Unions want BIW to close during virus crisis, but also demand full pay

File Photo / Tim Greenway Bath Iron Works is allowing workers to use time-off benefits or to take unpaid leave during the virus crisis. But union officials say that's not enough.

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By William Hall

Union leaders at Bath Iron Works on Tuesday called a press conference demanding the shipbuilder’s parent company respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by closing the yard and sending its 8,000 workers home at full pay.

Officials from two of BIW’s largest unions, locals S6 and S7 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, were scheduled to hold the presser today at 1 p.m. in Bath, according to a news release.

The unions say BIW’s owner, Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), should temporarily shut down the Bath manufacturer and provide regular pay to employees, in order to comply with federal “social distancing” recommendations for containing the deadly coronavirus.

“It is critical that we contain a potential outbreak at the yard and allow these employees to follow public health guidelines to isolate themselves at home and away from the public,” said Chris Wiers, president of Local S6 and Jessica Chubbuck-Goodwin, president of Local S7, in a joint statement Monday.

“Much smaller employers in Maine have already announced that they are sending workers home with full pay during this public health emergency and a multi-billion dollar corporation like General Dynamics can afford to do the same,” they added.

BIW said in a statement Monday that employees can use existing time-off benefits to stay at home. The company also said it is allowing workers to take unpaid leave for the next two weeks.

Attempts to reach BIW for further comment were not immediately successful.

In an individual statement, Wiers criticized the shipyard’s response to date, saying, “The ‘account for your own time’ approach, followed by the now ‘unpaid leave for the next two weeks without penalty’ approach does not address the concerns of a spreading virus.

“Large amounts of workers commute to BIW by van or bus each day. The large gatherings coming to and from, along with working throughout the shipyard, creates major effects that are now being discouraged throughout the country.”

BIW’s response to the pandemic appears similar to measures taken so far by other Navy-contracted shipyards, such as Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. That yard has instituted a “liberal leave” policy for workers, according to a statement Monday, but also plans on “minimizing” work this weekend.