Navy Yard Stint Ends for Japanese Workers

The Navy bade farewell Monday to 52 Japanese workers who had been brought to its naval shipyard at Long Beach from a U.S. Navy facility in Japan because the service could not find any skilled American workers willing to take temporary jobs at Long Beach.

A political furor erupted after union members at the shipyard protested the use of the Japanese workers, who came from the Navy’s yard at Yokosuka, Japan. An additional 30 Japanese and 27 Filipino workers were sent to a Navy yard in Philadelphia.

In a quick reaction to congressional protests, the Navy last Saturday agreed to send all 109 workers back home after they had spent only five days on their jobs in this country.

A Navy spokeswoman said the Long Beach yard had advertised the jobs since last August and the Philadelphia yard had advertised since June, but neither could fill the temporary jobs, which were scheduled to last 30 to 60 days. The job classifications were electricians, ship fitters, boiler makers and electronics mechanics.

The Navy finally decided that it could delay the work no longer and decided to shift some of its employees from its yards in Yokosuka and Subic Bay, Philippines, to the United States.

Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-Long Beach), whose district includes the naval shipyard, termed the idea a “nonsensical initiative” and said the Navy deserved an award for the “dumb bunny of the year.”

“I can’t believe the Navy actually did such a stupid thing,” Lungren said. “At a time when American workers have seen employment levels at our nation’s shipyards decreasing, we see the Navy put 52 foreign nationals on a plane and fly them 10,000 miles to go to work in Long Beach as temporary employees.”

Navy officials, however, said they had received verbal approval for the idea from leaders of the Metal Trades Council, which represents the shipyard workers. But union leaders said Tuesday that they never agreed to the plan.

“There is a certain amount of trouble finding skilled labor at the wages the government is willing to pay,” said Frank T. Griffin, president of Local 502 of the Sheet Metal Workers Union and vice president of the Metal Trades Council at the naval shipyard. “The wages in the shipyard are $3 to $5 per hour less than private employers pay.”

The Navy spokeswoman said “The bottom line is that the jobs are still there waiting to be finished.”

Griffin said the union was working with the shipyard to find qualified workers to do the work. “The work is going to be done by American workers,” Griffin said.