Navy, industry has ‘got to adjust’ to realities of shipyard worker pay: Service official
"We have got to reflect prices that can allow us to have the labor pool that we need for the long term,” said the Navy official.
"We have got to reflect prices that can allow us to have the labor pool that we need for the long term,” said the Navy official.
The leadership changes come following HII's bleak report to Wall Street, but a company spokesman said the timing "aligns with Jennifer [Boykin's] retirement plans."
“People can go do far less difficult things for just about the same money from an entry wage standpoint,” Ingalls' Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson told Breaking Defense. “I will say though that within a year-and-a-half to two years, you can double your salary as a shipbuilder.”
An Ingalls executive told reporters the company is acutely aware that affordability is top of mind for the Navy and Marine Corps when it comes to amphibious shipbuilding.
A company executive says the yard is "fully modernized" after spending more than a billion dollars over several years to improve its facilities.