Nearly 4,500 union workers at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works have ratified a five-year collective bargaining agreement that includes an initial 17% wage increase and new protections related to outsourcing and emerging technology.
Members of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local S6 approved the agreement following a unanimous recommendation from the union’s negotiating committee. The contract takes effect Aug. 24 and runs through Aug. 24, 2031.
Under the agreement, workers will receive a 17% general wage increase during the first year, followed by annual increases of 4% in each of the remaining four years. Second- and third-shift premiums will increase to $2.50 per hour.
Healthcare costs will remain fixed for the duration of the contract, according to the union. The agreement also increases 401(k) contributions and provides greater flexibility for time off and changes to attendance provisions.
Job protections include safeguards addressing outsourcing, seniority and bargaining-unit work. The contract also expands union involvement in workplace decisions and establishes protections involving artificial intelligence, robotics and other new technologies.
“This committee went to the table with one mission: fight for what our members told us they deserved, and that’s exactly what we did,” IAM District 4 business representative Chris Wiers said. “We brought home historic wage increases, stronger job protections and improvements across this agreement without giving up the hard-fought language our members have defended for generations.”
The agreement followed several months of preparation and negotiations based on priorities identified through surveys of Local S6 members, the union said.
“Our members told us what mattered to them, they stood together throughout this process, and we fought to deliver those priorities at the bargaining table,” Local S6 president Tim Suitter said.
Local S6 members staged a 63-day strike at the Bath, Maine, shipyard in 2020 amid disputes involving subcontracting, seniority and other workplace issues.
Bath Iron Works builds Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers for the U.S. Navy. The shipyard is a business unit of General Dynamics.
