Hundreds of employees at Bath Iron Works in Maine voted Saturday to approve a new contract, ending a weeklong strike at the shipyard that builds Navy warships. The Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association ratified a four-year collective bargaining agreement during an hourslong union meeting at a high school, according to the shipyard.
In a statement, Bath Iron Works said it looked forward to the workforce returning to delivering ships for the Navy. “We look forward to working together once again to deliver the Navy’s ships on time to protect our nation and our families,” the shipyard said, using its longtime branding slogan, “Bath built is best built.”
The agreement is a four-year deal that members voted to accept, and Bath Iron Works said it goes into effect immediately. Representatives of the Maine AFL-CIO confirmed the ratification vote via text messages to The Associated Press, the report said.
Bath Iron Works spokesperson David Hench said the shipyard and the union negotiated for three weeks without resolving differences before the strike began last Monday. Hench also said the company proposed “a number of historic wage and benefit options” to bring the union and the shipyard closer together before the walkout.
The Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association said the contract included improvements it described as a win for workers, while also saying that not all of its goals were reached. In a statement, the union said the outcome provided “a win for workers,” and it said the local hoped the vote would support future negotiation and organizing efforts.
The BMDA local is affiliated with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, commonly known as the UAW. The union said its members at Bath Iron Works include designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers.
The strike began after what the report described as a morale-boosting appearance by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that touted the need to boost defense manufacturing. The walkout also occurred during the U.S. war effort in Iran, according to the Associated Press account.
The report said Bath Iron Works did not respond to questions about whether the strike slowed production. The shipyard previously said that salaried personnel, subcontractors and other employees who elected to come to work could be used to continue operations during the strike, and Hench said the shipyard’s total workforce is about 6,800 people.
Bath Iron Works is a major contractor for the Navy and in 2023 received a multiyear deal to build several Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. Navy officials have called the Arleigh Burke-class the “backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet,” and the Associated Press report said last year the Navy exercised an option to add an additional destroyer to the contract. Hench said the Navy accepted delivery of the future Arleigh Burke-class USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., last year and is due to be commissioned next month, according to the report.