Joe Courtney Presses Experts On Incentivizing Trades Careers To 'Turbocharge' US Shipbuilding

3 hours ago

During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) spoke about how Congress can incentivize people to pursue career in trades.

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Transcript

00:00So Mr. Courtney you're recognized for five minutes. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Labs I

00:05really want to thank you for focusing on workforce in terms of you know the moment that we're in

00:11right now because there's just no question that if you Matt Sermon over at the Navy points to

00:20a fact that at the end of the Cold War 45 sorry 35 percent of the American workforce was in

00:27manufacturing you know you fast forward to 2025 it's less than 15 percent so you know when you

00:34you sort of look back at how we built 5,000 ships in World War II and were able to turn on the

00:40industrial base so quickly I mean again you actually had a workforce that was primed whether

00:44it was commercial shipbuilding or auto manufacturing to to basically you know shift into into that type

00:52of production so you know clearly with a 15 percent workforce we're a bigger country but

00:58still you know that's that's a a hill that we have to climb in terms of making metal trades

01:05more attractive again in Groton in 2023 we they hired 5,300 workers between Groton and

01:14Quonset Point that's bigger than World War II numbers if you if you go back historically

01:21you know as part of that process there was a metal trades collective bargaining agreement

01:26that was negotiated that actually gave a boost to to wages over the lifetime was about 25 30

01:34percent increase in pay and protected benefits as well they have over 80 percent retention

01:42it's you know again sort of defies all the conventional wisdom about the fact that you

01:46know people are flushing out after they're getting hired we we passed wage improvement

01:51language in the submarine supplemental in December when we again gave a boost to the to the submarine

01:58account that's there the SAWS proposal the and again for some of the new members it's the shipyard

02:06accountability and workforce supply proposal the Navy's developed would actually turbocharge that

02:13wage improvement opportunity and I know that's something the White House is looking at in terms

02:18of their executive order we've got to make the differential between working in a shipyard in

02:23the metal trades better significantly better than working in retail which is what it which existed

02:29during the Cold War so maybe you could just sort of comment on that in terms of just how you

02:32incentivize people to to go into the trades thank you thank you uh Mr. Courtney for that question

02:39and and I quite agree with pretty much everything that you have said I I am not an economist by

02:44training but I work in an organization chocked full of economists and every time I have this

02:48conversation with you know people at my place they say well why don't we just pay these workers more

02:52and I think that is the ultimately that is going to be a key part of the answer here

02:56and you're absolutely right and I've been fortunate enough to visit various shipyards and you could

03:00see the differential it was not that great you could drive by a subway that would advertise

03:04$18 an hour at plus benefits and the shipyards were paying 20 or 21 dollars an hour but shipyard

03:10work is hot it's cold it's dirty it's unpleasant so in my view the differential between retail or

03:17even other manufacturing uh sectors in in the areas that surround the shipyard has got to be

03:22much much greater than it currently is and and it's not just wages so I think wages is important

03:27especially for the entry-level workers but it's other things improving the quality of life to

03:31doing what you can to sort of make that process in the yards easier for them improving benefits

03:37of various kinds affordability of housing has become a big challenge of some of these yards

03:44one of the things that the effects of covid was that a lot of people in cities went to sort of

03:48buy a waterfront property which is where shipyards are and because they could work remotely from

03:52there so you have places like bath main which is expensive properties as expensive it is in

03:56northern Virginia a fact that when I learned up there sort of shocked me so anything that

04:01sort of goes this down the path of increasing um the the the wages for the for the for the

04:07skilled laborers that we have in these shipyards I think is something worth considering and and

04:11discussing saws is one mechanism to do it it is not the only mechanism that can be done but it is

04:16certainly I think we're on the right path because to me when I look at well where were we in the

04:21in those earlier years when we were producing ships faster and where are we now the big issue

04:26to me is is labor and Dr. Seidel really quick I mean obviously we've got to make this workforce

04:33you know actually be do better and there's good news I mean they handle virtual technology and

04:38digital technology which is now hopefully going to help improve things but again the job training

04:44we got to get that right mixture not too hot not too cold in terms of the immersion into the the

04:50metal trades welding electricians and I know the Navy is definitely pushing to get that

04:56that type of model through I apologize I guess I'm about to run out of time

04:59so I yield back but maybe we can get an answer for the record later.

Joe Courtney Presses Experts On Incentivizing Trades Careers To 'Turbocharge' US Shipbuilding

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