Shipyard workers’ union says Navy owes it millions of dollars – Pilot Online (Virginia)

There's a $5 million food fight going on at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Like many things at the 244-year-old yard, it's steeped in history. In 1914, a...

There's a $5 million food fight going on at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Like many things at the 244-year-old yard, it's steeped in history. In 1914, a group of shop superintendents organized an employees' cooperative association - which became known as the "co-op" - to provide a place wher

There’s a $5 million food fight going on at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.

Like many things at the 244-year-old yard, it’s steeped in history.

In 1914, a group of shop superintendents organized an employees’ cooperative association – which became known as the “co-op” – to provide a place where hungry workers could get hot lunches without leaving the shipyard.

They sold shares for $1 apiece and bought ovens, storage bins and other equipment. As the shipyard grew over the decades – the workforce peaked at 43,000 during World War II – the co-op blossomed into a booming business.

When Woody Copeland went to work in the yard in 1972, there were five hot-food cafeterias and 50 “gedunks” – a Navy slang term for snack-food stands – scattered along the yard’s eight-mile waterfront.

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