Shipyard Workers Protest SequestrationMarch 25, 2013 Workers across the nation rallied March 20 and 21 to protest likely furloughs brought on by the more than $1 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts known as the sequestration.
In Hawaii, shipyard workers from the Pearl Harbor Naval Station protested in downtown Honolulu, denouncing potential furloughs that could cost employees up to 20 percent of their paychecks. Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council President Don Bongo told KITV-TV:
The disruptive effects furloughs will have on ship production could end up costing taxpayers more than they’ll save, says the Honolulu Local 1186 member. In New Hampshire, IBEW members from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard joined with air traffic controllers and members of the local community to demand an end to sequestration. Paul O'Connor, who heads the Seacoast Metal Trades Council, told the crowd:
Congressional Republicans and President Obama agreed to the sequester in the summer of 2011. Under that agreement, failure to slash the deficit by $4 trillion by 2013 would result in automatic across-the-board cuts. Obama and congressional Democrats offered numerous plans to avoid the cuts, but were blocked by the GOP, which rejected any budget plan that did not involve cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The cuts went into effect March 1. The IBEW and other unions representing federal workers are currently negotiating over instituting furloughs. In Norfolk, Va., home to Naval Station Norfolk – which has served as the economic bedrock of the Tidwater region for decades – plumbers, sheet metal workers, electricians and other shipyard workers picketed outside the yard March 20. Virginia AFL-CIO President Doris Crouse-Mays told WAVY-TV:
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