BIW strike grinds into Week 2

WASHINGTON – The strike by union workers at Bath (Maine) Iron Works enters Week 2 without any sign of discussion-talks between the General Dynamics-operated shipyard and representatives of some 4,300 workers. Union members voted June 21 to strike. Since then, BIW lost out on a $900M destroyer contract to its chief rival, Huntington Ingalls Industries; and three striking union members have been diagnosed with COVID-19. General Dynamics wrote on its Facebook page that any workers who had been working on the future USS Carl M. Levin in dock, or been on the picket line between June 22-24, should get tested. The issue between the two entities isn’t money. Union workers were offered 3% raises for the next three years. The sticking point is the use of non-union contractors. General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic said the use of non-union workers doesn’t affect the company’s support for the union. GD paid $13M in 2019 to train 1,500 unionized workers at BIW, Novakovic said in a June 25 letter to International Association of Machinists President Robert Martinez. “This contract puts us at a competitive disadvantage,” she wrote, as BIW tries to get back on schedule after months of schedule slippages on the destroyer work. Without those extra (non-union) workers to fill in the gaps, it will be difficult to perform the work that needs to be done. The Levin is one of the six Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in the docks. In April, the company lost the bid for the $795M contract to build the first 10 of a new class of guided missile frigates. Fincantieri Marinette (Wis.) Marine got the bid. The company also lost out on a hard-fought effort to build the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutters in 2016. Overall, the Navy has awarded contracts for 89 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 47 to Bath and 42 to HII-Pascagoula, Miss. BIW has delivered 36. HII has delivered 32.  
(Source: Breaking Defense 06/30/20) https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/bath-iron-works-strike-grinds-on-covid-hits-the-picket-line/