The Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association, UAW Local 3999, went on strike at midnight Monday over a proposed General Dynamics Bath Iron Works contract offer that the union said “does not sufficiently address real member priorities with respect to wages that are lower than the national average, affordable insurance and retirement income security.”
“General Dynamics continues to make record profits off our labor and gives away billions every year through stock buybacks and dividends while many of our members live paycheck to paycheck,” Trent Vellella, the association’s president, said in a news release.
Shipyard response
Bath Iron Works offered a contract that would include “historic annual wage increases of 10.1%, 4%, 4% and 4%, with total compounding wage growth of 23.8% over the four-year contract,” the shipyard said in a prepared statement late Sunday.
“Other aspects of the company’s proposal include health insurance rates significantly below market and preservation of work from home, flexible workweek and vacation purchase opportunities.”
BIW said it will continue to negotiate in good faith with the draftsmen’s association to explore opportunities to better align company and union objectives.
The shipyard and association have been negotiating for three weeks to reach an agreement on a successor collective bargaining agreement.
The 627 association members work as designers, non-destructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers at the shipyard.
Bath Iron Works employs 6,700 people, primarily in Bath. The company is a subsidiary of Reston, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD).
BIW is Maine’s fourth-largest private employer, as ranked by average monthly employment in Q1 2025 in the 2026 Mainebiz Book of Lists.
