Job Security a Major Issue : 7 Unions at Nassco Set to Begin New Contract Talks

Seniority and job security are expected to top a list of issues to be discussed next week when seven unions and National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. begin negotiating a new contract, a union official said Friday.

Wage and other economic issues aside, Peter Zschiesche, business representative for the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said that workers at the shipyard have expressed great concern over what he called Nassco’s desire to combine job classifications and subcontract additional work to non-union companies.

Zschiesche, who worked at the shipyard before he was elected business representative for IAM District Lodge 50, is chief spokesman for the several unions whose contracts with Nassco expires on Sept. 30. About 1,500 of the estimated 2,300 workers at Nassco are represented by unions.

Seniority a Major Issue

“Seniority rights are at the top of people’s concerns . . . Our sense of security comes through the seniority system . . . We have a lot of members who are worried about their jobs,” Zschiesche said.

Subcontracting has also emerged as a major issue in the past three years, prompting several grievances filed by the unions, who argue that the company is taking jobs away from their members.

“We don’t want non-union subcontractors coming into the yard, taking away our jobs,” said Zschiesche, who estimated that 10% of the shipyard jobs are now subcontracted. “Since 1984 and 1985 there has been an influx of subcontractors that are doing work that our people have done in the past.”

However, Zschiesche and other union officials acknowledge that some of the highly specialized jobs--like work on weapons and propellers systems--need to be done by outsiders.

Subcontracting Abused

“The intent of the contract language that permits subcontracting was to give the company some flexibility to finish the highly technical jobs. But the company has been abusing that privilege,” Zschiesche said.

Nassco recently required some of the company’s salaried employees to take a 10% salary cut. There is widespread speculation among the unions that the company may ask the rank and file to accept a wage cut in exchange for job security. Zschiesche declined to discuss wages but he indicated that most workers are aware that shipyards in the United States have fallen on hard times.

“Our people are not naive. There’s a lot of competition in the shipbuilding industry. Our members know that the industry has fallen on hard times and that several shipyards have closed . . . But at the same time those shipyards that have work are getting decent agreements,” he said.

Contract talks between the unions and Nassco begin on Monday and Zschiesche said he expects the negotiations to be “long and drawn out.”