BIW lays off some workers as strike nears end of third week

Photo / William Hall On June 22, striking BIW worker Clyde Bailey walked the picket line as police escorted visitors through it.

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By Staff

Nearly three weeks into a strike by its largest labor union over a bitterly negotiated contract proposal, Bath Iron Works is laying off some of its employees.

BIW President Dirk Lesko said in a memo Tuesday that the yard would immediately begin temporary layoffs of surveyors and trades inspectors, who have had less work to do as a result of the strike.

The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local S6, representing about 4,300 of BIW’s 6,800 employees, walked off the job June 22 after voting overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer from the yard’s owner, Virginia-based defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD).

Lesko said BIW has redeployed hundreds of salaried employees and hired additional contractors in an attempt to keep up with scheduled operations, but it hasn’t been enough. Production levels are now “well below typical operations and even further below where we need to be,” he said.

The surveyors and trades inspectors are among the first affected by the drop in production.

“While we have explored all available options to reassign impacted employees to other jobs, unfortunately no such opportunities are available,” Lesko wrote.

It’s not clear how many employees are being laid off, although a union representative has speculated it might be 25 to 30.

Lesko said the downsizing would begin with voluntary layoffs, followed by involuntary ones based on seniority.

The local’s five-year contract expired June 19. A proposed three-year agreement had been the subject of heated bargaining since May 26, with Local S6 objecting to BIW’s wishes to alter job seniority privileges and to use nonunion subcontractors.

On Monday, the union’s negotiating committee held a “very good conversation” with a federal mediator, who was expected to meet with BIW officials later this week, according to a Facebook post.