An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer under construction at Bath Iron Works.

WASHINGTON: Some 4,300 shipyard workers at a Maine shipyard voted Sunday to strike, stopping work on six new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and the last of three Zumwalt destroyers.

Members of the Machinists’ Union Local S6 will put down their tools at midnight Sunday, after 87 percent of them voted to reject a three-year contract from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to keep the shipyard running. 

The union members rejected what the company called its “last, best, and final” offer last week. The company’s proposal would have given the production workers a yearly 3 percent raise, but the sticking point for the union was the hiring of subcontractors, and a proposal to change preferences for shifts and locations that the union saw as an assault on seniority. But the Local S6 union posted on their Website: “We are officially on strike. Stand strong. United we’re one. Divided we’re done!”  

The six destroyers and Zumwalt in the docks at Bath are already six months behind schedule, according to BIW President Dirk Lesko. It’s hard to estimate the strike’s effects since we don’t know how long it will last.

The work stoppage comes as another blow to General Dynamics. In April, the company lost the bid for the $795 million contract to build the first 10 of a new class of guided missile frigates when Wisconsin-based Fincantieri Marinette Marine won. The company also lost out on a hard-fought effort to build the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutters in 2016.

General Dynamics issued a statement on its website recognizing the decision: “We obviously are disappointed by this result, but are prepared should a strike occur.”

Speaking with reporters late last week, Navy acquisition chief James Geurts was asked about the potential for the strike to put the seven ships even further behind schedule. He steered clear of getting involved in the talks between the two sides, but made clear the Navy expects to get its ships delivered on time — something that looks less likely the longer the strike drags on. 

“It is critical for our Navy that we get ships, we get them on the schedule we contract for them, and that we have high confidence in our shipbuilders to deliver,” Geurts said. The Navy is investing in the shipyard “to help them continue to modernize and bring down the cost, and deliver ships just like we’re doing with all our other shipyards.” 

The strike comes as the Navy is working on plans to increase the number of manned and unmanned ships it has, as China steams ahead with a massive shipbuilding effort. In an unreleased document obtained by Breaking D last week, the Marine Corps expressed concern that in the event of any conflict, China could replace its losses at sea faster than the United States could.  

Readiness concerns have also led the Navy to take the unprecedented step of calling up over 1,600 Reservists earlier this month to fill labor shortages at shipyards repairing aircraft carriers and submarines in a desperate effort to get them back out to sea as soon as possible. 

Navy spokesman Capt. Danny Hernandez said in an emailed statement Sunday that “the work performed by our industry partners is critical to our Fleet. To avoid disruptions, the Navy is hopeful leaders at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers come to agreement on the current contract negotiations soon.”

Lesko told me last month that the company had fallen behind schedule in part due to COVID-related absences and changed work schedules, but the main problem was the retirement of so many experienced tradesmen over the past several years.

“Last year we hired 1,800 people, which was the most hired for 30 years I think,” Lesko said. “We probably would have hired 500 or 600 more people last year if we could have.”

Those new employees are being trained up to replace the retirees, slowing some projects down. “Those people are leaving in groups, requiring us to replace them in big groups,” Lesko said.