Navy ponders contractors for Brunswick base work

BRUNSWICK – The U.S. Navy is studying whether to hire outside contractors to do work now done by 49 civilian workers at Brunswick Naval Air Station.

Converting the jobs will occur only if the three-year study shows the Navy will save significant tax dollars by making the change, said John W. James, spokesman for the base.

In addition to reviewing the civilian jobs at Brunswick, four military positions in the base’s Public Works Department will be reviewed, the Navy said.

Chris Wagner, president of Local R1-77 of the National Association of Government Employees, said he is confident the study will show that the Navy’s civilian workers are more efficient.

The public works union includes plumbers, carpenters, electricians, woodworkers, auto mechanics and heavy-equipment mechanics.

“Naturally there are concerns, but the union and the work force are confident that we will win the study,” Wagner said. “We’ve been studying ourselves internally for years and improving our services whenever we could.”

Dave Lackey, spokesman for Sen. Olympia Snowe, said such cost-saving reviews do not always yield major savings.

Navy officials two years ago undertook a similar spending review of 96 civilian jobs at the Naval Communications and Telecommunications Station at Cutler, in northern Maine. The station provides a communications link to the nation’s submarine force.

The Cutler case, Lackey said, showed that the anticipated savings often turn out to be inflated.

“They went through a similar process and it was painful, but when all was said and done no changes were made,” Lackey said.