Electric Boat to add 600 jobs in RI

WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - The president of General Dynamics subsidiary Electric Boat says the company intends to hire 600 more workers at its Quonset Point shipyard in Rhode Island during the next three years.

According to The Providence Journal , Electric Boat President Kevin Poitras told public officials in Warwick yesterday that the company plans to add up to 3,000 more jobs after 2020, when construction on a new class of submarines is expected to begin.

Poitras says Electric Boat plans to increase Quonset Point's employment from 2,500 jobs to just over 3,000 jobs through 2015, as the company builds Virginia-class nuclear submarines.

Electric Boat employs nearly 12,000 people in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Poitras expects the company's employment to remain stable through 2020 and grow to 16,000 when construction begins on the new Ohio-class ballistic missile subs.