Bath Iron Works lays off 67, expects more
Bath Iron Works laid off 67 workers this afternoon, just hours after the shipyard's president told employees to expect an unknown number of temporary layoffs as the shipyard faces a gap in work over the next four to six months.
Jeff Geiger, BIW's president, sent a memo this morning to workers to let them know the shipyard is facing a gap in work as it transitions from building DDG 51 destroyers to the Navy's next generation DDG 1000s. As a result, the shipyard will need to temporarily lay off an unknown number of workers. "Layoffs are difficult for everyone, and we will explore every available avenue to help minimize the number, including polling for voluntary layoffs, pursuing reassignments and continuing to seek emergent work," Geiger said in the memo.
The 67 laid off this afternoon consist of 30 ship fitters, 25 welders, six material handlers and six sandblasters, Jim DeMartini, BIW's spokesman, told Mainebiz.
BIW began building the first DDG 1000 in February, but it will take four to six months for the construction to fill the shipyard's facilities, DeMartini said.
The shipyard has known for a while that a work gap was coming and has taken measures to lessen the impact on the shipyard's workforce, according to Geiger's memo. "I can tell you that as a result of the actions and accomplishments to date, any layoffs will be fewer in number and for a shorter duration than otherwise would have been the case," Geiger said.
DeMartini said those accomplishments include a "dramatic" reduction in labor hours over the past six years and the shipyard's new $40 million "ultra hull" building that allows more production work to be completed indoors, "which is cheaper, faster and safer."
Once the construction on the first DDG 1000 ramps up this fall, there will be a sustained work load for several years, Geiger said in the memo, referring to the fiscal year 2010 budget now before Congress, which funds the construction of two additional DDG 1000s at the shipyard. "We're using the word ‘temporary' because we mean it," DeMartini said.
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