Shipyard, striking workers open to resumption of bargaining

BATH, Maine (AP) — Bath Iron Works on Wednesday accused the leadership of its largest union of misrepresenting the shipbuilder’s three-year contract proposal to ensure a strike but said it’s ready to resume negotiations.

The union said it’s “ready, willing and eager to return to the bargaining table” but will settle for nothing less than a fair contract. There was no immediate word on when talks might resume.

More than 4,000 members of Machinists Union Local S6 went on strike Monday after overwhelmingly rejecting the company’s final proposal.

The company’s contract would have given shipbuilders a 3% raise in each of the three years. But the shipbuilders’ union objected to provisions for the hiring of subcontractors and characterized some of the provisions as an attack on seniority.

The company statement said the union’s negotiating committee “made no secret that they intended to strike first, talk later.”

“They misrepresented the company’s proposal to their members and led them into a strike that will inflict unnecessary financial hardship on thousands of Maine families,” spokesman David Hench said in the statement.

The union attacked the company Wednesday for attempting “to mislead the public in hopes of gaining support.”

Company officials said the shipyard is already six months behind on work, partly because of the pandemic. A prolonged strike would further delay delivery of destroyers to the Navy.

The company insisted that subcontractors are needed despite the hiring of thousands of workers in recent years.

“Even as we hire thousands of new shipbuilders, we must be able to bring in temporary outside help and we must be able to deploy our shipbuilders where their skills are needed most. That is not an attack on seniority. It is ensuring that BIW can meet its obligations to the Navy and remain competitive for generations to come,” Hench said.

The union, which contends the contract contains nine articles attacking seniority, blamed company mismanagement for the problems.

“The union agrees there is much work to be done to catch up on the Navy schedules. The area that needs the most improvement is BIW’s managerial team,” the union said in a written statement.

The last strike, in 2000, lasted 55 days.

Bath Iron Works is one of the Navy’s five largest shipbuilders and a major employer in Maine, with 6,800 workers.