This story was originally published by Seacoastonline. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
The leadership of the largest civilian employee union at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has advised members not to accept the Trump administration’s federal employee buyout offers.
The Metal Trades Council represents approximately 3,000 shipyard employees, according to union president Alanna Schaeffer, including electricians, pipefitters, machinists, iron workers, insulators and welders.
“We’ve advised our employees not to participate just because it seems like there’s a lot of really elusive language and a lot of conflicting information in a bunch of emails and letters that have come out,” Schaeffer said in an interview this week.
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established over 200 years ago and is viewed from Peirce Island in Portsmouth Sept. 19, 2024. Members of Maine and New Hampshire’s congressional delegations are now asking the Navy to exempt Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and national defense workers from the buyout program. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, on Tuesday wrote to the acting secretary of the Navy Terence Emmert, noting that the Kittery, Maine installation needs to hire 550 workers annually “for the foreseeable future” to meet the Navy’s demands.
Continue reading the full story from Seacoastonline.
These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
