Recognizing Electric Boat Shipyard

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a recent event in my district, which I think is good for the local economy but also good for our Nation.

I have the privilege of representing Electric Boat shipyard, which for 120 years has been the primary general contractor for submarine construction for the U.S. Navy.

On October 6, the Metal Trades Council, which is the confederation of metal trades workers that have individual unions--the boilermakers, electricians, plumbers, and pipefitters, all the folks that bend steel and do the amazing work every day in terms of protecting our Nation-- reached a 5-year labor contract with General Dynamics, which I think is a real testament in terms of showing the value that our country and Congress actually place on their work, because ultimately they have one customer, and that is the U.S. Navy, which is funded by the United States Congress under Article I, Section 8, Clause 13 of the Constitution which states very clearly that Congress shall provide and maintain a Navy.

This contract, which was ratified by a 2-1 margin, starting next year basically takes the starting wage for a semiskilled worker, someone who has done preapprenticeship training but is kind of entry level, from roughly $21 an hour, and over the course of the 5-year term, that is going to grow to $43 an hour. There is a package of health benefits and retirement that are included in this.

It couldn't happen at a better time right now, because the demand signal, in terms of submarine construction, has grown by leaps and bounds, given the challenges that are happening all across the world, particularly in the Indo-Pacific with China's increase in its navy.

I have a picture next to me which shows the next submarine that is in the queue. That is the USS Iowa SSN 797, which went through a christening recently and is going to be commissioned and deployed in the near future. There are about 13 more Virginia-class submarines that are in the production queue, again, to meet this demand signal.

That has actually been even more amplified with the AUKUS agreement, the new security agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom, which is going to allow us to help Australia recapitalize its own submarine fleet, which is diesel-electric today, into nuclear-powered submarines.

Australian shipyard workers and policymakers are going to be coming to my district in terms of what I think is going to be one of the smartest strategic moves our country has made in recent years, bringing in a great ally that has been with us in every conflict going back to World War I, is part of Five Eyes, and can definitely be trusted in terms of critical information like nuclear propulsion technology. This is something which we have not shared with another country since 1958 when we did it with the British Navy.

I congratulate Peter Baker, who is the head of the Metal Trades Council, who led the way in terms of negotiating this agreement, as well as Shawn Coyne from the H.R. department at Electric Boat. This is going to create an attractive signal to young people, who are being hiring by leaps and bounds. Just this year alone they have hired 4,400. In terms of coming into the yard, they are not entering just a job but actually a career with a very strong, secure economic future for themselves and their families.

That is good news not only for them and for the region, but also for our Nation because of the incredibly important work that they do every day for which we are so grateful.

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