Portland, Maine — Hundreds of designers, clerks and technicians went on strike Monday in Maine at one of the U.S. Navy’s largest shipbuilding contractors.
The Bath Marine Painters Association at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works went on strike after members voted to reject the shipyard’s proposed wage offer over the weekend. The union represents 627 workers at the historic shipyard, which has built naval ships in Bath for more than a century.
The strike came several weeks after the US Secretary of Defense appeared to raise morale Pete Hegseth It promoted the need to boost defense manufacturing. This is also happening at a time when the United States is intensifying its efforts The war effort in Iran.
The shipyard’s offer does not address members’ concerns about wages, insurance coverage and retirement income security, the union said in a statement.
“We had hoped the company would take seriously the statements Secretary Hegseth made here at GD BIW on February 9, because our membership certainly did,” union President Trent Villella said in an email statement.
Bath Iron Works spokesman David Hinch said the shipyard negotiated with the union for three weeks and was unable to reach agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. Hinch said the company’s proposal includes “historic annual pay increases” of 10.1% in the first year followed by 4% in each of the next three years.
The shipyard said on its website that the company plans to continue business operations during the strike by hiring salaried employees, subcontractors and other employees who choose to come to work. The shipyard’s total workforce is about 6,800 people, Hinch said.
“The company continues to negotiate in good faith with the BMDA to explore opportunities to better align the goals of the company and the union,” Hinch said in an email statement.
The Bath Marine Society of Painters is affiliated with the United Auto, Aerospace and Agricultural Workers of America, commonly known as the UAW, one of the largest unions in the country. BMDA members at Bath Iron Works work as designers, non-destructive testing technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers, the union said in a statement.
Members picketed outside the shipyard on Monday in cold and rainy weather. The workers said that they will continue their sit-in around the clock until the new contract is ratified.
Bath Iron Works is a major Navy shipbuilder and has been awarded a multi-year contract to build several Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in 2023. The Arleigh Burke is a guided-missile destroyer described by Navy officials as “the backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet.” The Navy exercised an option last year to add an additional destroyer to the contract.
Shipyard representatives did not immediately respond to a question about whether the strike would slow production.