NORTH KINGSTOWN – Electric Boat expects to hire about 400 people at its Quonset facility over an almost two-year period starting later this year, a spokesman said.
Robert Hamilton said executives for Groton, Conn.-based Electric Boat, which is owned by General Dynamics, delivered the assessment during a business outlook meeting Tuesday.
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“There are no reductions planned here at Quonset Point. In fact by the end of the year we should be hiring,” Electric Boat President John Casey said.
The company constructs submarine modules for U.S. Navy submarines at its Quonset Point facility, which employs about 2,000 people, Hamilton said. Congress recently authorized the Navy to increase its production of Virginia-class submarines to two a year from the present one annually. That will lead to more demand for workers in the electrical, welding, pipefitting and related trades.
The Quonset facility builds the starting pieces of the submarines before shipping them south to Electric Boat’s Groton facility or the Northrop Grumman facility in Newport News, Va. for completion. That’s why Quonset will be the first to benefit from the ramped up production schedule, Hamilton said.
The situation is a “mixed picture” at EB’s Groton facility. There the company could lay off between 200 and 400 workers, and furlough 100 to 200 because of a decrease in maintenance and modernization work, Hamilton said. But at the same time the company plans to increase its design and engineering staffs to handle the increased submarine work. Hence, at the end of the day there will be no net loss or gain of jobs, Hamilton said. The company presently employs about 8,700 people in Groton. Between Quonset and Groton, Electric Boat employs about 10,700 workers.
“We’re going to stay above 10,000 employees overall,” Casey said. “Four years ago I thought we would be at 5,000 employees today. So it’s a great thing, that we have preserved 5,000 jobs.”
