‘We Are Not Talking About Anything New Today’: Donald Norcross Calls To Raise Wages In Shipbuilding

11 hours ago

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) discussed raising wages to attract and retain U.S. Navy shipbuilding workers.

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Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from New Jersey Mr. Norcross. Thank you chairman

00:04and witnesses for being here today. I'm entering my second decade on this

00:09subcommittee and as Mr. Whitman just said reoccurring issues a death by a

00:16thousand cuts. We are not talking about anything new today maybe outside of the

00:23labor issue that we weren't talking about ten years ago. It's all there. In

00:27most major yards you have commercial, military. Some are combined some aren't.

00:34We have large and small ones which we see here and then you build and repair

00:38going after what Rob Whitman talked about. The idea that we have lost our

00:45industrial base comes down to one issue. We offshored it. The commercial side is

00:49gone if it wasn't for the Jones Act. Jones Act said we have to have that

00:54industrial base but it has not been enough. In the Philadelphia yard right

00:59across the river from my district we've seen where Honway has come in looking to

01:05immediately look to double what they're doing because they're doing very

01:09different than the old Acres yard and then what they're doing is looking

01:13across the river quite frankly in my district to look at the newest and

01:17heaviest roll on roll off port with plenty of room to build what they're

01:21talking about. But it still comes down to each of you said labor. The idea that

01:28we can't attract that next generation is a relatively simple thing to fix. I come

01:35from the building trades. We don't have any problem hiring electricians. You know

01:40why? Because we pay them well. You talked about what you used to pay them and what

01:45you pay them now and then you look at the leadership of those yards what they

01:49were paid years ago they went different ways. This is the simplest thing to fix.

01:55Give the workers value that we care about what they do and pay them the

02:01right amount of money. It really is that simple. You can get the people if you

02:07treat them well and you pay them well and diversify that workforce. So let me

02:11go down the line here starting with you Dr. Seidel. Labor issues. Do you agree

02:18with the wage issue as being number one? If not please tell me what the number

02:21one issue with labor is. Thank you sir. I know I absolutely believe that the

02:26labor issue is the number one and if you just think about what it means if you

02:30took the extreme case and we were paying 3 or 4x people would absolutely show up

02:34in droves to work in this environment. It's a very purpose-driven life

02:37supporting the Navy. They'd be all about it. Thank you Dr. Ladd. Mr. Norcross as my

02:44opening statement indicated I completely agree that is why I focused

02:47on it. Ms. Oakley. I completely agree and want to let you know that we have

02:51ongoing work looking at the shipbuilding trades workforce where we're hopefully

02:55going to get into more details on what can be done. Mr. O'Rourke. I see wages as

03:03one of the two chief issues and the others geographic distribution of the

03:06work. Federated shipbuilding can allow us to tap into regional labor markets across

03:11the country that are not already tapped out for their potential to generate

03:15people who would be interested in shipbuilding. So wages and geographic

03:20distribution. So Mr. Chairman all four agree. All four agree. Pay the people what

03:27they're worth and you can get them done on time. I yield back.

‘We Are Not Talking About Anything New Today’: Donald Norcross Calls To Raise Wages In Shipbuilding

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