Striking shipyard workers about to lose insurance

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Medical insurance for about 7,000 workers affected by the strike at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems’ shipyard in Pascagoula will run out today with no new talks scheduled between the two sides.

The workers on strike no longer have a contract, and for April, interim insurance will cost them $810.

Thursday was the last day workers could return to work in the yard’s four-day work week and keep their insurance benefits at the company cost of $144 a month.

The strike entered its 23rd day Friday.

At the Ingalls shipyard, a competitor with Maine’s Bath Iron Works for destroyer contracts, union membership among the 7,000 crafts workers runs at about 80 percent. That means there are roughly 1,400 who are nonunion.

Company officials say about 425 workers have returned to their jobs.

Some workers, such as painter Denise Donald, not only stocked up on groceries for their families when contract negotiations began in January, but also medications and other health needs.

“Now, we just have to hope that none of us gets sick,” said the mother of three.

More than 6,500 workers overwhelmingly rejected two proposals from the company in March – a four-year offer and a three-year proposal. Workers at Northrop’s operations in Gulfport and in Avondale and Tallulah in Louisiana accepted the contract.

Five-year welder Hank Strahan believes the unions and company will work matters out and not leave workers wanting for anything, including health care coverage.

“They [company officials] know how serious we are, because we’re in the long haul with this picket, … but we all need to get back to business,” Strahan said. “It’s tough living with no paycheck.”

During a meeting Tuesday, union and company negotiators, with the assistance of a federal mediator, discussed “noneconomical issues” such as management and labor practices inside the shipyard and promised to talk about wages and health insurance again soon.