Department Of Labor News

In December of 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard announced the award of two contracts to build up to six Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) icebreakers. The announcement declaring the vessels would be built between the United States and Finland in a major step forward for America’s national security in the Arctic region. The decision process encompassed more than the security of the Arctic passage. It announces a major shift in the U.S. Shipbuilding process. A second round of contracts were approved February 11…

The U.S. Department of Labor published a notice providing enhanced and transparent guidance for calculating the amount of securitization required by insurers writing policies under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. This new guidance is designed to represent a transparent and structured approach that will lower the cost of doing business for industries vital to America’s economic and military dominance while continuing to put injured workers first. It will also improve industry confidence regarding potential liabilities and how to improve their outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced the award of nearly $14 million in funding to support the development of programs aimed at reinvigorating and rebuilding the U.S. maritime industry and workforce.Administered by the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the department awarded $8 million to Delaware County Community College and $5.8 million to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to advance the next generation of American shipbuilders through hands-on training programs developed in conjunction with international partners.

HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding division celebrated its newest class of apprentice graduates during a ceremony at the shipyard March 22, 2025. The event recognized the hard work and dedication of the graduates who have completed the three-to four-year program combining classroom instruction with hands-on shipbuilding experience.The Ingalls Shipbuilding apprentice program is a competitive workforce development initiative designed to prepare future shipbuilders through specialized training in one of 15 registered Department of Labor apprentice programs.

HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Corps program, partnered to host a two-day recruiting event to offer students a direct career path to a job in the shipbuilding industry. The event attracted over 120 students from across 20 states who interviewed for positions in key trades, including welding, electrical, and machining. By the event’s conclusion, 68 students received job offers to begin their careers at HII.The recruiting event began on Fri., Dec.

The U.S. Department of Labor recovered more than $1.4 million for 36 Mexican engineers employed in San Diego by a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., one of the world’s largest defense contractors, that paid them in Mexican pesos below the federal minimum wage rate in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.The department’s Wage and Hour Division found National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. one of three shipyards in the Marine Systems group of General Dynamics that designs and builds auxiliary and support ships for the U.S.

HII, America’s largest military shipbuilder and provider of all-domain defense solutions, is celebrating National Apprenticeship Week from Nov. 17-23, honoring the essential role of apprenticeships in workforce development and skills training.National Apprenticeship Week is a nationwide celebration established by the U.S. Department of Labor to showcase and promote high-quality and in-demand career pathway opportunities through registered apprenticeship programs. With apprenticeship programs offered at each of HII’s three divisions…

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, Maersk Line Limited will change its safety reporting policies and compensate a seaman the company terminated after they reported safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard without first notifying their employer.The actions follow a three-day hearing in June 2024 where Maersk challenged the findings of a whistleblower investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which found the company…

Luke M. Reid has joined Blank Rome as a partner in the firm’s Maritime group and as a member of the Transportation industry team in the Boston office. A former U.S. Coast Guard officer, Reid advises clients in connection with all aspects of international and domestic maritime regulatory compliance, as well as representing maritime clients in connection with government investigations, criminal and civil litigation, defense of maritime regulatory enforcement actions, environmental enforcement defense, and international law.

“Each Career Connect Washington program is codeveloped with businesses and educators, so each program we build or expand meets the needs of industry and students.” -Andrew Clemons, Grant Administrator, State of Washington.In March, the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced a new workforce development webpage – for electric vehicle job opportunities.A centralized focus, especially from the top, is a big help for an industrial sector looking for tens of thousands of smart and talented people.

Of the many challenges confronting the United States’ maritime industry today, some of the more crucial and complicated are related to the development of a well-trained workforce.As is the case in any sector, those responsible for staffing jobs within the maritime industry must promote awareness, secure potential recruits, train recruits to be effective employees, retain high-quality workers, and provide sufficient levels of professional development, all while competing with other industries of similar nature.

Uncle Sam wants you — to choose a career in welding. The chronic shortage of qualified welders has been well documented. The American Welding Society (AWS) even created a website — www.weldingworkforcedata.com — so that industry and the media could share accurate data. Currently, the U.S. needs 330,000 new welding professionals by 2028.While some may shrug at the shortage of welders in the offshore, marine and civil fabrication industries, the need for welders to shore up the U.S.

In 2021, nearly 500 million tons of goods valued at more than $158 billion moved on the U.S. inland waterways system, which includes a vast network of 12,000 miles of connecting waterways and 219 locks. The U.S. Department of Transportation Freight Analysis Framework freight forecasts suggest total water tonnage will increase at an annual growth of 0.7% per year through 2040.Earlier this year, the National Waterways Foundation (NWF) released updated data illustrating the economic impacts of the inland waterway systems within several key states.Data from 2021…

A 77-year-old fish factory vessel with a checkered history is reportedly leaking ammonia in Tacoma, Wash.The U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it is responding to the incident on board the U.S.-registered Pacific Producer, a 169-foot-long seafood processing vessel with a long string of health, safety and labor violations.Coast Guard and Washington Department of Ecology crews in HAZMAT suits are currently working to locate leak. The vessel poses no immediate threat to the public…

Maersk Line Limited has been ordered to pay more than $700,000 and reinstate a seafarer it fired for reporting safety concerns about a company vessel to the U.S. Coast Guard.A federal whistleblower investigation determined that the company—a U.S. subsidiary of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller - Maersk—illegally suspended and terminated a seafarer who reported safety concerns about the U.S.-flagged containership Safmarine Mafadi to the Coast Guard in December 2020.Among the safety concerns, the seaman reported a gear used to release lifeboats did not work properly; rusted, corroded and broken deck sockets; and two leaks in the starboard tunnel and the bilge system caused flooding in cargo holds.

$2 million for Suffolk County Community College to stimulate workforce training and redevelopment. At a recent meeting of the Corporate Committee of the Long Island Council of the Navy League of the United States, US Navy Command Master Chief Joshua Sturgill who is Command Senior Enlisted Leader for Team Submarines, announced a $2 million grant for Advanced Manufacturing Scholarships supported by the Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base. The $2 million grant was awarded to Suffolk…

The U.S. Coast Guard cited the pilot’s failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating, as well as inadequate bridge resource management as factors that led to the grounding of the 1,095-foot containership Ever Forward in the Craighill Channel earlier this year.The Hong Kong flagged box ship grounded in the Chesapeake Bay on March 13 while transiting with 4,964 containers aboard, en route from the Port of Baltimore to Norfolk, Va. The incident set in motion…

PACCAR Winch has been recognized locally and nationally for their ongoing commitment to providing an outstanding work environment for veterans. From community outreach to employee programs, the company is dedicated to recruiting, developing, and celebrating veterans.On November 10, PACCAR Winch was recognized as a recipient of the 2021 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award for the third year in a row from the U.S. Department of Labor. The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing…

Naval shipyards and industry partners see business growing, but finding enough trained and qualified workers is a challenge.General Dynamics Electric Boat will invest $1.7 billion to modernize and upgrade its Quonset, R.I. and Groton, Conn., facilities over the next ten years,” said Sean Davies , vice president for EB’s Quonset Point Operations. “Here at Quonset, we are investing $700 million that will increase our outfitting space by 13 acres, to support work on the Virginia and Columbia class of submarines.

On August 11, 2022, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging seven defendants with running a criminal enterprise dedicated to extorting and misleading shipping companies into paying fees for the loading and unloading of cargo at the Port of San Juan—Piers 9, 10, and 11—under the threat of strikes and blockades on the part of union members of the ILA-1740 of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) and under false representations…

Halter Marine unveiled its new PythonX plasma cutter as the Pascagoula, Miss. shipbuilder adds new equipment to gear up for construction of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Polar Security Cutter (PSC).The newly acquired Lincoln Electric PythonX will allow for steel parts to be cut via computerized numeric control (CNC) driven by the yard's 3D production design models, taking the place of the traditional hand-cut method. Previously, cuts were made manually by shipbuilders with acetylene torches.Bringing in high-tech tools such as the new plasma cutter…

Marcus Jadotte has joined Crowley as senior vice president of government relations, leading the company’s advocacy activities across all its businesses.Jadotte will spearhead the company’s continuing advocacy for laws and regulations that support the domestic maritime industry, while expanding awareness of Crowley’s growing defense and civilian government services among federal, state and local officials. He will be based in Washington, D.C.Jadotte comes to Crowley after his tenure as vice president of federal government relations at Raytheon Technologies.

Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. and three former and current management officials from the Long Island-based petroleum barge company have paid $375,000 in restitution to the brother of one of two seamen killed in a 2017 barge explosion off Port Aransas, Texas.The seaman alleged the company fired him for cooperating with investigators and reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard following the deadly blast on board Buster Bouchard/B. No. 255. The National Transportation…