|
The legacy of the workers who call Pearl Harbor's Shipyard home. The yard, as they call it employs about 4,200 in 20 different trades. Technology may help with repairs, but it's the people who have made it a top-notch institution.
For decades, the workforce has included Mike Zembiks. Four of them represent four generations of shipyard workers.
"For me, it meant a lot because it helped me to survive in life and take care of my family," said Mike Zembik, Jr.
Mike Jr. began working at Pearl Harbor when he got out of the air force in the 1950s. "The Yard" gave him a steady paycheck, honest work, and a chance to see his father on a daily basis.
"He was very proud," Mike Jr. said. "When I made supervisor and I used to pass by him, and I used to tell him, 'Put your hat on,' he used to shake his head. Then we'd get home and he'd say 'Don't let that hat get to your head now.'"
Decades later, the tradition was passed along. Mike Zembik III worked as a shipfitter, diligently climbing his way up the ladder, becoming a general foreman then a zone manager. He was beaming with pride in 2006 when his son entered the fold.
"Yeah, big time pressure," said son Mike Zembik IV. "Everybody knows your name. Everybody knows your face. You get questions like, 'Why you in the same shop as your dad? How your grandpa doing? Tell him I said hi.'"
That's right, Mike IV works hand-in-hand with his dad in shop 11, and is one of many young men and women who represent the future. But what exactly does lie ahead?
In 2005, the Pentagon's Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) almost voted to close the shipyard as a cost-cutting measure.
"The size of it will be a reflection of our performance," says Shipyard Commander Capt. Greg Thomas. "Right now, performance is improving. We're doing the necessary things to make sure we're relevant so that ships don't have to go east to get maintenance."
In the next two years, 3 of the newest submarines, Virginia-class subs, will be home ported at Pearl Harbor. That means its workers will need to be retrained, and its facilities that were made from tin and steel decades ago, will have to be upgraded.
"We're going to modernize the shipyard," says U.S. Congressman Neil Abercrombie, "upgrade the shipyard. we want to modernize and bring up to speed.
"There'll be plenty of support from Capitol Hill. Our congressional delegation will see to it."
They've already had to fight to keep the shipyard's apprentice program. It began in 1924, and brought in tens of thousands of workers. But downsizing after the Cold War, stopped all new jobs in 1994.
Sen. Daniel Inouye battled to get it back and it restarted in 1998. Since then thousands of applicants have vied for just 100 openings every year. They understand the responsibilities that comes with life at Pearl Harbor.
"The older mechanics, they keep drilling us," says Mike IV. "You know the shipyard going stay open 'cause of you guys. You gotta learn everything, you gotta work hard. You cannot slack off."
As they strive to master their trades, this generation of workers will learn from the last. Mike III keeps his grandfather and father's hard hats and uses them for inspiration.
"I can say 'How am I going to figure this out?' Mike III said, "and I'm thinking, thinking, thinking, and hours go by. I gotta go on the boat. I put my hat on and I'll be like, 'hey, this makes sense.' Then the answer come. I start resolving the problem and stuff. I don't know if it's coincidence or what, but hey, it works for me."
"Some kind of omen around you," his father added laughing.
Eventually the hats will be passed down to Mike IV, just as the responsibility of keeping "the yard" up and running will be passed on him and his peers.
They'll have big shoes to fill, and many challenges ahead, as Pearl Harbor hopes to usher in another 100 years.
Click to see other stories in KGMB9's Centennial Celebration:
Pearl Harbor: 100 Years of History
Preserving Pearl Harbor
Related Stories:
KGMB9.com Extra - December 7,1941, A Shipyard Worker's Story
Preserving Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor: 100 Years of History |
