BIW votes today on competitiveness

AUGUSTA, Maine – Machinists Union Local S6 is casting votes Sunday (Dec. 13) on a proposed four-year contract at Bath (Maine) Iron Works shipyard that management says is for future competitiveness. BIW has pressed for early negotiations – since the contract does not expire until May 22 - aimed at winning union concessions deemed necessary to be competitive on a crucial bid in early 2016 for Coast Guard cutters. BIW initiated early discussions before the CG bid comes up for 25 offshore patrol cutters. BIW had warned that some 1,200 jobs could be lost if the yard fails to land the contract. A rejection of the proposal does not mean there will be a work stoppage. (Source: The Associated Press 12/12/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding/Maritime Note: Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Fla., and Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., are also tentatively scheduled to bid on the CG contract. BIW hasn’t built a CG ship since the 1930s. Bollinger won a previous completion in 2008 over BIW on a smaller CG contract.

UPDATE: The BIW union narrowly approved a four-year contract Dec. 13 that contains provisions aimed at making the shipyard more efficient before bids are submitted in May on a CG cutter contract. Later this year, BIW will also be bidding against Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Miss., for additional Navy destroyers.