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Question: Regarding the government shutdown, what’s going on at the shipyard? That’s a big employer with important work to do. Answer: Most skilled tradespeople at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard who are civilian employees of the U.S. Navy are working without pay during the shutdown, having been deemed essential workers, said Arnold Pang, president of the Hawaii Federal Employees Metal Trades Council, AFL-CIO, which represents machinists, sheet metal workers, iron-workers, plumbers and others at the shipyard, which is Hawaii’s largest industrial employer and the nation’s most comprehensive fleet repair and maintenance facility from the U.S. West Coast to the Far East. Work attendance is strong considering the circumstances, he said, but “morale is getting a little bit low. We’re here to do the job, which we take pride in doing, but it’s getting to the point that it’s been over a month already and it’s getting very hard for people to cope with financially.” He doubted that many shipyard employees working without pay would qualify for emergency financial aid from the state, but they have sought no-interest loans from various financial institutions and gratefully accept groceries from the food bank. “It’s a tough situation,” he said. So far during the budget impasse, the Trump administration has found a way to pay active-duty military members, by reallocating Department of Defense funds, but that hasn’t applied to the DOD’s civilian essential workers, who have missed two full paychecks since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most shipyard workers are civilians, represented by the Metal Trades Council or other unions. The shipyard employs a civilian workforce of about 5,000 people and has about 500 active-duty Navy personnel, according to an undated post on defenseeconomy.hawaii.gov. Pang urged Congress to fund the government, fix the looming health care crisis and “do what’s better for the country, not just for their party. They aren’t governing.” Federal law requires that federal workers be paid after the shutdown ends, whether they are working without pay (essential/ excepted) or furloughed (kept home) but the Trump administration has sent notifications to federal staff suggesting that only those working during the shutdown will be paid when the shutdown ends, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The newsletter Inside Defense reported Oct. 24 that the vast majority of civilian employees of the nation’s four public shipyards — Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington state — are working without pay during the shutdown. Only about 2% to 4% of this workforce is furloughed, it reported, citing an unnamed Navy official. Q: Will they explode Aloha Stadium, like a demolition all at once? A: No. The old stadium will be dismantled in phases; no pyrotechnical implosion will occur, according to the project’s website. The dismantling will start with removal of nonstructural materials, followed by the removal of all steel superstructure and elements above grade that the steel superstructure supports. “All elements of the existing stadium scheduled for dismantling will be complete by mid-2026, clearing the way for construction to start” on a new stadium and entertainment complex, the website says. Thanksgiving column All are welcome to submit short expressions of gratitude for Kokua Line’s special Thanksgiving Day Mahalo column, an annual tradition that highlights the ways people make life better for one another and the world around us. Emailed submissions are preferred, to kokualine@staradvertiser.com. Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
