the sub base in Groton made the list for closures by the Base Realignment Closure Commission? Isn’t it the Submarine Capital of the World? You would think that that title alone would carry some weight. The Commission needs to understand the significance of the sub base to this area, and hopefully, they will reconsider their plans to close it. The names and numbers of contact people will be made available, but as of this date, I have not been informed of them. Let’s prepare to fight this closing with all of our might.


Fraternally yours,

Michael Malone
President