Letter to Mr. Mike Petters President and Chief Executive Officer Huntington Ingalls Industries

Letter

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged Huntington Ingalls Industries, the new contractor of the Kenneth A. Kesselring site, to rehire all employees recently laid off in the contract acquisition from the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics. Schumer's call comes after news that 92 salaried and 73 hourly employees were told several weeks ago they would be laid off, after the contract for Kesselring, where sailors are trained to operate nuclear-powered naval ships, was transferred from Electric Boat to Huntington Ingalls Industries. In a letter to President and CEO Mike Petters, Schumer urged Huntington Ingalls Industries to rehire these employees and work for a smooth transition into the Capital Region community.

"For over two decades, Electric Boat has been a first-class employer at the Kesselring site in the Capital Region, and now that Huntington Ingalls Industries is replacing them they should hire back the highly-qualified and specially-trained 165 workers who lost their jobs when Electric boat lost the contract," said Schumer. "Electric Boat employees are highly qualified for the complex work on nuclear facilities being done at Kesselring, and during tough economic times it is critical that Huntington Ingalls Industries rehire those 165 good paying jobs now that it has acquired this contract."

Schumer noted that given the high complexity of the facilities and systems at Kesselring, it is particularly important to maintain the workforce, which represents great corporate knowledge about those systems. The Kesselring site in the Capital Region has been home to a smooth-running facility during Electric Boat's two-decade tenure at the site. Moving forward, Schumer is urging Huntington Ingalls Industries to bring the 165-employee workforce back to their operation, bringing a strong element of continuity to the operations.

Electric Boat has maintained the nuclear propulsion training facilities at the Kesselring site in West Milton for more than two decades. Kesselring is used to train U.S. Navy sailors to operate the Navy's nuclear propulsion systems. The site has two small nuclear reactors, as well as laboratories, machine shops and other facilities. Kesselring is operated by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp., under contract with the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Combined, about 2,700 people work at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory sites in Niskayuna and West Milton.

Schumer has successfully worked to keep jobs and business in the Capital Region. He successfully lobbied Bechtel to delay its decision to pull out of Schenectady. This critical delay gave the state and local officials to put together a competitive financing and incentive package, preventing jobs from leaving the Capital Region for Pennsylvania.

A copy of Senator Schumer's letter to Mike Petters of Huntington Ingalls Industries appears below:

Mr. Mike Petters
President and Chief Executive Officer
Huntington Ingalls Industries
4101 Washington Avenue
Newport News, VA 23607

Dear Mr. Petters:

As New York's senior U.S. Senator, I welcome you to the Capital Region, and congratulate you on securing the contract to maintain the Navy's Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory at Kesselring. I also urge you to rehire the 165 hard-working employees who have been maintaining this site. I encourage you to commit to preserving this essential workforce, and to seize this opportunity to maintain a strong level of investment in the region.

Given the high complexity of the facilities and systems at Kesselring, it is particularly important to maintain the workforce, which represents great corporate knowledge about those systems. We have been fortunate to have had a smooth-running facility during Electric Boat's two-decade tenure at the site. Going forward, I trust that the existing workforce will be a strong element of continuity to the operations.

I am proud of our workforce in the Capital Region, and I know they will continue to make great contributions to the region's economy and to the bottom line of companies like yours. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me, and I look forward to your great success in New York.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer
U.S. Senator

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