Josh Johnson Elected President of Metal Trades Council at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

IAM Local 836 President Josh Johnson has been elected to succeed Alana Schaeffer as the new President of the Metal Trades Council, representing over 3,000 blue collar trades workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. On May 29, Schaeffer stepped down to take a job with the national Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.

“I want to thank the delegates for their support in this endeavor and look forward to working with everyone as we continue our efforts in ensuring our people's rights are protected and their voices heard,” said Johnson in a statement. “I also want to congratulate Alana Schaeffer as she begins her next efforts in standing up for federal employees. She has been a great leader for the council in promoting the best parts of what a union stands for.”

"I am thrilled to know our Council will be left in amazing hands with Josh Johnson as their new President," said Schaeffer on Facebook. "Josh has shown immense amounts of dedication, integrity, and skill already and I know that the workers of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will be so lucky to have him at the helm."

Johnson is an outside machinist by trade and has worked at the shipyard for 11 years. He grew up in Kittery and his mother works in the electrician shop at the shipyard. When he was growing up, he knew it was a place to build a great career. He remembers when PNSY was included on the list of facilities targeted for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRAC) back in 2005 and seeing everyone wearing yellow shirts in town to support keeping it open. He worked several jobs before working at the shipyard, including at his parents’ business, stocking shelves at Walmart and working at a 7-Eleven. Johnson made connections with shipyard workers while working at the convenience store on the third shift and was able to get his foot in the door at the yard. While he was working at the yard as a probationary employee, he was going through a difficult family situation and money was tight. He learned the power of solidarity when his shop steward loaned him some money from his own pocket.

“When I thanked him, he just said, “This is just kind of what we do. We take care of our own in the union,’” recalled Johnson. “I signed up to join the union the next day, even though I knew there were limits to what the union could do to protect me as a probationary employee.”

After that, he started going to union meetings and was appointed shop steward when the position opened up. He always enjoyed doing research and found that he liked representing his fellow workers. He was eventually elected chief steward and then President of IAM Local 836.

“I started working closely with Ms. Alana Schaeffer when she was the president of MTC and learned a lot from her,” he said.

He says there is a lot of uncertainty around the yard about what is coming next from the federal government. In April, the Trump administration terminated collective bargaining agreements with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represent 800 workers at the yard. Federal unions are also still fighting several of Trump’s anti-union executive orders in court.  In addition, Johnson said that unions are also trying to interpret the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management plan to require all federal workers to sign strict non-disclosure agreements. AFGE has blasted the plan as an attempt to silence and purge nonpartisan civil servants who speak out about wrongdoing at their agencies.

“The Metal Trades Council has a long tradition of strong union leadership when it comes to the shipyard I'm hoping that I can continue that tradition,” said Johnson. I look forward to continuing to work in a collaborative effort to the best of our ability with the shipyard to make sure that our people are taken care of.”