THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090393
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 75 lines
Under pressure from shrinking Navy spending, Newport News Shipbuilding said Tuesday that it will lay off 299 workers - its first significant layoff in a year.
But the big shipyard said it will still employ at least 1,000 more workers at the end of 1996 than its top executive had projected a year ago because it has more work this year than expected.
The shipyard is even hiring some workers. It is looking for electricians and engineers, said spokeswoman Jerri Fuller Dickseski.
Newport News Shipbuilding has been slashing jobs as defense spending shrinks and the Navy orders fewer ships.
Five years ago the shipyard employed nearly 30,000 workers and was the state's largest private employer. Now the Food Lion grocery chain is.
Last year, the yard's president and chief executive, William P. Fricks, projected that the yard would employ 16,000 to 16,500 by the end of this year.
Newport News Shipbuilding now projects it will have about 17,500 workers by year's end, Dickseski said.
By that time the shipyard will also have become an independent company. Its parent company ofnearly 30 years, Tenneco Inc., announced in March that it was spinning off the yard to shareholders.
Officials of United Steelworkers of America Local 8888, which represents the yard's blue-collar employees, could not be reached Tuesday for comment on the layoffs and the yard's revised employment estimate.
Construction of the aircraft carriers Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan will help sustain the jobs of the majority of the yard's current workers for several years. But some job losses could occur next year if the yard fails to win new ship construction orders, Dickseski said.
``Employment in 1997 could continue downward toward the projected level of 16,500 or remain stable,'' she said.
The shipyard has bid on two major jobs:
A Navy order projected to be worth $5 billion for 12 amphibious assault ships. Newport News Shipbuilding is one of two shipyard teams vying for the project. The decision could come as early as November.
Construction of four to eight fast frigates for the United Arab Emirates. Newport News Shipbuilding is competing against several yards worldwide for that much-delayed project, which could be awarded early next year.
Dickseski said the 299 workers to be laid off will leave the shipyard Dec. 6. They include fitters, welders and sheet-metal workers.
``There's been a decline of work in those areas,'' she said.
The layoff reduces the yard's work force to about 17,800. The shipyard expects another 300 workers will retire, quit or find jobs outside the company before Dec. 31, Dickseski said. Those workers won't be replaced.
``We don't anticipate any further layoffs this year,'' she said.
Newport News Shipbuilding is laying off far fewer workers this year than had been expected a year ago because of added repair and overhaul work, and preparations to build the next generation of Navy submarines.
The added repair and overhaul work can be attributed in part to ``significant add-ons'' to the $404 million, 18-month overhaul of the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dickseski said.
The yard also has begun gearing up its engineering department to build the Navy's new attack submarine, she said.
Several years ago, Newport News Shipbuilding was frozen out of new submarine building by the Navy. Under a congressional deal codified in the new defense budget, the shipyard will start constructing the second submarine in that series in 1999.
Construction of four double-hulled petroleum product tankers for a Greek shipping company and the ongoing conversion of a cargo ship for the Military Sealift Command also added to this year's workload, Dickseski said. ILLUSTRATION: NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING EMPLOYMENT AT YEAR-END
GRAPHIC
Employment for 1996 was previously projected to be only 16,000 to
16,500 workers.
SOURCE: Newport news Shipbuilding
The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: LAYOFFS NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING by CNB