Top Democrats from New Hampshire’s federal delegation joined labor leaders at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard last Friday to send an urgent warning about the impact President Donald Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce will have on their work assembling submarines for the US Navy.
Leaders say the current hiring freeze is affecting the Shipyard workforce and potential layoffs are severely affecting staff morale, where such changes could cripple the facility’s ability to maintain the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet.
Officials said nearly 700 probationary staff at the facility could be fired at any moment, and warned that further steep reductions in the skilled workforce of the shipyard the Trump administration is seeking would have dire consequences for national security and the local economy.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen said she had asked John Phelan, the wealthy businessman who is Trump’s nominee to head the US Navy despite no military background, if he agreed that the United State’s attack submarine fleet produced in Portsmouth was “the crown jewel of US naval power and where we maintain our competitive edge over China’s military,” and he said yes.
“The White House is getting ready to fire up to 75,000 civilian employees at the Department of Defense. The workforce here in Portsmouth includes at least 645 employees that are still in their probationary status. And I can’t imagine the stress and anxiety that those folks are feeling today,” Shaheen said.
Alana Schaeff, President of the Metal Trades Council representing 3,600 workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, said hundreds of New Hampshire jobs that support US military readiness were directly at risk.
“Our workforce has been terrorized by reckless threats of firings, layoffs, repercussions for actions that have nothing to do with them… it’s causing chaos, frustration and confusion,” Schaeff said.
“The bottom line is this, we’ve been increasing our staffing numbers in order to meet the call of the Navy to safely overhaul and modernize one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment to the Department of Defense in our great nation, without the skilled professionals that make up the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, submarine readiness and the nation will be greatly reduced and negatively impacted.”
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Nathan Grover, president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, local 3073, said he and other members viewed the threat to jobs at the naval yard as purely political in nature.
“The work that we do is too important to be disrupted by political whims, and yet here we are, waiting uncertain, left to wonder whether these reckless policies will strip us of the workforce we need to get the job done,” Grover said.
“I say to this administration and to anyone who thinks that they can threaten the workers of this shipyard or turn them into a disposable afterthought, think again. We are not just employees. We are the backbone of this nation’s defense.”
Senator Maggie Hassan said that the work being done at the facility was designed to save the lives of members of the US Navy, and compromising that work could threaten their lives and safety.
“Tere’s nothing like walking through a submarine that has been stripped down to get ready for its modernization, to realize how important and hard this work is watching apprentices go through the painstaking process of learning these skills so that they can be precise and confident and focused on their job.” Hassan said. “The consequences if they do their job poorly are really, really serious. So I would ask, just as has been true in past administrations, both Democratic and Republican alike, that before any administration officials decide that anybody at the shipyard is expendable, they come here and see the work and understand what it means.”
Both Republican and Democratic leaders have referred to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as the “gold standard” for submarine maintenance and modernization, with a workforce of over 6,800 employees. Lawmakers and union leaders argued that these skilled tradespeople, including pipefitters, welders, and electricians, are necessary to ensuring the Navy’s submarine fleet remains ready and capable as a core pillar of global US military dominance.
“These skilled workers are essential for the shipyard to get the job done and meet its critical mission, and their job security should not be in question. They shouldn’t have to justify their existence to Elon Musk in an email, they prove their dedication and hard work every day that they’re on the job at their shipyard.” said Congressman Chris Pappas.
“If these layoffs were extended to the shipyard, it could put up to 645 jobs on the chopping block. So let’s be clear, these skilled workers are essential for the shipyard to get the job done and meet its critical mission, and their job security should not be in question.”
Meanwhile, New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte, the top New Hampshire Trump endorser in the 2024 election, has remained silent as the administration has gutted members of the federal workforce in the state, including national park employees, and has even refused comment as Congress prepares to pass a budget with massive cuts to Medicaid, threatening healthcare for 180,000 Granite Staters.
