Union members begin voting on BIW contract proposal

Courtesy / BIW Union members are voting on a new contract proposal by Bath Iron Works, maker of Burke-class destroyers like the USS Jason Dunham, shown here. Union officials have urged the proposal's rejection and have threatened to strike.

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By Staff

Members of Bath Iron Works’ largest union are scheduled to begin voting Friday whether to accept a new contract proposal union officials have fiercely debated with BIW’s owner for nearly a month.

The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local S6, representing about 4,000 of BIW’s 6,800 employees, will cast ballots today and until noon Sunday on the offer from Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD).

The current five-year contract with Local S6 expires Sunday. If a new contract isn’t approved by then, Local S6 would be allowed to strike — as it has threatened.

BIW and the union’s negotiating committee have engaged in heated bargaining since May 26, particularly about union seniority privileges and the use of subcontractors. Among other things, the negotiating committee has accused the shipyard and General Dynamics of trying to use subcontractors to “bust” the union.

Last Saturday, BIW made its “last, best and final” offer without protections sought by Local S6. The proposal called for a 3% annual wage increase for three years and a bump in pension contributions, but an increase of health insurance co-payments.

“We’ve negotiated in good faith toward an offer that we believe is fair and positions us for the future,” spokesman David Hench said in an email outlining the proposal.

The negotiating committee has rejected the offer and at least two previous ones. In a letter posted online Thursday, the eight-person committee wrote, “We need to vote this contract down, go on strike, and disregard these repeated attempts to sell this garbage contract.”

The last strike by Local S6 was in 2000, and lasted for nearly two months.

Since its founding in 1884, Bath Iron Works has built over 400 ships, most for the U.S. Navy, including dozens of DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The average annual base wage for BIW production workers is $49,480, according to the company website.