Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 6

A6 Wednesday, March 31, 1999 NEWS Yard Audit agency issues final yard report Union's Proposal i Yard's Proposal Contract period: 47 months Pay raises: 4599 to 8600: 4 e700to 12201:3 12301 to 3203: 4 I Effect on average worker's pay, now $13.50 an hour. Period Period Period Commission. Along with the report SupShip asked the company to elaborate on the explanation of the independent charges that the company gave the DCAA last year. In a nutshell, independent research and development or includes costs associated with research projects that the company undertakes on its own, as well as some overhead. The Navy shares the cost because it benefits either directly or indirectly from at the yard, including lessons the company learned from its Double Eagle tanker program.

At issue are $70 million to $80 million the company spent in connection with the Double Eagle Under the yard's proposal, the average worker's yearly pay would go from $28,080 now to $31 82 by the end of the contract. Under the union's proposal, the average worker's yearly pay would rise to $36,296. By Dennis CBrian Daily Press NEWPORT NEWS The Defense Contract Audit Agency has issued its final report about whether Newport News Shipbuilding Inappropriately billed the government for millions of dollars in research and development conducted for the yard's commercial tanker program. The report which has not been made public, questions the yard's billing to the government of certain expenses associated with the Double Eagle program. The US.

Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding forwarded a copy of the report to the yard earlier this year, according to the yard's filing with Securities and Exchange comes from our labor," he said. The yard's 1998 profit was $66 million. There were several reports Tuesday about acts of vandalism to shipyard tools and equipment in connection with the negotiations. Outlaw said he had heard that some equipment had been vandalized, but said the union had nothing to do with it "That's not what we're about" he said. "We build things, not destroy them." Dennis O'Brien can be reached at 247-4791 or bye-mall at dobrlenOdailypress.com A team of Newport News Shipbuilding security guards has begun preparing for a possible strike at the yard, sources told the Daily Press on Tuesday.

Composed of about 40 members, the Special Team is responsible for maintaining order In the yard if there's a walkout by the union to prevent disturbances inside the -gates and to prevent strikers from storming the yard. The team has been training in a warehouse at Warwick Boulevard and 63rd Street since Monday, when all of the yard's approximately 110 it' -A It irJ it i tut fiT 'H Vt T.W Rv) hr -f I a i.i vl L'v WO kid ri io 2 Manorhouse at Newport News Assisted Living and the Poquoson Pharmacy invite you to attend a health awareness event 36 months Yearl: Year 2: $1hr. Year 3: $1hr. Yearl: Year 2: Year 3: 1 I i i much, i "I'm Just completely depressed," said Ben Joyner Jt, a yard electrician. "We can't get any lower than this, and you know the yard's offer is going to be lower." The union made concessions in the 1995 contract to save jobs and to keep the company afloat Many, if not most of the local's 6,700 members feel it's time for the company to return the favor, or at least restore the holidays and vacation workers agreed to give up in 1995.

That's a sentiment not exactly echoed by the yard. "They won't even talk about it" Outlaw said. "They say, 'We're not interested. Or their favorite There's no compelling reason to do if "The company's been prosperous, and all that profit they made "It was like a tornado," Rachel Cairns said. "When we were going up that first hill, I started thinking, 'Oh, no, I don't want to ride And on the way down, I thought 'I'm gonna It was great" Her classmate Tara Kamees enthusiastically declared Apollo's Chariot "da bomb," and Brandon Washington said it was "a little -scary, but in a good way" And then there was Ben Sueinsson, a native of Iceland who is temporarily at James River Elementary and who had never ridden a roller coaster before Tuesday "In Iceland, we don't have Busch Gardens just a carnival that comes to town from England," Sueinsson said.

"I came here last summer with my parents, but I couldn't ride on any of the roller coasters because my mom and dad didn't want to ride with me." So what did he think of his baptism by fire on Apollo's Chariot? "It was even better than I expected," he said. "It was the best time inmylife." Mike Holtzclaw can be reached at 928-6479 or by e-mail at mholtzclawOdailypress.com CORRECTION In our March 31 Easter Sale Insert, on page 6, the sale price of 25.99 for the dress on the third child from the left Is incorrect The correct price is Sale 47.99. We regret any inconvenience to our customers. HECHES' Blood Presenile Check the latest proposal together after meeting with yard negotiators during the weekend, a source close to the negotiations said. The local's negotiating committee approved the proposal in a 5-2 vote Monday, with one member absent because of an ill family membec The deal's chief selling point to the committee was its doability Negotiators gave the yard the proposal Monday night Some negotiators met with members of the yard team Tuesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon, voting machines were set up in the union hall. The machines could be used for a number of election possibilities, from voting to approve a contract to voting to approve a strike Some of the union's rank and file were upset with the latest proposal, which they said concedes too and that there was no official word regarding the fate of the bird. "We're very sorry that it happened," she said. "It was an act of nature." Fabio left the park without talking to reporters. After his brief hospital visit he reportedly caught an earlier-than-anticipated flight home to Southern California.

Larry Giles, the park's vice president of design and engineering, replaced Fabio for the series of live satellite interviews that had been scheduled as national publicity for the roller coaster After a 15-minute delay while park officials took stock of the situation ensuring the safety of the ride and the silence of the "vestal virgins" Apollo's Chariot reopened. If the bird incident had frightened anyone, it was not apparent from the crowds lining up to ride in the same front position where Fabio was victimized. The happiest riders were the fifth-graders from James River Elementary School. For months their school bus had driven past Busch Gardens, giving the excited children a daily glimpse of the towering coaster. So their teacher, Steve Mills, suggested that his students write to Busch Gardens and describe how excited they were about the new attraction.

General manager Joe Fincher was so impressed by the letters that he invited the entire class to attend Tuesday's grand opening. The fifth-graders were the first riders after Fabio, and all in attendance breathed a sigh of relief when they completed their ride with no attacks by kamikaze crows. v' What did they think of Apollo's Chariot? program and billed the Navy for as Low selling prices and cost overruns combined to cause the yard to lose more than (320 million on the tankers, initially planned to be a nine-ship run. Instead the yard cut the program to five tankers, four of which have been delivered. The fifth is scheduled to be delivered by mid-year.

The DCAA routinely audits defense contractors. If the agency finds irregularities, it can forward its findings to other government agencies that will pursue that matter In this case, the DCAA could recommend that the Navy pursue reimbursement from the shipyard. security guards started working 12-hour shifts seven days a week. On Tuesday, Special Team members were seen outside the warehouse wearing bulletproof vests and carrying clubs. The yard would not comment on the security team, Its hours or training drills.

A source said the last time guards drilled with such gear was in 1979, the year the Steelworkers went on strike to force the yard to recognize the union. For a retrospective on the 1979 strike, sea Thursday'! Dally Press. free! BRAKE inspection; 'Complete inspection' I ol 4 wheel brake I system. 10 any I Ford brake System ppinvp ph fppj Mhf. 95 I repairs, pans, ana labor.

I Expires 41599 7frootf Exoires I JUWutsJ Continued from Al yard to restore two paid holidays, 10 percent vacation time and certain factors determining overtime pay that the union gave up in its current 50-month contract In addition, union negotiators want a better pension plan, a contract provision requiring the company to notify the union in advance when it wants to hire subcontractors, and a promise that the company won't interfere with union organizing attempts at the yard's San Diego shipyard or at Avondale Industries, a Louisiana yard the company is in the process of acquiring. The union has scheduled three meetings Thursday at the Hampton University Convocation Center at 8 a.m 12 p.m. and 450 pm. to give members the latest information about the contract negotiations. Local 8888 has no plans to hold a strike authorization vote at the meetings, said Outlaw.

Likewise, Outlaw said, there are no plans to extend the current contract "We'll negotiate until 11:59 Sunday if they will," Outlaw said. "But they don't think we're serious. This is not even dose to good faith bargaining." "If something happens between now and Sunday night to show me different I'll consider it" he said. "But right now I have no intention of extending this piece of crap we're working under. If we don't have a package, we'll have our picket signs ready toga" Members of the Steelworkers' International negotiating team put Fabio Continued from Al Daspit said Fabio was "treated and released with minor lacerations and no broken bones." She would not say whether he required stitch-es.

But because of the stranger than-fiction timing the first time a coaster customer is ever hit in the face by a bird, it turns out to be a visiting supermodel with dozens of reporters, photographers and TV news crews watching it turned into an oddball news event Fabio who began the day by dressing up as the roller coaster's namesake and satirizing his best known catch phrase by intoning "I can't believe I not Apollo!" sat in the front car for the roller coaster's first ride of the day He pulled out of the station surrounded by three dozen young women dressed as Apollo's "vestal virgin!" A classically staged photo op. But when the train returned at the end of its two-minute ride, the lower half of the supermodel's face was smeared with Witnesses said the bird some speculated it might have been a goose flew into his face near the bottom of the ride's first drop, a 210-foot plunge during which the train reaches 73 mph. Though the wound was minor, the fast ride in an open car sent blood flying everywhere. Several of his fellow passengers had their togas stained, and the train one of three used on the ride was briefly taken out of the rotation to be cleaned. Deborah DeMarco, Busch Gardens' public relations manager, would say only that Fabio was fine James Newport News LOAN CO.

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