Maine Shipyard Workers End Week-Long Strike After Approving New Contract

Workers at Bath Iron Works, a major Navy shipbuilder in Maine, voted Saturday to accept a new four-year contract agreement. The approval ends a week-long strike by hundreds of employees who work as designers and technicians at the facility.

PORTLAND, Maine — A week-long work stoppage at Bath Iron Works came to an end Saturday after hundreds of employees voted to accept a new contract agreement with the major Navy shipbuilding facility.

The Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association membership gave their approval to a four-year collective bargaining agreement that takes effect right away, according to the shipyard. The decision came after union members spent hours deliberating at a nearby high school.

The striking workers belong to the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association, which operates under the umbrella of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), one of America’s most prominent labor organizations. At Bath Iron Works, these BMDA employees serve in roles including designers, nondestructive test technicians, technical clerks, laboratory technicians and associate engineers, according to union officials.

The shipyard operates under the motto “Bath built is best built.” The work stoppage occurred just weeks following a visit from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who emphasized the importance of expanding defense manufacturing capabilities during what was described as a morale-boosting event. The strike also happened amid ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran.

As one of the Navy’s primary shipbuilding contractors, Bath Iron Works secured a multi-year agreement in 2023 to construct multiple Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Naval officials consider the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer to be the “backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet.” Last year, the Navy used an option to include one more destroyer in the existing contract.