NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The union representing 10,000 workers at the Newport News shipyard is backtracking on their call for their employer to hire an on-site coroner.
USW Local Union 8888 spokesperson Dwight Kirk said in an e-mail Wednesday that the group is no longer claiming that unreported deaths affected victims' families' eligibility for death benefits.
The retraction comes after the union held a rally last Friday commemorating Workers Memorial Day and called upon HII Newport News Shipbuilding to hire an on-site coroner.
According to a statement sent to 13News Now on Friday before the ceremony, union leaders claimed that "occupational-related deaths are increasing in the shipyard, but they go unreported." In the Friday statement, union leaders claimed families of those who died on the job aren't getting the full value of the employee's life insurance because their deaths weren't declared on-site by a coroner.
But on Wednesday, the union backtracked on its claims with a statement from union president Charles Spivey, who said the group never intended to imply that HII Newport News Shipbuilding doesn't report workplace injuries and fatalities to state or federal regulators.
"Management handles its legal responsibilities, and we never intended to suggest otherwise," Spivey wrote.
13News Now asked if Spivey's statement meant that the union was retracting support for an on-site coroner, which Kirk confirmed.
Spivey also clarified how the employees' death benefits work, saying one benefit is guaranteed, and the other depends on whether the person's death was caused by a covered accident.
"It is not a question of whether the worker was declared to be dead on the worksite or elsewhere," Spivey wrote in the Wednesday statement. "Disputes about benefit eligibility occur, and Local 8888 always stands ready to assist where a deceased worker’s family believes that a benefit has been erroneously denied."
The president concluded his Wednesday statement by saying the union regrets "the distraction caused by two statements made in our prior press release."
"Newport News shipbuilders are the best shipbuilders in the world, and they deserve the safest workplace," Spivey wrote. "Local 8888’s number-one task, every day of the year, is to hold management to that promise and to advocate for its members when it sees room for improvement."
