Shipyard Overtime in Japan Might Not Continue
WASHINGTON — With a limited number of highly skilled shipyard workers capable of maintaining nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, it might seem a no-brainer to offer overtime pay to those who leave families behind for months to work on a ship stationed in Japan.
Congress authorized the time-and-a-half overtime in 2011, and the provision has cost taxpayers less than $200,000 a year. Many of the workers hail from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and volunteer for the duty.
But without congressional action, the Navy's ability to pay overtime to civilian workers in Japan expires at the end of September. Efforts by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, to get the extension into the National Defense Authorization Act in the Armed Service Committee have so far been unsuccessful.
In the past, the Navy has said the overtime, which would be paid to shipyard workers working more than 40 hours a week at domestic posts and at U.S. territories overseas, is critical for the maintenance of the forward-deployed USS George Washington at Yokosuka Naval Base in Kanagawa Prefecture since 2008.
The George Washington is the heart of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, which patrols the Western Pacific and Indian oceans, projecting U.S. power in an increasingly important and contentious part of the world.
"Our outstanding civilian workers at the nation's shipyards work tirelessly to maintain our naval edge on the seas," Kilmer said Tuesday. "When these workers go overseas to make needed carrier repairs, they should be paid the same as they would in the United States. It is not fair for us to ask them to leave their families for four to six months and compensate them less. This is important to our national security and our workforce, and I will continue to fight for its inclusion into the National Defense Authorization Act."
A Navy report explaining how it uses overtime in Japan and justifying its use, called for in the 2011 legislation, was delayed by September's shootings at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., and has not yet been made public.
Frederick R. Hill, a staff member for the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in an email to the Kitsap Sun this week that abuses of overtime have been a significant problem for the federal government. He said the Navy was late in sending the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data about its overtime program and OPM has, in turn, been late in reporting its analysis to Congress.
"The Oversight Committee has expressed its reluctance to extend the overtime pay program before the administration shares the results of its analysis," Hill wrote. "OPM still has some time to complete this work as the bill moves through the House and Senate process."
That likely means Kilmer will have to introduce his amendment when the Defense Authorization Act goes to the House floor, expected sometime this month.
The powerful chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., hinted through his committee spokesman, Claude Chafin, that he'd like to see the issue resolved in favor of an extension.
"Chairman McKeon has a long-standing concern about our ability to recruit and retain high-quality civilian employees in this fiscal environment," Chafin said. "Without commenting directly on an amendment we have yet to see, he does have that concern."
Rick Williams, president of the Bremerton Metal Trades Council with 10 unions representing shipyard workers, said about 500 people a year from Puget Sound go to Japan, typically on 120-day temporary duty tours.
"Generally what they want to do it for is the overtime," Williams said.
Cathy Deno, 52, a PSNS marine insulator and a ship worker since 1999 who went to Japan for three months in 2011, said another pay issue prompted her to volunteer.
"The main incentive for going to Japan is the per diem," the payment per day for expenses, she said. "They pay a good per diem and, if you're skimpy, you can save your per diem up and pay some bills off with it. Overtime is a good incentive also."
A Navy spokeswoman said the current maximum per diem for lodging, meals and incidental expenses for Yokosuka is $264.
As a practical matter, Deno predicted the overtime issue will be resolved before the September expiration date.
"They don't want to ship a lot of extra people and pay for all their living expenses because they can't do overtime. That would be crazy," she said. "That would be fiscally irresponsible."