Keeping workers
- Thread starter oldcodger
- Start date
It is not about ideology these days. If someone get hurt on your ground their health insurance will sue your property insurance. This is why every single field trip these days come with all sorts of forms, and you need to show vaccination on TB and all sorts of things before you can volunteer during school hours (but after 4:01PM it is fine).
Insurance companies set the rule. Don't like it? Find another insurance company without such rule and pay 20% more. My employers were forced to build traffic light and pedestrian crossing between 2 company buildings because if employees have no crossing and got hit by a car, it is company's fault. If you build the crossing and they jaywalk, it is the drivers' fault.
In a free country the insurance companies are doing many of the government's job in other countries.
I read one problem is that current gov't contracts don't allow for an increase in wages to match the prevailing market conditions.
Yep, they'll just go after insurance money and in a lot of cases the judgements will get settled out of court and the person that started the suit will get some sort of money just because it's cheaper to pay off the person than to go through legal means. If you have insurance for this type of stuff, you have to follow their rules and policies without any deviation. I look over a lot of my company's insurance policies even if it's not IT related just because so many things are tied together; so stuff like our cyber security insurance, OSHA audits and policies, driver insurance, etc. So much man-hours are used to ensure compliance that special jobs have to be made for them, like safety inspectors and CISOs. I think Blue Cross Blue Shield reported something crazy high like 80% of their IT man hours are used to ensure everything is compliant.
In addition to that, there's a good chance that teacher, principal, or superintendent will get fired or forcibly removed anyways because The Board want to minimize any negative chatter. They care more about the reputation of their district over who's right/wrong.
People will sue for anything and everything; we're a litigious society that prefers to be lawfully right instead of common sense right. We had a lady try to sue us because she was the tenant of section 8 housing where we did some lead (Pb) inspections for a contract and didn't tell her about the results; I think there was lead pipes or something. Her suit against the city failed so she literally went down the list and tried to sue all the companies involved with anything on that project.
That's prevailing wage here. I guarantee you would have no problem finding workers here. The only small issue is that you would have to learn Spanish.
It really isn't tied to the government contract at all for private shipyards. The compensation structure is locked in for 3 - 5 years for the trades workers who are represented by their unions (e.g., International Brotherhood of Steelworkers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, etc.). Strikes at shipyards are uncommon except when the contract is up for renegotiation and renewal.
Ya I found the article where I pulled this from.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-hid...orkers-1dc7abe1?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
"..Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, said the operation here loses 20% of its hourly craft workers each year to attrition — retirement, quits, dismissals—compared with 10% before the pandemic. Newport News Shipbuilding, a unit of Huntington Ingalls Industries, and General Dynamics’ Electric Boat unit based in Groton, Conn., jointly build attack submarines (used mainly against others ships) and ballistic missile submarines (part of the nuclear deterrent).
Labor shortages are now a national-security problem. They are a key reason numerous navy programs are behind schedule and over budget. The Navy had originally budgeted $15 billion for three Virginia-class attack subs in fiscal 2024 and 2025. The Biden administration has just asked Congress for an additional $3.4 billion, plus $1.6 billion for a ballistic missile submarine. The USS Arkansas, a Virginia-class sub, is expected to join the fleet in 2026, three years late.
The extra money is included in a draft bill released in Congress this week intended to keep the government from running out of money Friday night...."
"....Under contracts negotiated before the pandemic inflation, salaries here start at $17 an hour, exceed $20 within a year, and top $30 for more senior craftsmen.
That once represented a significant premium to unskilled jobs in the region. Not now. Local fast-food restaurants pay up to $16 an hour, and Target is advertising warehouse jobs at up to $24.
Kastner said, “The spread between the shipbuilding manufacturing wage and basic wage in services such as retail essentially disappeared. So it’s just much easier for someone to leave and do a less demanding job.”
Annual attrition among welders is 30%. Among the younger generation, there is “more job hopping, looking for better money, better benefits,” said Kenny Blizzard, a 37-year veteran welder and assistant shop steward for the United Steelworkers. Some welders can earn $5 or $6 more elsewhere, he said.
Higher salaries would help a lot, Kastner said. “It would bring people back into the fold.” But shipbuilders’ ability to pay more is constrained by contracts signed before the pandemic. Newport News’ third-quarter profit margin was just 1%. That is why the industry is pressing the Navy and Congress to rework contracts to allow for more pay upfront.
That, along with the demand signal, will improve submarine production, Kastner said. “I can’t predict when, but I know it’s going to get much better.”"
The article is mostly accurate, but that quote is somewhat misleading as the United Steelworkers 8888 union's current contract was renegotiated in March 2022 and runs through 2027.
Any increased funding of a current or future Naval contract will primarily impact the profit margin for the corporation and stakeholders, not hourly wages. As stated above, it will be 2027 before the union contract at NNS can be renegotiated for production workers. Private contractors for Naval Shipbuilding have historically yielded an annual operating profit margin of ~8%, so 1% is a dismal level for 3rd quarter 2024. Northrop Grumman owned NNS for a decade but spun off the subsidy in 2011 because Shipbuilding failed to meet the ~16% operating margins afforded by NG's other military business sectors (Aeronautics, Space/Defense/Mission Systems).
