Bremerton shipyard feeling weight of Trump’s rollback of DEI programs
Feb 14, 2025, 9:31 AM | Updated: 10:46 am
The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. (Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month, dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, 听(础笔).
The order has shaken up workplaces across the county, including the U.S. Navy’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
, citing an , the shipyard harbored at least 11 employee resource groups with about 400 to 500 employees being members of at least one groups.
“Also known as affinity groups, employee resource groups are voluntary, worker-led groups that provide a space for colleagues, often from marginalized backgrounds, to connect and support each other,” Seattle Times staff reported Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks wrote.
the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) were halted after Trump signed the executive order.
Bremerton shipyard had a variety of employee resource groups
The groups, as reported by The Seattle Times, fostered communities for Asian American, Hispanic, Black, LGBTQ+, women and veteran workers, among others.
Meanwhile, Trump called the DEI programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring, according to The AP.
“The executive order is certainly demeaning and a little derogatory,” Mark Leighton, president of the Bremerton Metal Trades Council, representing around 9,000 workers, told The Seattle Times Thursday. “We don鈥檛 have any token people here. You can either turn a wrench or weld a joint, do the work required, or you don鈥檛 work here.”
When asked if the ERGs were even counted as DEI programs, Leighton told The Kitsap Sun “Everyone thought it was best to kind of shut it down so no one was tempted to do something unsavory. That’s kind of just for the safety of all that are involved, so that no one would end up under scrutiny for any particular reason, especially our protected minorities, who are already prone to abuse anyway, hence why the ERGs exist in the first place.”
Leighton also told The Kitsap Sun no one in the shipyard was fired or demoted due to the president’s order.
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories聽here. Follow Julia on X聽聽and email her聽here.
