Navy shipyard workers approve a contract deal with Bath Iron Works, ending weeklong strike
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Hundreds of employees at one of the U.S. Navy’s biggest shipbuilding contractors voted Saturday to approve a contract deal with Bath Iron Works, ending a weeklong strike.
Members of the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement that goes into effect immediately, the shipyard said. That followed an hourslong union meeting at a high school.
“We look forward to working together once again to deliver the Navy’s ships on time to protect our nation and our families,” Bath Iron Works, known for the slogan “Bath built is best built,” said in a statement.
The shipyard and the union negotiated for three weeks without resolving differences before the strike began last Monday, Bath Iron Works spokesperson David Hench said.
He said previously that the shipyard, which has built ships for the Navy for more than a century, “proposed a number of historic wage and benefit options” to bring the union and the company closer together.
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 are employed as designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers, the union said.
Representatives of the Maine AFL-CIO confirmed the ratification vote via text messages to The Associated Press.
The union local said that while not all of its goals were reached, the deal includes improvements that are a win for workers. It did not give specifics of the agreement.
“Establishing not only a better contract foundation for the next negotiation but also developing an engaged and motivated membership; that now has this experience to bring to bear in any future negotiation or organizing activity,” it said in a statement.
The strike began several weeks after a morale-boosting appearance in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the need to boost defense manufacturing. It also took place during the U.S. war effort in Iran.
Bath Iron Works is a major shipbuilder for the Navy and was awarded a multiyear contract to make several Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers in 2023. Navy officials call the Arleigh Burke as the “backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet” and last year exercised an option last year to add an additional destroyer to the contract.
The company did not respond to questions about whether the strike slowed production.
The Navy accepted delivery of the future Arleigh Burke-class USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., last year, and it is due to be commissioned next month, Hench said.
The shipyard had said on its website that salaried personnel, subcontractors and other employees who elected to come to work could be used to continue business operations during the strike. The shipyard’s total workforce is about 6,800 people, Hench said.
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Associated Press writers Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif. contributed.
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