King, Pingree push back on rule that would affect Portsmouth Naval Shipyard workers
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery as seen from Memorial Bridge in April 2025. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree have joined the four members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation in a criticizing a proposal that they say could harm the 8,000 federal workers at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery.
The six lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule — “Promoting Employee Accountability” — that they say will threaten longstanding civil service protections for federal employees and weaken national security. The new rule would shorten the window for agencies to review misconduct and performance, instead imposing a 30-day improvement period with termination as the default penalty. It would also require employees to respond to proposed adverse action within 7-10 days.
In a letter Monday addressed to Office of Personnel Management acting Director Charles Ezell and Merit Systems Protection Board Chair Cathy Harris, the lawmakers wrote that the rule would make it harder to recruit and retain skilled workers to maintain the Navy’s submarine fleet.
Nh-me Members Opm-mspb Comment Letter by Maine Trust For Local News
“The shortened window, coupled with termination as the default, could result in the loss of skilled workers who could have improved their performance if given sufficient time,” the lawmakers wrote. “Furthermore, the proposed rule weakens workers’ ability to challenge disciplinary measures by barring the use of union time to represent workers in removal proceedings.”
Part of OPM and MSPB’s proposal would also crack down on the annual compensation cost for labor union representatives and bar them from using company time to defend workers accused of misconduct. The rule text notes that the 2024 total for taxpayer-subsidized compensation was $207 million, compared to $135 million in 2019, and suggests workers represent themselves or use outside counsel.
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“What price do you put on fairness for working people, some of whom may have been there for 30 years?” King said in an interview Wednesday.
King said he hasn’t seen a demonstrated need for changes to the current disciplinary process, calling the rule the “Son of DOGE” — a reference to Elon Musk’s now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency — and adding that it’s just a way to streamline firing procedures.
The new policies would be a departure from a longstanding set of factors that agencies must consider when determining discipline for misconduct, including mitigation, rehabilitation potential and years of service. Discipline would instead be determined on a case-by-case basis, which the lawmakers called “arbitrary,” and would remove protections providing a fair review process, they wrote.
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Pingree said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the rule would “weaken the very principles that have guided our civil service for generations — fairness, consistency, merit and accountability.”
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers’ Local 4, the largest union representing shipyard workers, echoed the lawmakers’ sentiments in a statement Wednesday, saying the rule would “strip away due process rights” protecting workers from inconsistent and politically motivated personnel actions. It would also erode assurance that workers can raise concerns without fear of retaliation, the union said.
The shipyard needs to hire more than 700 additional workers to meet the Navy’s demands and protect against China’s rapidly expanding nuclear weapons program, but the new policies would make federal employment less attractive and would worsen struggles to onboard employees due to hiring quotas imposed by the OPM, the six lawmakers wrote in their letter.
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“If the Administration intends to retain this political litmus test at our public shipyards, the costs of unnecessarily losing more skilled workers through this proposed rule far outweigh any potential benefit,” the lawmakers wrote.
King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine’s southern 1st District, were joined in the letter by New Hampshire U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen and U.S. Reps. Maggie Goodlander and Chris Pappas, all Democrats.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, did not join King and Pingree in signing the letter. A spokesperson from her office wrote in an email that she was invited to do so but missed the deadline.
“Sen. Collins supports this letter and shares the concerns of the delegation about how this rule affects civilian workers of the (Portsmouth Naval Shipyard),” the spokesperson wrote.
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Tagged: portsmouth naval shipyard, U.S. Navy
Isabelle Oss is a community reporter covering Kittery, Berwick, North Berwick, South Berwick, York and Ogunquit. Born and raised in Colorado, she moved to Maine in April 2026. Isabelle holds a master’s. More by Isabelle Oss
