Local 17 steward details fight for SMART collective bargaining rights at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

On Thursday, March 27, an executive order signed by President Trump ended collective bargaining for nearly one million federal workers, including Local 17 sheet metal workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) in Maine.

“I found out when I woke up in the morning [Friday] that the dues that were supposed to be taken out of the check were not taken out,” recalled Shaun Fisher, electrician inspector and chief steward at PNS. “The reaction is horrible. … We don’t know what’s coming or going.”

PNS employs workers in a variety of metal trades: mechanical, electrical, interior for the submarine lockers. For years, and following a decades-long fight to organize the shipyard, these skilled tradespeople workers under the protection of union representation — giving them not only the financial benefits that allow SMART members across North America to provide for their families, but also job security and peace of mind.

All that changed in March, when SMART members like Fisher had their rights stripped in an instant. That had an immediate, on-the-shop-floor impact on member representation and working conditions.

“Everybody’s scrambling, and it gives free reign for management to do whatever the hell they want,” he said. “It makes it real hard now, especially the fact that if they take away our pool time and we can’t represent our people, we’ve got to use our own leave to do that.”

Local 17 and the Portsmouth Metal Trades Council immediately contacted impacted members to let them know their unions were pursuing all avenues available to protect shipyard workers’ jobs. But the constant uncertainty around workers’ representation and the threat of mass layoffs is taking a toll, Fisher said.

“Everybody’s scared,” he added. “We’re left with no guidance [from management] whatsoever.”

The fight isn’t over. In the halls of government, an array of Republican and Democratic representatives introduced the bipartisan Protect America’s Workforce Act, which would restore federal workers’ (including PNS SMART members’) collective bargaining rights.

And regardless of what happens moving forward, Fisher declared, he and SMART will do whatever it takes to protect members under attack.

“I’ll do anything,” he vowed. “If it means standing on a line with people and representing for the shipyard, I will do that.”