Senators Introduce Bill to Clear Barriers to Naval Shipyard Hiring

Four senators from New England have introduced a bill that would compel the administration to speed up hiring for production roles at the Navy's four public shipyards, which provide maintenance for the service's nuclear-powered subs and carriers. 

The Trump administration rolled out a comprehensive hiring freeze on its first day in office. Ever since, the public yards have had a hard time onboarding new welders and fitters - personnel whose skills are tough to find and critically needed. 

Blue-collar shipyard positions were supposed to be exempt from the freeze, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth - but that memo does not seem to have gotten through, the senators said in a letter accompanying the bill. One part of the bottleneck may be located at the administration's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a non-defense HR agency for the federal government, which has reportedly held up new shipyard hires - even though these hirings are approved by the Secretary of the Navy and by Pentagon policy.  

According to the senators, the Navy has a hiring cap of 1,550 civilians per month for all of its operations worldwide, enough to cover 8 percent annualized workforce turnover. This is too little to fill vacant shipyard roles, the senators say: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard alone needs about 50 new people a month to meet maintenance demands. 

“Our shipyard workforce represents an essential component of our national defense and preparedness – they should have never been subjected to this administration’s ill-considered hiring freezes,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). “The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workforce is supposed to be exempt from the hiring freeze, but there continues to be issues with implementation."

The senator's new bill would require the Pentagon to exempt public shipyards from workforce reductions, and it removes hiring limits on shipyard positions. It would make it unlawful to shrink the shipyard payroll for fiscal purposes, banning "workforce reductions related to spending cuts, reprogramming of funds, or the probationary status of employees." The bill's success would require passage by Congress, a signature from the president, and the Pentagon's cooperation. The Navy, which desperately needs better performance out of its submarine maintenance yards, appears to agree with the bill's intent: Vice CNO Adm. Jim Kilby told a Senate committee in March that public shipyard employees were exempt from the hiring freeze. 

"Our bipartisan bill enshrines that [hiring] exemption in federal law and ensures that no public shipyard is subjected to such chaos and uncertainty in the future, allowing them to focus instead on the vital role they play in our national security," said Sen. Shaheen.