GROTON, Conn. – On May Day, over a thousand union workers in red rallied and held a practice picket outside the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard here to tell the company that the clock is ticking. At midnight, May 18, the 2,500 MDA-UAW Local 571 members will strike if the company refuses to present a new contract offer.
One month earlier, the membership voted to strike by over 65%. On April 14, over 1,200 members packed the union hall to support the message from MDA president Bob Louis – workers are disgusted by management’s refusal to bargain collaboratively and tired of being disrespected.
Despite being flush with over $13.3 billion in profits over the last three years, the company is crying poverty. Pensions for all? The company claimed this $2.5 million cost would cripple the business and would not be possible.
Profit sharing? The company claimed this would dig into the $7.5 billion in shareholder buy-backs that the company has taken from the workers since 2022 and could not happen.
Cost-of-living increases? No. Equal leave time for all workers? No. Management’s “best and final offer” is having workers pay 26% more for healthcare and step increases that no current worker would be eligible for until 5 years from now.
Occupy critical positions
MDA-UAW Local 571’s members occupy critical positions at every stage of the shipbuilding process and their strike will halt all production on the yard. The chemists who make sure enclosed areas of ships are safe for other workers will strike.
The technicians who set the lasers on the yard that map out where massive steel parts must be lowered and secured into place by other workers will strike. The list goes on and on.
Members were asked if management could do their job. The rancorous response, along with a few colorful gestures, made it clear that the answer was “hell no.” A strike of these workers would grind everything to a standstill.
When UAW President Shawn Fain took to the podium he recapped the numbers. General Dynamics is a federal contractor with no competition.
Over the last three years they have made $13.3 billion in profits, gave $7.5 billion to the shareholders, spent $188 million on executive pay, and paid their CEO $67.6 million. For 125 years, union workers have been building ships in New London and Groton.
But, despite this flood of workingclass value, the company wants concessions from the union. They want the union to gladly agree to pay more for healthcare, to have a tiered system that stiffs new-hires from access to leave time, that bucks industry standards for COLA increases and profit sharing. In short, the company wants the union “too old to work and too young to die.” Fain was adamant: the UAW does not deal in concession bargaining.
Fain shared that the work being done by Local 571 is taking off from the incredible work of the Stand Up strike at the Big Three auto manufacturers. Fain also shared that the fight being waged by the union on the yard floor is being closely watched by other builders, specifically builders in Maine who are fighting for their fair contract, but also by other unions closer to home, like the Wellesley College union which has been out on strike in Middletown for over a month.
The work stoppage, he shared, is the most powerful tool in the working-class arsenal. When work stops, the world stops. As this was being explained, the energy in the hall – full of men and women, young workers and retirees, began to swell, breaking out into colorful language and gestures for management and the shareholders. The company claims it can weather a strike for six months with its contingency plans. The members laughed.
Fain continued, saying that “the company thinks time is on their side. But when a UAW local votes for a strike, time is out for the company, the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking on corporate greed. The clock is ticking on the two political parties backed by billionaires that do not care about working people. The clock is ticking on a system of exploration that hurts our families and our future.”
The shipbuilders are not alone in Connecticut. On May 5, 3,000 members of the International Association of Machinists at Pratt & Whitney went on strike with 24-hour picket lines at East Hartford and Middletown plants.
At the May Day rally at the state capitol, nursing home and group home workers with SEIU 1199 NE delivered 51 strike notices to Gov. Lamont. Nearly 6,000 workers there may go on strike starting May 19.
Also, the 1,400 CWA workers at Frontier whose contract has expired voted 95% to authorize a strike if necessary as their negotiations continue.
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