Brothers and Sisters,
Days 8, 9, and 10 were pretty uneventful for us due to an issue we never should have had to fight. BIW was attempting to disrupt our ability to show solidarity through protected concerted activity. In the end, our Union negotiating committee was able to come to an agreement with BIW that insured our rights were no longer going to be infringed on. Our members were brought back to work and all discipline was removed, allowing our members to continue to fight for their future united and be heard. Today, our committee walked into the shipyard and thanked some of our members everywhere we could, stopping in PO2 at 11:00 AM to put the hammer down with some of you. We had to get back to the table by 1:00 PM to finally resume negotiating.
We came to a tentative agreement on the following:
- Article 5 in which we were able to recognize more committees’- women’s, veterans, and education.
- Article 8, Apprentices, we were able to reach an agreement to better the program.
- Article 12, Second, and Third Shift Premiums.
- Article 35, General Dynamics Stock Savings and Investment Plan (SSIP).
- Article 51, Duration of Agreement which will be a 3-year agreement.
We had general discussions on a few other Articles and MOA’s. The company passed its first economic proposals which included below industrial average wage increases, no wage increase for the M03’s with continued $1000.00 lump sums for each year, 21% increase in healthcare over 3 years with increased deductibles, co-pays, and out of pockets. We will provide all the details very soon, there is a lot to go through and we want to make sure we are putting out accurate information.
That is a quick rundown of day 11 with much more to come.
The committee is incredibly thankful for all our brothers and sisters support, especially all of those who stood strong and did not get intimidated by BIW for standing up for yourself and each other.
These updates will continue to be posted on the Local S6 Facebook page as well.
In Solidarity, Local Lodge S6 Negotiating Committee.
HAMMER DOWN!!!