Bath Marine Draftsmen Hold Strike-Captain Trainings Amid BIW Contract Talks, Ratify Deal

About 680 members of the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association, UAW Local 3999, took part in a months-long organizing push in Bath that included a December strike-captain training attended by more than 50 members, steps that preceded formal bargaining with General Dynamics Bath Iron Works set to begin March 2 and culminated in a March 23 ratification of a four-year contract by 72% of voting members.

UAW Region 9A and the Maine AFL-CIO led the trainings in Bath on negotiations process, strike preparation, internal organizing and communications, and BMDA leadership said the program was focused and practical. BMDA president Trent Vellella commended the captains: “I really want to commend the hard work and commitment of our strike captains,” and he called the membership engagement “really encouraging,” urging General Dynamics to “take advantage of this opportunity to really be a premier employer in Maine.”

The union told members it had been bargaining memoranda of agreement for the past couple of months and that about 150 MOAs exist. At the Maine AFL-CIO briefing BMDA negotiators said they had roughly a dozen MOAs left to finalize, with the work-from-home policy among the outstanding items; many BMDA members are eligible for two days a week of work-from-home and want to retain or expand that flexibility. Member surveys emphasized raising wages and improving health insurance as top priorities during talks.

BMDA organizers drew lessons from other New England shipyard fights. Bill Louis, president of MDA UAW Local 571, described Local 571’s 2025 Electric Boat campaign in Connecticut at a Feb. 4 session: Local 571 built a network of more than 100 strike captains, signed up over 2,200 members for picket duty in two days, and achieved a 30% wage increase over a five-year agreement — an example BMDA leaders said they studied while building their own strike-captain program.

Bargaining briefly escalated in early March. Portland Press Herald reporting said BMDA members rejected a final company offer by a nearly unanimous vote, authorized a strike, then agreed to return to work under a contract extension that kept a no-strike, no-lockout window in place until the following Sunday while negotiators met. Company spokeswoman Lisa Read told reporters, “We are continuing to negotiate in good faith.” A BIW source identified only as Thompson warned of production impacts, saying “There are many steps to the construction of the modern warship” and “Interruption at any stage can ripple through the construction process.”

The March 23 ratified agreement contains multiple specific gains reported by Mainebiz, Yahoo and WGME. BMDA won a four-year term with 3% general wage increases each year, cost-of-living adjustments, increased company contributions to the 401(k) plan, more company HSA contributions, a short-term disability plan paying 50% of a worker’s wage, stable health insurance premiums and copayments, and explicit work-from-home flexibility. Vellella framed the deal as a win: “With the support and solidarity of the membership, we were able to engage in positive, direct, and transparent negotiations with BIW — resulting in a contract that provides several significant improvements without any concessions.” BIW spokesman David Hench said the agreement “will support our critical mission of designing, constructing, and supporting the U.S. Navy’s surface combatant fleet.”

Local reporting contains conflicting membership figures: Mainebiz, Yahoo and WGME describe BMDA as representing about 680 members, while Portland Press Herald cited 760 designers and technicians and said BMDA represents roughly 13 percent of BIW’s workforce. Mainebiz reports BIW employs about 7,400 workers statewide. Union and company leaders now say they will administer the new contract while work continues on Navy ship design and production in Bath.