Northrop, steelworkers union reach labor agreement

Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest warship builder, said members of the United Steelworkers union at the company's Newport News shipyard voted to accept a new 52-month labor contract.

The union represents about 8,500 workers, or 43 percent, of the more than 20,000 workers at the Newport News yard in the Virginia city of the same name, Northrop spokeswoman Jennifer Dellapenta said in an interview today. The yard is the only builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy.

The agreement replaces a contract that expired at midnight Oct. 26 and will run through March 10, 2013, Los Angeles-based Northrop said in a statement. The contract features an average annual wage increase for each employee of 3.75 percent and an increase in company pension payments to $1,350 a month by 2011 from $1,100 a month.

On medical benefits, the parties agreed to maintain current premium cost-sharing arrangements, with a 3.2 percent premium increase, beginning in July, the statement said.

Northrop, also maker of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and Global Hawk unmanned spyplane, had revenue of $32 billion last year. The company had sales of $5.79 billion from shipbuilding, which includes yards on the Gulf of Mexico as well as Newport News.

Northrop rose $1.18, or 2.6 percent, to $46.25 at 9:32 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. The stock has fallen 41 percent this year.