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Sisters and Brothers,
Union Members and their happy faces Hawaii State Council of Machinist Supporting Senator Akaka |
Raytheon Unfair Labor Practice
Rally against Raytheon
Kudos to Administrative Assistant Gary Allen, LL 1998 President Bob Lillis, and Airline Chairman Randy Kauhane for their participation in the Voice of Labor talk show on KUMU-AM radio station 11-07-05.
Taken during the Federal Labor Law Conference
From left to right Larry Taaca, Cong. Abercrombie and Robert Lillis
Latest NEWS NSPS
Attached is a letter from Congressman Ed Case regarding
NSPS Read Congressman Ed Case Letter
Attached is a letter from Senator Akaka regarding concerns I've posed to him about the pending National Security Personnel System (NSPS)matter with federal workers.
It has been sent by mail to the Stewards
Are you getting tired of the rumors and counter-rumors, the spin and counter-spin on the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS)? So are we. Any federal employee who cares about his or her career needs to take the time to “go right to the source.”
The workers have won a major lawsuit against the new personnel system where they would have lost many of their current rights. Click here to read more: A federal court has struck down personnel rules adopted by the Department of Homeland Security, saying they violate the rights and protections given to employees by Congress
Latest NEWS NSPS Attached is a letter from Congressman Ed Case regarding NSPS Read Congressman Ed Case Letter
Attached is a letter from Senator Akaka regarding concerns I've posed to him about the pending National Security Personnel System (NSPS)matter with federal workers. It has been sent by mail to the Stewards
Are you getting tired of the rumors and counter-rumors, the spin and counter-spin on the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS)? So are we. Any federal employee who cares about his or her career needs to take the time to “go right to the source.” Read the NSPS law
Governor expects new sub at Pearl Read full story: Navy's newest Virginia-class subs
"It's like winning the lottery. It feels very, very good," said Robert Lillis, whose machinists union represents about 500 of the nearly 4,300 workers at the shipyard. Read full story:Lobbying helps keep Pearl shipyard open
“I think it’s the right thing,” said Robert Lillis of the Machinist Union Local 1998. Read full story:Pearl shipyard spared |
Letter to Mr.Principi from our Sen. & Congressman
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On behalf of the Hawaii State Council of Machinist Brother Charley Ng presents Congressman Abercrombie with two $5,000.00 checks, one for his primary campaign and another for the general election. These checks are from Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL). MNPL is supported by voluntary contributions, no union due are used.
Governor Linda Lingle will be submitting to the
BRAC Comission hearing today in Washington DC. It is a really good
summary of PHNSY and IMF, and what our value is to Hawaii, the
Navy and to our Nation.
Link to full story: The State of Hawaii submits this memorandum in support of the recommendation of the Secretary of Defense, submitted to the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission on May 13, 2005, to maintain Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard as an active shipyard. Washington,
D.C. • A Pentagon officials said at a hearing this morning that
moving nuclear repair operations away from Pearl Harbor Shipyard
would have "detrimental" effect on Navy operations. Link to full story: Pentagon says moving Pearl operations would be 'detrimental'
Shipyard has powerful To read the Department of Defense's response to the BRAC commission,
click on the link below and go to the lower left hand side of the page.
http://www.brac.gov/docs/DoDResponseTo1Jul05CommissionLetter.
Shipyards
fear job-loss ripple effect By Gregg K. Kakesakgkakesako@starbulletin.com
More than 2,500 blue-collar workers employed by Hawaii's private shipyards worry that their jobs might be on the chopping block if the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard goes out of business "There will definitely be a ripple effect," said Robert Lillis, who represents Local 1998 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Link to full story: http://starbulletin.com/2005/07/15/news/index9.html Report: Closing Pearl Harbor shipyard would cost $1.3 billion By Associated Pres HONOLULU -- Hawaii's economy would lose $1.3 billion and nearly 10,000 jobs if the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is closed, according to a new report Link to full story: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/special/7_15special2.htm
Defense
Department Responds To Questions About Maine Bases July
15, 2005 England
said the proposal to close Portsmouth Naval Shipyard instead of
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard came down to strategic location and
consideration to sailors who'd have to leave their Hawaii homeport
for sub refuelings. Link
to full story:
http://www.wlbz2.com/newscenter/article.asp?id=24640# July
15, 2005 Big
dates ahead for shipyard Advocates for
the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard say they will continue to lobby on
the yard's behalf in the weeks leading up to the Base Realignment
and Closure Commissions final decision on the fate of nuclear
submarine repair facility in late August. York
County officials seek shipyard fallback July
15, 2005 Portland
Press Herald York
County officials who are drawing up an economic recovery plan in
case the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard closes say they hope that a
team of business leaders will add practical insight to their
efforts. Link to full story: |
Officials: Pearl Harbor Vastly Different From Portsmouth Shipyard Protsmouth Herald
July 9, 2005 HONOLULU - In a late flurry of activity, Hawaiis military, government and business leaders have joined together to work for a common goal: To convince an independent panel that the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard should not be added to a list of military bases slated for closure. A Hawaii delegation plans to appear before the Base Realignment and Closure commissions western regional meetings in Los Angeles on Thursday to make its first arguments to keep the 97-year-old installation open. The Hawaii Chamber of Commerce military affairs council last week formed a high-powered subcommittee and hired a lobbyist to put together Pearl Harbors presentation. The members include Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the states adjutant general; retired Adm. Thomas Fargo, a former head of both the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor; retired Adm. Ron Hays, also a former commander of the Pacific Command; and retired Adm. R.J. Zlatoper, a former commander of the Pacific Fleet. "Any time youre called upon the field of play, you have to be prepared for the challenge," said Jim Tollefson, the chambers president and chief executive. "Were prepared to go the whole nine yards to be successful." Tollefson said the presentation to the panel will focus on Pearl Harbors military importance. "We feel that Pearl Harbor, being located in the middle of the Pacific and being homeport of the Navy in the Pacific, it makes great tactical and strategic sense to maintain a shipyard here," he said. Hawaiis group was formed just days after the head of the commission asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in a July 1 letter to explain why the Pentagon left the Pearl Harbor shipyard off the list released in May, instead recommending the closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Maine and New Hampshire officials last week delivered a strong presentation to the commission during a hearing in Boston using charts, graphs and expert testimony. They also went on the offensive and cited examples of Portsmouth having greater efficiency compared to Pearl Harbor. Officials in Hawaii said the two shipyards cant be compared. "When you talk about efficiency, youre talking about apples and pineapples. We do different work," said Matt Hamilton, president of the Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council, the umbrella organization representing 15 labor unions. "We do a myriad of things they just dont do there. I dont know how you can compare." Lee said Pearl Harbor does everything from emergency jobs to long-term overhauls and services everything from submarines to aircraft carriers, while Portsmouth focuses on submarines. "I kind of use the term, one-trick pony," he said. The base closure commission will hold a hearing on July 19 in Washington to decide whether bases including Pearl Harbor should be added to the hit list. Seven of the nine commissioners would have to vote to add a base, and public hearings and base visits would follow. Gov. Linda Lingle said she is confident that Pearl Harbor would be kept off the list. "Its important to Hawaiis economy, obviously, but equally important to the nations defense," she said. "As long as the decision is made on the basis of the countrys security, I think well be fine." The United States has been beefing up its forces in Hawaii, a key military location for the Asia-Pacific region. More than 30 vessels are home-ported at Pearl Harbor, and the Navy is considering basing an aircraft carrier here. The shipyard, which has a historical role in rebuilding the U.S. fleet after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, is Hawaii largest industrial employer with 4,355 civilians and a payroll last year of $385 million. The shipyard has an estimated economic impact of $1 billion. "During this challenging time, we have not lost sight of our mission to deliver the products and services the Navy has tasked," Jason Holm, spokesman for the Pearl Harbor shipyard, said in a statement. "We realize there is no greater testament to our proud legacy than in how we will rise to excel at our mission in the coming days." Hamilton, the labor leader, said he has emphasized to concerned shipyard workers that they should not panic because there are no indications that Pearl Harbor will be on put on the base closure list, unlike Portsmouth, which has been there before. "We could end up saying, Oh, we never were on the list," he said. "Im not one to cross bridges before I get to them."He also downplays any talk of the showdown between Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth. |
Hawaiian lawmakers urge base-closing commission to forget Pearl HarborJuly 12, 2005 By Megan Scully, CongressDaily
As the deadline looms for the independent
Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to submit its
recommendations to the White House, a debate is emerging about
whether Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's prime location in the Pacific
is enough to protect the base from closing.
Initially spared in this base closure round, the historic Hawaii base is getting a second look from BRAC commissioners, who have asked the Pentagon to justify its decision to keep Pearl Harbor open while closing the more efficient Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. Pearl Harbor is one of four Navy-run shipyards, and it ranks lower than Portsmouth on the Pentagon's so-called military value scale, considered the key criterion the Pentagon used to determine whether to recommend shuttering an installation. During a New England regional BRAC hearing last week, the Maine and New Hampshire delegations and shipyard workers made that point, arguing that Pearl Harbor had not met cost and schedule goals for ship repair and overhaul in recent years, while Portsmouth had routinely completed work months ahead of schedule. The commission's inquiry and the Maine hearing has spurred the Hawaii delegation to take action. On Friday, the state's lawmakers -- including Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Daniel Inouye -- held a meeting in Hawaii to discuss with shipyard employees their strategy to save Pearl Harbor. Hawaii lawmakers intend to argue that the Navy's aging fleet requires all four shipyards to remain open. And they intend to continue to stress the strategic importance of Pearl Harbor's location, particularly as China emerges as a sea power and the U.S. Navy considers positioning another aircraft carrier fleet in the Pacific. "The last time we were unprepared in the Pacific was December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, a member of the Armed Services Committee. He said Hawaiians plan to go on the offensive rather than badmouthing the Portsmouth facility. Spokeswomen for Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins stressed today that they do not foresee a BRAC battle between Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth. Rather, they said they, like Hawaii lawmakers, want to keep all four shipyards open. "There is not any excess capacity," a Snowe spokeswoman said. Staffers for Maine and New Hampshire lawmakers have met informally with the Hawaii delegation staff to discuss how to keep open all shipyards. The Pentagon's recommendation to shut Portsmouth continues a trend toward trimming Navy-run ship repair facilities. A decade ago, the Pentagon shuttered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California because of excess capacity, despite higher-than-anticipated closure costs. Portsmouth was spared on the Pentagon's base-closure list, but the commission gave the Maine yard a closer look and ultimately decided to keep it open. |
Honolulu Start Bulletin editorial
|Star Bulletin article 7/01/05 | Honolulu Advertiser article 7/01/05|
Star Bulletin article 7/02/05 | Honolulu Advertiser article 7/02/05
AFLAC FlyerA letter from Neil Abercrombie
June 25,2005
Taken during the Local 5 rally for justice at Turtle Bay
SUBJECT: National Security Personnel System
Maria
Click on the link below
http://www.iamaw.org/publications/imail/imail_06_17_2005.htm
More about NSPS
To all members who attended the NSPS rally thank you for your supports. This event was very successful.
For more rally pictures click here
Read this Star Bulletin issue regarding NSPS
More News of rally in Norfolk,Virginia
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