Hundreds go on strike at major Navy shipbuilder in Maine over wages and benefits

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — 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 Draftsmen’s Association went on strike at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works 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 arrived several weeks after a morale-boosting appearance in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the need to boost defense manufacturing. It is also taking place as the U.S. intensifies its war effort in Iran.

The union said in a statement that the shipyard’s offer does not address the members’ concerns about wages, insurance coverage and retirement income security.

“We had hoped the company took to heart the statements made by Secretary Hegseth here at GD BIW on February 9th because, our membership certainly did,” union President Trent Vellella said in an emailed statement that also said General Dynamics “continues to make record profits off our labor.”

The shipyard negotiated with the union for three weeks and has been unable to reach accord on a new collective bargaining agreement, said David Hench, a spokesperson for Bath Iron Works. Hench said the company’s proposal includes “historic annual wage increases” of 10.1% in the first year followed by 4% in each of the following three years.

The company plans for business operations to continue during the strike through the use of salaried personnel, subcontractors and other employees who elect to come to work, the shipyard said on its website. The shipyard’s total workforce is about 6,800 people, Hench said.

“The company is continuing to negotiate in good faith with the BMDA to explore opportunities to better align company and union objectives,” Hench said in an emailed statement.

The Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association is affiliated with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, which is commonly known as the UAW and is one of the country’s largest unions. The BMDA members at Bath Iron Works work as designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers, the union said in a statement.

Members picketed outside the shipyard Monday in cold and drizzly weather. Workers said they would continue picketing around the clock until they ratified a new contract.

Bath Iron Works is a major shipbuilder for the Navy and was awarded a multiyear contract to build several Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in 2023. The Arleigh Burke is a guided missile destroyer that Navy officials have described as the “backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet.” The Navy exercised an option last year to add an additional destroyer to the contract.

The Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., a member of the Arleigh Burke class, last year and it’s due to be commissioned next month, Hench said.

Shipyard representatives did not immediately respond to a question about whether the strike would slow production.