{"id":133666,"date":"2026-03-24T10:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/901449058"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:11:51","slug":"biw-maine-navy-shipbuilder-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/biw-maine-navy-shipbuilder-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"BIW Maine Navy Shipbuilder Strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"BIW\"
Image Courtesy of diane cordell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, March 23, 2026, hundreds of Maine workers, in Maine, at Bath Iron Works (BIW), one of the U.S. Navy\u2019s largest shipbuilding contractors, have chosen to strike.<\/p>\n

BIW Strike<\/h2>\n

The Bath Marine Draftsmen\u2019s Association went on strike<\/a> after members voted to reject the wage proposal from the shipyard. The union represents 627 workers at the historic shipyard that has built naval ships for over a century.<\/p>\n

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> made an appearance at BIW several weeks ago to boost morale and discuss the need to increase manufacturing.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the union said the offer from the shipyard<\/a> did not address the concerns over wages, insurance options, or retirement income security. Members assert they are being paid less than the national average and are not offered affordable insurance options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had hoped the company took to heart the statements made by Secretary Hegseth here at GD BIW of February 9th because our membership certainly did,\u201d wrote union President Trent Vellelia, adding that General Dynamics \u201ccontinues to make record profits off our labor and gives away billions through stock buybacks and dividends, while many of our members live paycheck to paycheck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shipyard and the union have been in negotiations for three weeks but have not been able to reach an agreement, according to BIW spokesman David Hench. The shipyard\u2019s proposal includes \u201chistoric annual wage increases\u201d of 10 percent in the first year, and four percent each year over three years. BIW\u2019s total workforce consists of 6,800 people, according to Hench.<\/p>\n

The Union<\/h3>\n

The Bath Marine Draftsmen\u2019s Association is affiliated with the United Mobile, Aerospace and Agriculture Implement Workers of America, more commonly known as the UAW<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s largest unions.<\/p>\n

Members of the BMDA at BIW are designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians, and associate engineers, according to a statement released by the union.<\/p>\n

Members say they will continue to picket outside the Naval shipyard<\/a> around the clock until an agreement is reached.<\/p>\n

BIW was awarded a multiyear contract to construct several Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Arleigh Burke is a guided missile destroyer Navy officials describe as the \u201cbackbone of the Navy\u2019s surface fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., last year, and it will be commissioned next month, Hench says.<\/p>\n

Strike Operations<\/h3>\n

The shipyard plans to use salaried personnel, subcontractors, and other employees who choose to work during the strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company is continuing to negotiate in good faith with the BMDA to explore opportunities to better align company and union objectives,\u201d according to an email written by Hench.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

AP News: <\/strong>Hundreds go on strike at major Navy shipbuilder in Maine over wages and benefits
abc News: <\/strong>Hundreds go on strike at major Navy shipbuilder in Maine over wages and benefits
WGME 13: <\/strong>BIW union on strike after failed contract negotiations<\/p>\n

Featured Image Courtesy of diane cordell\u2019s Flickr Page<\/a> \u2013 Creative Commons License<\/p>\n

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… the U.S. Navy\u00e2\u0080\u0099s largest shipbuilding<\/span> contractors, have chosen to strike … on strike at major Navy shipbuilder<\/span> in Maine over wages and … on strike at major Navy shipbuilder<\/span> in Maine over wages and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}