IP Brian Bryant: This is International President Brian Bryant, here for another episode of Shift Change, the IAM's official podcast. And I am in the great state of Maine visiting with my home district, District 4, and my home local, Local S six. We're here today, we want to talk about the historic contract that was just negotiated by District 4 and Local S six for our members at Bath Iron Works. and we thought it would be great to Bring on as many members from the district and from the locals negotiating team to join us so we could talk about what went into that negotiations, not just the the few weeks that they were negotiating, but what led up to that and and what did we do to get our membership in the right position so that we had the power at the table. so I'm joined by our direct and business rep of District Lodge Four, Jay Wadley, his business rep, I believe assigned to S six and in Bath Ironworks, Chris Weirs. and we got a number of folks from the negotiating committee, namely president of the local Tim Souter, and Chief Steward for the Bath facility and EBMF still. Yeah. Dom Bowen, and other members of the negotiating committee that we're gonna get to join us here later on. But I just wanted to maybe kick it off and talk about of all of everyone here, who's whose first negotiations? This was it anybody's first negotiation? Devin was yours. and who's been multiple negotiations? Yeah. Don, Mark. Let me ask you a question. What did you see what what happened this negotiations of compared to the last negotiations?
speaker-1: All right, I think we had a veteran negotiating committee. We had a lot of good guys on the committee. We went in there and had everything ready with Chris's help and Jay's help. And we went in there and we knew it was gonna be a historic one. the members were behind us. They knew we were gonna go in there and do what we could do and we saw what Engels got with theirs. We based a lot, you know, figuring we're just we're better shipbuilders than they are and that we could go in there and get what the members deserved.
IP Brian Bryant: So for the for the people listening in that Ingalls is the main competitor for Bath Ironworks and we compete against them for the same ships every year that are awarded by the Navy. Jay, for you, you know, what did you see? What was what was your goal in this negotiations? Yeah, to get shipbuilding wages up so
speaker-1: there more on a a scale with like aircraft mechanics and stuff. Shipbuilding wages have fallen behind in the industry for decades. So after seeing Ingalls got a good contract, felt like it this was the time that we could get Bath Ironworks wages up to where they should be for shipbuilding and we were able to do that.
IP Brian Bryant: L let me ask a question, Chris or Tim, throw it out to you guys. What was the process that we used to get ready for negotiations? I mean did you guys survey the membership or did you, you know, sit down as a committee and strategize what we were gonna come up with for proposals and such?
speaker-2: Yeah, we did a survey ahead of time, pulsed all the members on what their top priorities were. That way we knew what we were going in fighting for. it's important to make sure that w you know, we know what the membership wants and that we can go in there and deliver on that. We're always looking for input. we had a pretty good turnout with the surveys. that kind of guided our light, so to speak, as we Started prepping for negotiations. we started quite a bit early in the prep, knowing that it was gonna come up fast. a lot goes into our negotiations. We go through a lot of our memorandum of agreements and and things like that. So we really spent a lot of time together, which helped. I think, like Don said, having a veteran committee, having the surveys And really seeing what the members prioritize gives us a good platform to dissect that contract and know what what needs to be changed. we have a a very good contract that's been fought for over the years. So it was not really reinventing the wheel as much as it was applying pressure and getting the things that we wanted, including little wins that would make a big difference to the membership as well.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, Don touched on it earlier. I I think we should we should talk about that because, you know, in any negotiations, things have to be lined up. The amount of work that the government's given us, or given Bath Ironworks, we gotta have that. We've gotta have the scenario where we can go after higher wages, better benefits and such, and then you gotta have the membership on you and then you gotta have a committee that's working together. I think we would you guys agree we had all of those at at this point.
speaker-1: Absolutely. Definitely.
IP Brian Bryant: The and but that doesn't say you know there's been cases different unions and even in the IAM where we've had that same opportunity, but we didn't grasp it. and it may have been a failure th at many different points. we didn't have that here. I thought the outside looking in, I was really impressed with how fine tuned this negotiating committee, how you prepared, how you get the membership prepared and how we were just laser focused on getting the job done. Chris, I don't know if you want to sh can you talk a little bit about what went into that, making sure that we had that, because it's it just can't be the negotiating committee. we gotta have the membership behind us. We gotta have to be in a right situation where we know we deserve what we're asking for. so I don't know if you wanna expand on that or
speaker-1: Sure. obviously this is it's complicated. There's it's multifaceted. There's a lot of things like you just stated that go into it. but the first and foremost working with a committee, being on a committee previously at the local, knewing the expectations of being a committee member, working with the district, with the international, going through all of the surveying, the negotiation prep. So it was something it was it was relatively easy for me. To a certain extent, and I'll explain it, right? so we I got I got a hold of the W three center set up for the negotiation training, but we couldn't do it at the school because of scheduling conflict. So they were able to accommodate us here at the district. They sent over Tim Height, Brother Height gave the negotiate prep class, flew in David White, flew in a couple other people to go over economics and and stuff like that. So and everyone was here, the whole committee was here every day for a week. they were all in tune, they were all taking part and I talked to Tim a couple of times offline and he goes, Hey these guys kinda know a lot of stuff already. I said, Yeah, they're they're an experienced group of people and if they're not necessarily experienced with negotiations, they've been in the shipyard for thirty years, a lot a lot of them. So they had a lot of experience to bring to the table. So then once we hit that, the surveys were already completed, so we got to use the survey information during the prep. They had already worked on a bunch of proposals on on what they want to open. We were able to get the the company's strike list of of no change articles which helped us understand which articles they were gonna open up or come after. So if we had counters or our own proposals, you know, we already anticipated that they were going to be giving then we were trying to think what they were going to propose to us. So we we had a multiple layers as a group or I should say they did as a group because they really put all the work in when it came to the proposals and what they wanted. And then yeah, we we all were were pulling in the same direction. The only thing that I brought to the table really was just, hey, I'm very militant at the table. When no one's talking unless we know what we're gonna say. We can always go back and come back and answer. So great question. I'm not sure the answer. We'll just come back. And they were they were flawless. You know, they they acted professional They did have questions. They asked the right questions that got us answers to help us go build our proposals to come back and counter what the company wanted. So that was that was incredibly encouraging right on day one that, you know, okay, where are the wheels aren't gonna come off the bus 'cause we all know it's it's emotional at times. There's ebbs and flows. There's, you know, we we're getting down to crunch time on something, so Everything worked really good. It really fell into place, but it really goes back to everybody knowing their role. Everybody knew their job. Everybody was prepared. And I've been I've been part of a lot of negotiating committees where it's like herding cats. You know what I mean? I mean the guys they all want something. And it's like you're trying to focus on one one thing at a time. They did that. This group was really good with that. It was an honor to be able to serve in the committee with all these guys. They really did a great job. They were educated, said the right things, and we pressured the company where we needed to pressure them. There was a lot of sidebars out in the parking lot. And we got through a lot of the tough stuff by doing that. And it worked. so yeah, a a big you know, big hats off to the committee and everybody else who was involved. I know there's a lot of members that were involved in some of the stuff. you know, Jay was was there helping us out with numbers and 'cause he's really good at the costing out like the healthcare stuff, wages and stuff like that so he could get different scenarios for people. So it was really good, kinda like a tandem team where all the weight didn't fall on my shoulders to do that. 'Cause you need help with a big negotiations. It's you know, like you know, it's two solid weeks. so really good. Everybody like I said, everyone's plugged in, you know, pulling the same direction. And it worked out to something that got to the expectation level of historic. And there and it really is. You know what I mean? It really i never thought I'd be part of a negotiating committee where we'd be getting seventeen percent raise the first year, but it's it's unheard of, you know? so it it's it's yeah, it was really good. glad to be part of it. I will say selfishly, it's nice there's a five year gap between negotiations. but but no, yeah, I mean we're quietly already gearing up for the next one. You know what I mean? We're we're s we're already starting what issues are and You know. So no, hats off to the committee and and they did a they did a fantastic job. They deserve all the credit they they're that they're getting.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah, I don't know who wants to talk about I think it would be be important to talk about one of the things 'cause I paid attention, obviously I paid close attention to this. It's my my home local, my home district. I was very interested in what was happening. But I from looking from on the outside, I was really impressed with the communications and such that you had going with the members. And I think that that played a key role, I believe, in to We tr we truly had the membership behind standing behind us. I don't know if anybody wants to jump in and and talk about what we did here during this process so that we could give as much information to the members as possible. I mean we've always if you've been in negotiations before, you know, there's something you can't say because it could change tomorrow and And we want to be guarded by that. But let's talk about two things. One, the communications that we did with the members, but also how did you get the members engaged the way you did? 'cause I hear in some places they brought back hammering on on the hour. that was always effective, pisses the company off. But let's talk about it.
speaker-3: yeah, so I wasn't on the negotiating committee for the last negotiations, but I was the communicator at the time. So I had a little bit of experience coming into this of what what was the best way to get information out. And so number one was the the IAM's texting service that they gave us access to. You know, that was free of charge for the local. That was awesome. They sent us little business cards that are QR codes that the members could scan and it would bring them to a webpage where they could sign up for the texting service. And that's huge, right? I mean social media is great, flyers are great. But given the membership the ability to have information immediately sent to them, is pretty big. And it and it doesn't give you a lot of like words to use within the text, but you know, you have just have a brief overview of what you're talking about and have a link to to the website and then we can really flesh out everything. And that was that was like the core of it really to get that information out. we used a little less social media this time and I think we went with that d in that direction because social media th though it's useful, not everyone is on every social media service and also it creates an avenue for people to really get a lot of arguing and back and forth of stuff going on. So it's I don't wanna, you know, we don't wanna stop any conversation for sure, but when there's a lot of confusion and as you're saying, like we're trying get as much information as we can out to the membership without jeopardizing what we're doing at the table, right? We can't you know, as much as it would be nice to I don't think, you know, at least in our situation, it's really appropriate to get every little bit of information 'cause it would give the company that much more of of ability to absorb where the membership's at. Because if they can just gauge where the membership's at before we even get to the vote, then they can start influencing what they're doing at the table and, you know, it could overall may create a worse deal for everyone. And so fortunately, you know, the the membership was satisfied with it and I think you know that I would encourage any communication group during negotiation to do something similarly. And with the hammering down really that just is which g more credence of the membership. the membership is the biggest part of it, right? That's where our power comes from. it's big but we've been trying to s talk about that a lot because that is a huge, huge part of it. And it wasn't necessarily something we asked for. I think that the membership sensed that there was a a little bit of nonsense going on with the company of how they were trying to influence the membership to stay quiet and the way our members are at local S six, you they're not gonna be told what to do. And so we never you know, it in you know, directly asked them, hey, start hammering down, but I think they sort of they sort they sensed it. They sensed it through the communications, even though we were, you know, keeping things relatively vague, you know, but still letting them know what's going on. they picked up on it and they ran with it. And I think it was it played a big part in, you know, in our success overall.
speaker-2: Yeah, I think especially with the hammering down, it it's it like you had hit on, it really pisses the company off. And so they were scrounging and we did a good job of just coming together, trying to get the message out, taking back the narrative and making sure that we were there to negotiate a contract, we were ready, we outworked them, and when they started talking about, well, hey, these people are doing that Yeah, that's fine. We're gonna continue to sit at the table and bargain. And we kinda held their feet to the fire, so the company really didn't have much of a choice but to to sit there and try to negotiate. And I I think it speaks volumes for the committee that we really were prepared and when it really come down to it, I think we outworked them. you know, they like to drag their feet, stall, do certain things throughout their negotiation process and I'm sure that's geared that way. we made sure that we were focused and that we made the most of our time and tried to get so they always owed us something. And just trying to stay focused and not let some of that outside noise and get caught up into the overall fight. And for us, let the membership have our back on that and for us to just stay focused at the table.
speaker-1: Yeah.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, Chris touched on it earlier. I and I talked to many different groups and I I I'll throw it out to all of you, but one of the things any of our negotiating committees that have had the ability to either go to the Wimpen Singer or have the educators come and and do the same training that you guys went through, you know, pretty much all of them always come back and say that, you know, we felt like we were better prepared than the employer was in negotiations and it made us look more professional at the table. You kind touched on that. The
speaker-2: Yeah, absolutely.
IP Brian Bryant: I think that's important. That says a lot to the to the company when they see a a bargaining committee that is prepared, professional, and and there to to do a job and get it done for our members. That goes a long way. you know, you guys did all this. Let's talk about the let's talk about the contract. You know, I as soon as the tentative came out, I text Jay. right away and said, you know, it's in the membership's hands, but this was by far the the richest contract I have ever seen negotiated in my history at Bath Ironworks. And I I would dare say it's probably the it's probably the richest contract ever. let's talk about what you guys were able to achieve after all the work that was put in for you know preparing for negotiations, gearing up the membership. Let's talk about what we what we ended up receiving.
speaker-1: I'll talk about being the chief steward. Language is big for me, right? This is my third contract and people don't realize we took zero concessions. Every bit That's absolutely huge. That is big. It's historic about the money, seventeen percent, four across the board, but zero concessions. Either language stayed the same or we gained language out of anything that we proposed. which is people just don't realize how much language goes, right? It's it's big when it's when you talk Chief Stewart, Grievance Committee, Stewart. We we we did a gr hell of a job when it came to that, for sure.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, you got I'm Don, I'm glad you mentioned that because you know, language is is absolutely critical in any collective bargaining agreement. And I was impressed with the what you guys were able to do for strengthening the technology language and we're strengthening the language for protections against a AI. Look, we're in favor of AI if it's used to make our jobs safer or make harder jobs easier, but we're totally not interested if it all it is gonna do is replace workers. That's just the wrong model to be used. You know, hats off to you guys 'cause I know you guys strengthen that language. 'Cause it's gonna come. Even though we're a production local S six is production and maintenance, there's plenty of jobs out there that they would look at trying to automate where they can use automation. Was that a big fight? 'Cause that I'll tell you across the IAM in many places that's been very difficult to get two things. To get language or even strengthen the language so that it truly it protects our memory.
speaker-1: We thought it was a priority for us, right? We wanted to open that door 'cause like you said, nobody else has that, right? And so we we talked as a committee. We figured just open that door and at least having that language in there gives us the opportunity to sit down and talk. And the company was pretty open to it. So and like Timmy said, most of the we did most of the work. I mean, we would give them language and we just keep working on it and they just they just held back and gave us basically What we wanted. I mean I hate to say that it sounds like we wanted but it that's what it
speaker-2: think we did well. I think we surprised them with a couple of things that we came after that, you know, a lot of times going in negotiations, you get a sense of where they're coming from or what they want, 'cause you've been fighting about it. And same goes for them. They know what we want. And so coming in with a couple of things that we wanted that I think really took them by surprise. I think they were too busy trying to figure out what it meant. And when it really comes down to it, like you said, i you're not going to stop it. You need to get in front of it. And we've had language in our contract that you know, gives us certain protections, but we wanted the those timelines to start at the beginning of the process. Before they you know, before it's too late and they're implementing it, we can always, you know, follow the the grievance process, but by that time it's too late. We we need to be on the forefront of those conversations. We need to be involved and know what the impacts to the membership are gonna be before they even bring it into the shipyard, before they purchase it, before they do anything. That was really important for us.
IP Brian Bryant: So five year contract, seventeen percent the first year, and then four percent each of the re remaining years of the collective bargaining game. So that's thirty three? So that's thirty-three percent. So thirty-three percent and wage increases over the five years. That's thirty n nearly thirty-six percent if you compound it. that's historical and we've said that I've said that continuously. I I don't think I've ever seen a contract at Bath Ironworks that is that rich. But it's not just wages. you guys were able to accomplish a pretty big feat and really containing health care costs for our members. what's the change in the health care?
speaker-1: So healthcare I I think we did really well on. They we have three different plans that you can be a part of. in in all of your cost share went up the very first year and then for the next four years it didn't go up again. and in two of those is no design change whatsoever. So prescription drugs don't go up, your doctor's visits don't go up, the stuff that normally they creep up over the contract, your your co pays and out of pockets. The only one that did have some income
IP Brian Bryant: Did have some increases
speaker-1: was
IP Brian Bryant: with
speaker-1: our high deductible plan, which is driven by IRS. They usually bump those up. but the other ones, the plan design froze and your premiums only went up in that first year and then held steady for the next four, which is unheard of.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah. it is unheard of. And I think I think we did the math both I know you did it, Jay, but also our our strategic resources department did the math. The contribution that our members do pay, to them it's significant, but if you look at the at the industry but even in in other labor agreements, it's really it's it's fairly low. It hovers around probably ten percent. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, I think that's pretty consistent, around ten percent.
IP Brian Bryant: but that's just I mean, I just gotta tell you, that's truly remarkable that you know, you take an initial hit the first year of the contract, but then you have four years of everything staying flat. that's a huge victory. That's a big win. I mean, Jay Chris, you know, you've you've taken an increase or you're it's predicated on and maybe even waiting to see what the what the increase is gonna be in premiums, based on what the market's doing. And it's that It's absolutely incredible. You guys should be very proud of the
speaker-4: So with our healthcare cost containment right with other aspects of what we were able to accomplish in the CBA, we absolutely used our surveys, which is one of the things that we use during prep, and across the international I think it's pretty pretty consistent across all the other bargaining units they use that and We not only used it, but I believe we weaponized it. We we knew we had our membership. It felt like it was like horses at the race gate. Like we knew our membership was ready to go at any time that we needed we were opening those gates. And the company knew that. And I I wholeheartedly believe that that helped our power at the table and and using our surveys as a way to E J P everything we asked for. There was nothing that we necessarily I don't believe that we asked for that the membership didn't speak to. they wanted what they wanted and I think we delivered probably in the high ninety percentile of what the surveys brought back, you know, increased GWI, we had healthcare cost containment. You know, we preserved the flexibility on our vacation. We had outsourcing protections, right? We were able to secure a lot of our maintenance and capital project works. and we were able to put some full-time equivalent numbers in for containment and you know maintenance is usually operated on on attrition. Now we have a hard line that can't go below. So we we did a lot of the things and including winter shutdown was was a huge priority for our membership, we were able to get that back because, you know, we just went through Labor Day, right? And that's a day for the working class, right? And I believe that that shutdown is very important to our membership. That's a time for people to kind of dial it back throughout the holidays and really spend time with our families and a lot of our membership now is coming from away. So it gives them an opportunity to go back home to wherever they came from and really spend that quality time during the holidays. And I think that really that radiated with the membership a lot. That was a very big topic. It was, I think ninety one percent was they wanted that back, right? So that was high, high, high on our list.
speaker-1: Higher than wages.
speaker-4: it was higher than wages. so I think we delivered that. we delivered increase in four hundred one K. We we delivered across the board, I feel like. and we did we did a great job. I mean we with our training with mister Height, Brother Height, and he he came in and gave us that and I think it was important, like Chris and everybody else that sat here today. I think it helped that we were a veteran group. We knew f from past contracts or follow contracts, some of us were on twenty three and we came into this one in twenty six. So we knew what we asked for in twenty six. I think that gave us an advantage talking with where we are today. We knew what the company had not held the line on, we knew where we held the line, and we knew how to argue. And you know, with the AI stuff, it was very important for most of us on the committee, if not everybody, that we know it's coming for our world, right? It it may be an automotive, it may be in other aspects, but shipbuilding was we know it's on the map. It's already sneaking in the back door. and we needed some protections and provisions to protect our protect our workforce and our work. yeah, I I think we did a hell of a job and I think we were very well trained. We went in there tactically and like Timmy spoke to earlier, we just outworked I I you know, at any point they were willing, yeah, we'll just see you tomorrow. And we worked into the evening and we were able to counter right first thing the next morning and they were they just we just outworked We we did what local six does and We fought but we fought tactically.
IP Brian Bryant: You guys acted like pipe fitters. Ver very proud of you. Let's talk about that. What were you able to get for the pipe fitters?
speaker-2: We had two sandblasts on the committee, so we tried to really drive that home.
speaker-1: Okay.
IP Brian Bryant: So we've got a a historic tentative agreement that you guys negotiated. Let's talk about go is my understanding, close to eighty percent that the contract was ratified by. that's also historical for local SX and for any IAM. contract. Very rarely, especially with large groups, do we ever see nearly an eighty percent ratification. let's talk about what you re you negotiated the tentative agreement, but then we n then we go into ratification and I believe you guys had a week or close to a week between when it was TA'd and w when it was ratified. while the negotiation s stopped, the process didn't stop because when then we now we had to go out and and talk to the members and educate How did you guys do that?
speaker-1: We called over the Stuarts first thing Monday. We had the tentative agreements. we explained all the changes because we all know that the Stuarts are the front line, right? So we made sure that they understood. We sent them all out there. We went out, we talked to people, we sent the Stuarts out to ask any you know, to answer any questions. All week long we had that whole week right up to. We had no negative feedback. Everybody was very happy. And we just continued to answer any questions leading right up to Saturday when we had the reading. And just to go s to show you how much we got out there, there was only like a very few people that ended up showing up to the l for the reading. And I think we only had one member that asked any questions and he just and that guy that asked the questions, the member, the brother, he works at the tech center. So we didn't get out there to answer those couple of questions so That was the only reason he came and he had been here for a while. So it was a great job by everybody, all the Stuarts, everybody on the negotiating committee. We got it out there in plenty of time to get all the questions it answered. And that's probably why we had such a good turnout with the eighty percent.
IP Brian Bryant: Anybody else?
speaker-4: Yeah, I'll double down on that. like Don said, we we were boots on the ground. Don and and Timmy called a y steward meeting that morning, had everybody come out, loaded up with TAs. We had TAs printed over the weekend, so we had hard copies to be able to give to our members. we were at every gate early that morning from third shift right on through the evening into second shift, and we were boots on the ground, right? We were in the engine rooms. We were talking to the guys that are forgotten about in the, you know, the the workshops that are here and there and guys that don't typically see a lot of traffic. We went and found those people. We went and found the insulators on the north end that hardly see, you know, some of the stuff that we do and and had long good dialogue with them. and I think like to Don's point, right, I think that's why 17 Vokes showed up. I think everybody was well informed. And you know, we can attest that to the communication, right, that we delivered the whole time. Our membership was informed right out of the gate from day one to the last day and right through the TA week when we were out there explaining. I think we did a a great job letting our membership know where we were at, what we did and answered any of the questions. Our stewards were armed with any and all questions and answers that they may receive that day. we did a highlight sheet. of of you know kind of the the changes that people could kinda easily reference. yeah, I think the boots on the ground we had our stewards on the ground during at the table feeling stuff. So they were kind of feeding us information of pulsing the membership as we were live. And I think when we were able to go back down on the deck plates after the TA and really interface with the people and you know everybody was able to put a face to the man at the at the table, right? think that went along way with with a lot of people and I think that's why I think we had a low turnout at the reading 'cause I think everybody knew exactly what we did and and they didn't have any questions.
IP Brian Bryant: Let me ask a question. Is there anything Tim, you wanna add to that? You don't want to add to it, okay. The let me ask you a question. In every negotiations is give and take. if there was any issues that you know, you may want any listeners know obviously we didn't get everything that we were looking for, you know. I don't know if you wanna expand on is there an issue that we didn't get that we were hoping to get? You know, and it maybe it would speak to the two things. The process, but maybe the maybe there's there's folks out there in the membership that maybe wanted s something that wasn't in the contract but they weren't we weren't able to get it for Is was there any issues like that?
speaker-2: Yeah, I I think there was a you know, we did the surveys but we also went out and and pulsed the membership as a committee. We try to get around to all the shifts and and kinda talk to people and it's always wanted and always good prior to going in So when we did that we got a lot of things that were specific that might have been in the survey in the in the, you know, question part, where they expanded on it. But a lot of it was just, hey, we'd like to have this or hey, what about this? And there was a couple of those things that we proposed that it makes it hard and and every one of us has a vote, every one of us has strong feelings. We hold each other accountable when we get to the to the table. But when we're off breaking out on our side, it's not easy. You you got we had eight people, you got eight different voices, everybody has input and it's it's a lot of arguing. It's a lot of different takes on what way we go, what we stick on, what we don't stick on. And those are the things that that people don't always see. Those are the things that really drives the committee to be united because you can have those confrontations and arguments and and have it be really intense, but also boil it back down to coming to a decision and and staying united and making that path forward. as a as a body and not just an individual and everybody staying on track again speaks well for the committee. It's it's not easy, especially when you have stuff that you really, really want and you want to deliver for the membership and it's kind of a sticking point. a lot of times at some point you have to get off it and you propose it on day one and it and it's the last thing you want to get off, and you take it to the eleventh hour and then as a committee you decide whether or not you can get there or not get there and and those are the things that are the most difficult. and a lot of times that that goes unsaid. But
IP Brian Bryant: I think it's important to talk about that, Tim, because you know, there's always a a member of members of classification out there that feel like, hey, my issue wasn't addressed. But in reality that wasn't the case. The the negotiating committee may have been trying to get something for a a particular classification or classifications and the company just wasn't getting off the dime on it. And, you know, at some point the decision had to be made, okay. We're not gonna be able to get it this time. You know, we've gotta we either gotta get off it, get something else or or improve something else. in order to do that. And that's part of negotiations. I mean that's whatever that's how we train people, down at the Winpisinger.. You know, negotiations is a moving product and the you're not always we're not always gonna get what we want, and the p certainly the company's not always gonna get what they want. But there's a time where you've got to stop arguing and move on for the betterment of the in entire membership. Those decisions can be difficult. And it can be contentious in our negotiations. you know, when we're meeting by ourselves. you know, but it sounds like your committee, you know, you were able to have the productive discussions and move things so that it was to the membership's benefit. so I I just say hats off to all of you. The you know, I'll just say as the international president of our great union, I'm very proud of of the work that all of you have done in this negotiations for our members. I hope you're proud. I hope our membership's proud of what they've been able to achieve with this contract. And it's truly historical. It's historical not only for Bath Ironworks and our members here at the local S6, but historical for the IAM, this collective bargain agreement. So hats off to all of you, hats off to our membership. Before we wrap
speaker-2: The only the only other thing I'd mention is is that as diligent as we were at the table and going and we were prepared. but we were also prepared if it didn't go our way. We were prepared to go on strike. We had our strike committee, we had signs. we even went as far as to pull a permit from the city of Bath to hold a rally. But you know, we were ready to go either way. And I think it speaks the membership being ready and having our back in the the committee and everybody being ready. And having all that stuff done gives the committee a little breathing room to know that hey, we're not gonna be scrounging in the event that this doesn't go our way and we don't get to a an agreement and we end up in a in a spot where we go on strike if the membership speaks and that's you know, we're prepared on night one. So there's a lot that goes into it, not just the negotiating committee, but Everybody else involved as well.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah. I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up, Tim, because that's important because it it just says what I think is truly remarkable about our union there I am. Our members ultimately our members have the final decision. Yep. We can only put in the w the work, but it it's our members that decide. And in this instance they agreed with you. but in many cases they don't. We have many many contracts that have been settled through strikes that negotiating committees had recommended to the membership, but the membership said no. We appreciate what you've done, but that's not enough. The company owes us more and we're going on strike. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. that's not a that's a that's a decision the members make and that's what sets us aside, I believe, from a lot of different unions is is our members have the final say on on that. So all right, I appreciate you guys joining me today. with that, we'll wrap this up. This is another episode of Shift Change, the IM's official podcast. I look forward to future episodes. So tune in. I hope you're enjoying the subjects that we've been talking about. We've got many more coming. Look, this is a big contract for the IAM.. roughly forty four hundred in S six. We're probably gonna grow actually. But just as important and yeah I am and you'll hear in future podcasts you know, we wanna talk to our smaller shops that we have, you know, fifty, twenty five member shops because those negotiations are just as important. and that same amount of work goes into all of those. So you'll hear about that in future podcasts. but with that, Solidarity Forever and forward to future podcasts with all
speaker-1: All right, I think we had a veteran negotiating committee. We had a lot of good guys on the committee. We went in there and had everything ready with Chris's help and Jay's help. And we went in there and we knew it was gonna be a historic one. the members were behind us. They knew we were gonna go in there and do what we could do and we saw what Engels got with theirs. We based a lot, you know, figuring we're just we're better shipbuilders than they are and that we could go in there and get what the members deserved.
IP Brian Bryant: So for the for the people listening in that Ingalls is the main competitor for Bath Ironworks and we compete against them for the same ships every year that are awarded by the Navy. Jay, for you, you know, what did you see? What was what was your goal in this negotiations? Yeah, to get shipbuilding wages up so
speaker-1: there more on a a scale with like aircraft mechanics and stuff. Shipbuilding wages have fallen behind in the industry for decades. So after seeing Ingalls got a good contract, felt like it this was the time that we could get Bath Ironworks wages up to where they should be for shipbuilding and we were able to do that.
IP Brian Bryant: L let me ask a question, Chris or Tim, throw it out to you guys. What was the process that we used to get ready for negotiations? I mean did you guys survey the membership or did you, you know, sit down as a committee and strategize what we were gonna come up with for proposals and such?
speaker-2: Yeah, we did a survey ahead of time, pulsed all the members on what their top priorities were. That way we knew what we were going in fighting for. it's important to make sure that w you know, we know what the membership wants and that we can go in there and deliver on that. We're always looking for input. we had a pretty good turnout with the surveys. that kind of guided our light, so to speak, as we Started prepping for negotiations. we started quite a bit early in the prep, knowing that it was gonna come up fast. a lot goes into our negotiations. We go through a lot of our memorandum of agreements and and things like that. So we really spent a lot of time together, which helped. I think, like Don said, having a veteran committee, having the surveys And really seeing what the members prioritize gives us a good platform to dissect that contract and know what what needs to be changed. we have a a very good contract that's been fought for over the years. So it was not really reinventing the wheel as much as it was applying pressure and getting the things that we wanted, including little wins that would make a big difference to the membership as well.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, Don touched on it earlier. I I think we should we should talk about that because, you know, in any negotiations, things have to be lined up. The amount of work that the government's given us, or given Bath Ironworks, we gotta have that. We've gotta have the scenario where we can go after higher wages, better benefits and such, and then you gotta have the membership on you and then you gotta have a committee that's working together. I think we would you guys agree we had all of those at at this point.
speaker-1: Absolutely. Definitely.
IP Brian Bryant: The and but that doesn't say you know there's been cases different unions and even in the IAM where we've had that same opportunity, but we didn't grasp it. and it may have been a failure th at many different points. we didn't have that here. I thought the outside looking in, I was really impressed with how fine tuned this negotiating committee, how you prepared, how you get the membership prepared and how we were just laser focused on getting the job done. Chris, I don't know if you want to sh can you talk a little bit about what went into that, making sure that we had that, because it's it just can't be the negotiating committee. we gotta have the membership behind us. We gotta have to be in a right situation where we know we deserve what we're asking for. so I don't know if you wanna expand on that or
speaker-1: Sure. obviously this is it's complicated. There's it's multifaceted. There's a lot of things like you just stated that go into it. but the first and foremost working with a committee, being on a committee previously at the local, knewing the expectations of being a committee member, working with the district, with the international, going through all of the surveying, the negotiation prep. So it was something it was it was relatively easy for me. To a certain extent, and I'll explain it, right? so we I got I got a hold of the W three center set up for the negotiation training, but we couldn't do it at the school because of scheduling conflict. So they were able to accommodate us here at the district. They sent over Tim Height, Brother Height gave the negotiate prep class, flew in David White, flew in a couple other people to go over economics and and stuff like that. So and everyone was here, the whole committee was here every day for a week. they were all in tune, they were all taking part and I talked to Tim a couple of times offline and he goes, Hey these guys kinda know a lot of stuff already. I said, Yeah, they're they're an experienced group of people and if they're not necessarily experienced with negotiations, they've been in the shipyard for thirty years, a lot a lot of them. So they had a lot of experience to bring to the table. So then once we hit that, the surveys were already completed, so we got to use the survey information during the prep. They had already worked on a bunch of proposals on on what they want to open. We were able to get the the company's strike list of of no change articles which helped us understand which articles they were gonna open up or come after. So if we had counters or our own proposals, you know, we already anticipated that they were going to be giving then we were trying to think what they were going to propose to us. So we we had a multiple layers as a group or I should say they did as a group because they really put all the work in when it came to the proposals and what they wanted. And then yeah, we we all were were pulling in the same direction. The only thing that I brought to the table really was just, hey, I'm very militant at the table. When no one's talking unless we know what we're gonna say. We can always go back and come back and answer. So great question. I'm not sure the answer. We'll just come back. And they were they were flawless. You know, they they acted professional They did have questions. They asked the right questions that got us answers to help us go build our proposals to come back and counter what the company wanted. So that was that was incredibly encouraging right on day one that, you know, okay, where are the wheels aren't gonna come off the bus 'cause we all know it's it's emotional at times. There's ebbs and flows. There's, you know, we we're getting down to crunch time on something, so Everything worked really good. It really fell into place, but it really goes back to everybody knowing their role. Everybody knew their job. Everybody was prepared. And I've been I've been part of a lot of negotiating committees where it's like herding cats. You know what I mean? I mean the guys they all want something. And it's like you're trying to focus on one one thing at a time. They did that. This group was really good with that. It was an honor to be able to serve in the committee with all these guys. They really did a great job. They were educated, said the right things, and we pressured the company where we needed to pressure them. There was a lot of sidebars out in the parking lot. And we got through a lot of the tough stuff by doing that. And it worked. so yeah, a a big you know, big hats off to the committee and everybody else who was involved. I know there's a lot of members that were involved in some of the stuff. you know, Jay was was there helping us out with numbers and 'cause he's really good at the costing out like the healthcare stuff, wages and stuff like that so he could get different scenarios for people. So it was really good, kinda like a tandem team where all the weight didn't fall on my shoulders to do that. 'Cause you need help with a big negotiations. It's you know, like you know, it's two solid weeks. so really good. Everybody like I said, everyone's plugged in, you know, pulling the same direction. And it worked out to something that got to the expectation level of historic. And there and it really is. You know what I mean? It really i never thought I'd be part of a negotiating committee where we'd be getting seventeen percent raise the first year, but it's it's unheard of, you know? so it it's it's yeah, it was really good. glad to be part of it. I will say selfishly, it's nice there's a five year gap between negotiations. but but no, yeah, I mean we're quietly already gearing up for the next one. You know what I mean? We're we're s we're already starting what issues are and You know. So no, hats off to the committee and and they did a they did a fantastic job. They deserve all the credit they they're that they're getting.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah, I don't know who wants to talk about I think it would be be important to talk about one of the things 'cause I paid attention, obviously I paid close attention to this. It's my my home local, my home district. I was very interested in what was happening. But I from looking from on the outside, I was really impressed with the communications and such that you had going with the members. And I think that that played a key role, I believe, in to We tr we truly had the membership behind standing behind us. I don't know if anybody wants to jump in and and talk about what we did here during this process so that we could give as much information to the members as possible. I mean we've always if you've been in negotiations before, you know, there's something you can't say because it could change tomorrow and And we want to be guarded by that. But let's talk about two things. One, the communications that we did with the members, but also how did you get the members engaged the way you did? 'cause I hear in some places they brought back hammering on on the hour. that was always effective, pisses the company off. But let's talk about it.
speaker-3: yeah, so I wasn't on the negotiating committee for the last negotiations, but I was the communicator at the time. So I had a little bit of experience coming into this of what what was the best way to get information out. And so number one was the the IAM's texting service that they gave us access to. You know, that was free of charge for the local. That was awesome. They sent us little business cards that are QR codes that the members could scan and it would bring them to a webpage where they could sign up for the texting service. And that's huge, right? I mean social media is great, flyers are great. But given the membership the ability to have information immediately sent to them, is pretty big. And it and it doesn't give you a lot of like words to use within the text, but you know, you have just have a brief overview of what you're talking about and have a link to to the website and then we can really flesh out everything. And that was that was like the core of it really to get that information out. we used a little less social media this time and I think we went with that d in that direction because social media th though it's useful, not everyone is on every social media service and also it creates an avenue for people to really get a lot of arguing and back and forth of stuff going on. So it's I don't wanna, you know, we don't wanna stop any conversation for sure, but when there's a lot of confusion and as you're saying, like we're trying get as much information as we can out to the membership without jeopardizing what we're doing at the table, right? We can't you know, as much as it would be nice to I don't think, you know, at least in our situation, it's really appropriate to get every little bit of information 'cause it would give the company that much more of of ability to absorb where the membership's at. Because if they can just gauge where the membership's at before we even get to the vote, then they can start influencing what they're doing at the table and, you know, it could overall may create a worse deal for everyone. And so fortunately, you know, the the membership was satisfied with it and I think you know that I would encourage any communication group during negotiation to do something similarly. And with the hammering down really that just is which g more credence of the membership. the membership is the biggest part of it, right? That's where our power comes from. it's big but we've been trying to s talk about that a lot because that is a huge, huge part of it. And it wasn't necessarily something we asked for. I think that the membership sensed that there was a a little bit of nonsense going on with the company of how they were trying to influence the membership to stay quiet and the way our members are at local S six, you they're not gonna be told what to do. And so we never you know, it in you know, directly asked them, hey, start hammering down, but I think they sort of they sort they sensed it. They sensed it through the communications, even though we were, you know, keeping things relatively vague, you know, but still letting them know what's going on. they picked up on it and they ran with it. And I think it was it played a big part in, you know, in our success overall.
speaker-2: Yeah, I think especially with the hammering down, it it's it like you had hit on, it really pisses the company off. And so they were scrounging and we did a good job of just coming together, trying to get the message out, taking back the narrative and making sure that we were there to negotiate a contract, we were ready, we outworked them, and when they started talking about, well, hey, these people are doing that Yeah, that's fine. We're gonna continue to sit at the table and bargain. And we kinda held their feet to the fire, so the company really didn't have much of a choice but to to sit there and try to negotiate. And I I think it speaks volumes for the committee that we really were prepared and when it really come down to it, I think we outworked them. you know, they like to drag their feet, stall, do certain things throughout their negotiation process and I'm sure that's geared that way. we made sure that we were focused and that we made the most of our time and tried to get so they always owed us something. And just trying to stay focused and not let some of that outside noise and get caught up into the overall fight. And for us, let the membership have our back on that and for us to just stay focused at the table.
speaker-1: Yeah.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, Chris touched on it earlier. I and I talked to many different groups and I I I'll throw it out to all of you, but one of the things any of our negotiating committees that have had the ability to either go to the Wimpen Singer or have the educators come and and do the same training that you guys went through, you know, pretty much all of them always come back and say that, you know, we felt like we were better prepared than the employer was in negotiations and it made us look more professional at the table. You kind touched on that. The
speaker-2: Yeah, absolutely.
IP Brian Bryant: I think that's important. That says a lot to the to the company when they see a a bargaining committee that is prepared, professional, and and there to to do a job and get it done for our members. That goes a long way. you know, you guys did all this. Let's talk about the let's talk about the contract. You know, I as soon as the tentative came out, I text Jay. right away and said, you know, it's in the membership's hands, but this was by far the the richest contract I have ever seen negotiated in my history at Bath Ironworks. And I I would dare say it's probably the it's probably the richest contract ever. let's talk about what you guys were able to achieve after all the work that was put in for you know preparing for negotiations, gearing up the membership. Let's talk about what we what we ended up receiving.
speaker-1: I'll talk about being the chief steward. Language is big for me, right? This is my third contract and people don't realize we took zero concessions. Every bit That's absolutely huge. That is big. It's historic about the money, seventeen percent, four across the board, but zero concessions. Either language stayed the same or we gained language out of anything that we proposed. which is people just don't realize how much language goes, right? It's it's big when it's when you talk Chief Stewart, Grievance Committee, Stewart. We we we did a gr hell of a job when it came to that, for sure.
IP Brian Bryant: You know, you got I'm Don, I'm glad you mentioned that because you know, language is is absolutely critical in any collective bargaining agreement. And I was impressed with the what you guys were able to do for strengthening the technology language and we're strengthening the language for protections against a AI. Look, we're in favor of AI if it's used to make our jobs safer or make harder jobs easier, but we're totally not interested if it all it is gonna do is replace workers. That's just the wrong model to be used. You know, hats off to you guys 'cause I know you guys strengthen that language. 'Cause it's gonna come. Even though we're a production local S six is production and maintenance, there's plenty of jobs out there that they would look at trying to automate where they can use automation. Was that a big fight? 'Cause that I'll tell you across the IAM in many places that's been very difficult to get two things. To get language or even strengthen the language so that it truly it protects our memory.
speaker-1: We thought it was a priority for us, right? We wanted to open that door 'cause like you said, nobody else has that, right? And so we we talked as a committee. We figured just open that door and at least having that language in there gives us the opportunity to sit down and talk. And the company was pretty open to it. So and like Timmy said, most of the we did most of the work. I mean, we would give them language and we just keep working on it and they just they just held back and gave us basically What we wanted. I mean I hate to say that it sounds like we wanted but it that's what it
speaker-2: think we did well. I think we surprised them with a couple of things that we came after that, you know, a lot of times going in negotiations, you get a sense of where they're coming from or what they want, 'cause you've been fighting about it. And same goes for them. They know what we want. And so coming in with a couple of things that we wanted that I think really took them by surprise. I think they were too busy trying to figure out what it meant. And when it really comes down to it, like you said, i you're not going to stop it. You need to get in front of it. And we've had language in our contract that you know, gives us certain protections, but we wanted the those timelines to start at the beginning of the process. Before they you know, before it's too late and they're implementing it, we can always, you know, follow the the grievance process, but by that time it's too late. We we need to be on the forefront of those conversations. We need to be involved and know what the impacts to the membership are gonna be before they even bring it into the shipyard, before they purchase it, before they do anything. That was really important for us.
IP Brian Bryant: So five year contract, seventeen percent the first year, and then four percent each of the re remaining years of the collective bargaining game. So that's thirty three? So that's thirty-three percent. So thirty-three percent and wage increases over the five years. That's thirty n nearly thirty-six percent if you compound it. that's historical and we've said that I've said that continuously. I I don't think I've ever seen a contract at Bath Ironworks that is that rich. But it's not just wages. you guys were able to accomplish a pretty big feat and really containing health care costs for our members. what's the change in the health care?
speaker-1: So healthcare I I think we did really well on. They we have three different plans that you can be a part of. in in all of your cost share went up the very first year and then for the next four years it didn't go up again. and in two of those is no design change whatsoever. So prescription drugs don't go up, your doctor's visits don't go up, the stuff that normally they creep up over the contract, your your co pays and out of pockets. The only one that did have some income
IP Brian Bryant: Did have some increases
speaker-1: was
IP Brian Bryant: with
speaker-1: our high deductible plan, which is driven by IRS. They usually bump those up. but the other ones, the plan design froze and your premiums only went up in that first year and then held steady for the next four, which is unheard of.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah. it is unheard of. And I think I think we did the math both I know you did it, Jay, but also our our strategic resources department did the math. The contribution that our members do pay, to them it's significant, but if you look at the at the industry but even in in other labor agreements, it's really it's it's fairly low. It hovers around probably ten percent. Yeah.
speaker-1: Yeah, I think that's pretty consistent, around ten percent.
IP Brian Bryant: but that's just I mean, I just gotta tell you, that's truly remarkable that you know, you take an initial hit the first year of the contract, but then you have four years of everything staying flat. that's a huge victory. That's a big win. I mean, Jay Chris, you know, you've you've taken an increase or you're it's predicated on and maybe even waiting to see what the what the increase is gonna be in premiums, based on what the market's doing. And it's that It's absolutely incredible. You guys should be very proud of the
speaker-4: So with our healthcare cost containment right with other aspects of what we were able to accomplish in the CBA, we absolutely used our surveys, which is one of the things that we use during prep, and across the international I think it's pretty pretty consistent across all the other bargaining units they use that and We not only used it, but I believe we weaponized it. We we knew we had our membership. It felt like it was like horses at the race gate. Like we knew our membership was ready to go at any time that we needed we were opening those gates. And the company knew that. And I I wholeheartedly believe that that helped our power at the table and and using our surveys as a way to E J P everything we asked for. There was nothing that we necessarily I don't believe that we asked for that the membership didn't speak to. they wanted what they wanted and I think we delivered probably in the high ninety percentile of what the surveys brought back, you know, increased GWI, we had healthcare cost containment. You know, we preserved the flexibility on our vacation. We had outsourcing protections, right? We were able to secure a lot of our maintenance and capital project works. and we were able to put some full-time equivalent numbers in for containment and you know maintenance is usually operated on on attrition. Now we have a hard line that can't go below. So we we did a lot of the things and including winter shutdown was was a huge priority for our membership, we were able to get that back because, you know, we just went through Labor Day, right? And that's a day for the working class, right? And I believe that that shutdown is very important to our membership. That's a time for people to kind of dial it back throughout the holidays and really spend time with our families and a lot of our membership now is coming from away. So it gives them an opportunity to go back home to wherever they came from and really spend that quality time during the holidays. And I think that really that radiated with the membership a lot. That was a very big topic. It was, I think ninety one percent was they wanted that back, right? So that was high, high, high on our list.
speaker-1: Higher than wages.
speaker-4: it was higher than wages. so I think we delivered that. we delivered increase in four hundred one K. We we delivered across the board, I feel like. and we did we did a great job. I mean we with our training with mister Height, Brother Height, and he he came in and gave us that and I think it was important, like Chris and everybody else that sat here today. I think it helped that we were a veteran group. We knew f from past contracts or follow contracts, some of us were on twenty three and we came into this one in twenty six. So we knew what we asked for in twenty six. I think that gave us an advantage talking with where we are today. We knew what the company had not held the line on, we knew where we held the line, and we knew how to argue. And you know, with the AI stuff, it was very important for most of us on the committee, if not everybody, that we know it's coming for our world, right? It it may be an automotive, it may be in other aspects, but shipbuilding was we know it's on the map. It's already sneaking in the back door. and we needed some protections and provisions to protect our protect our workforce and our work. yeah, I I think we did a hell of a job and I think we were very well trained. We went in there tactically and like Timmy spoke to earlier, we just outworked I I you know, at any point they were willing, yeah, we'll just see you tomorrow. And we worked into the evening and we were able to counter right first thing the next morning and they were they just we just outworked We we did what local six does and We fought but we fought tactically.
IP Brian Bryant: You guys acted like pipe fitters. Ver very proud of you. Let's talk about that. What were you able to get for the pipe fitters?
speaker-2: We had two sandblasts on the committee, so we tried to really drive that home.
speaker-1: Okay.
IP Brian Bryant: So we've got a a historic tentative agreement that you guys negotiated. Let's talk about go is my understanding, close to eighty percent that the contract was ratified by. that's also historical for local SX and for any IAM. contract. Very rarely, especially with large groups, do we ever see nearly an eighty percent ratification. let's talk about what you re you negotiated the tentative agreement, but then we n then we go into ratification and I believe you guys had a week or close to a week between when it was TA'd and w when it was ratified. while the negotiation s stopped, the process didn't stop because when then we now we had to go out and and talk to the members and educate How did you guys do that?
speaker-1: We called over the Stuarts first thing Monday. We had the tentative agreements. we explained all the changes because we all know that the Stuarts are the front line, right? So we made sure that they understood. We sent them all out there. We went out, we talked to people, we sent the Stuarts out to ask any you know, to answer any questions. All week long we had that whole week right up to. We had no negative feedback. Everybody was very happy. And we just continued to answer any questions leading right up to Saturday when we had the reading. And just to go s to show you how much we got out there, there was only like a very few people that ended up showing up to the l for the reading. And I think we only had one member that asked any questions and he just and that guy that asked the questions, the member, the brother, he works at the tech center. So we didn't get out there to answer those couple of questions so That was the only reason he came and he had been here for a while. So it was a great job by everybody, all the Stuarts, everybody on the negotiating committee. We got it out there in plenty of time to get all the questions it answered. And that's probably why we had such a good turnout with the eighty percent.
IP Brian Bryant: Anybody else?
speaker-4: Yeah, I'll double down on that. like Don said, we we were boots on the ground. Don and and Timmy called a y steward meeting that morning, had everybody come out, loaded up with TAs. We had TAs printed over the weekend, so we had hard copies to be able to give to our members. we were at every gate early that morning from third shift right on through the evening into second shift, and we were boots on the ground, right? We were in the engine rooms. We were talking to the guys that are forgotten about in the, you know, the the workshops that are here and there and guys that don't typically see a lot of traffic. We went and found those people. We went and found the insulators on the north end that hardly see, you know, some of the stuff that we do and and had long good dialogue with them. and I think like to Don's point, right, I think that's why 17 Vokes showed up. I think everybody was well informed. And you know, we can attest that to the communication, right, that we delivered the whole time. Our membership was informed right out of the gate from day one to the last day and right through the TA week when we were out there explaining. I think we did a a great job letting our membership know where we were at, what we did and answered any of the questions. Our stewards were armed with any and all questions and answers that they may receive that day. we did a highlight sheet. of of you know kind of the the changes that people could kinda easily reference. yeah, I think the boots on the ground we had our stewards on the ground during at the table feeling stuff. So they were kind of feeding us information of pulsing the membership as we were live. And I think when we were able to go back down on the deck plates after the TA and really interface with the people and you know everybody was able to put a face to the man at the at the table, right? think that went along way with with a lot of people and I think that's why I think we had a low turnout at the reading 'cause I think everybody knew exactly what we did and and they didn't have any questions.
IP Brian Bryant: Let me ask a question. Is there anything Tim, you wanna add to that? You don't want to add to it, okay. The let me ask you a question. In every negotiations is give and take. if there was any issues that you know, you may want any listeners know obviously we didn't get everything that we were looking for, you know. I don't know if you wanna expand on is there an issue that we didn't get that we were hoping to get? You know, and it maybe it would speak to the two things. The process, but maybe the maybe there's there's folks out there in the membership that maybe wanted s something that wasn't in the contract but they weren't we weren't able to get it for Is was there any issues like that?
speaker-2: Yeah, I I think there was a you know, we did the surveys but we also went out and and pulsed the membership as a committee. We try to get around to all the shifts and and kinda talk to people and it's always wanted and always good prior to going in So when we did that we got a lot of things that were specific that might have been in the survey in the in the, you know, question part, where they expanded on it. But a lot of it was just, hey, we'd like to have this or hey, what about this? And there was a couple of those things that we proposed that it makes it hard and and every one of us has a vote, every one of us has strong feelings. We hold each other accountable when we get to the to the table. But when we're off breaking out on our side, it's not easy. You you got we had eight people, you got eight different voices, everybody has input and it's it's a lot of arguing. It's a lot of different takes on what way we go, what we stick on, what we don't stick on. And those are the things that that people don't always see. Those are the things that really drives the committee to be united because you can have those confrontations and arguments and and have it be really intense, but also boil it back down to coming to a decision and and staying united and making that path forward. as a as a body and not just an individual and everybody staying on track again speaks well for the committee. It's it's not easy, especially when you have stuff that you really, really want and you want to deliver for the membership and it's kind of a sticking point. a lot of times at some point you have to get off it and you propose it on day one and it and it's the last thing you want to get off, and you take it to the eleventh hour and then as a committee you decide whether or not you can get there or not get there and and those are the things that are the most difficult. and a lot of times that that goes unsaid. But
IP Brian Bryant: I think it's important to talk about that, Tim, because you know, there's always a a member of members of classification out there that feel like, hey, my issue wasn't addressed. But in reality that wasn't the case. The the negotiating committee may have been trying to get something for a a particular classification or classifications and the company just wasn't getting off the dime on it. And, you know, at some point the decision had to be made, okay. We're not gonna be able to get it this time. You know, we've gotta we either gotta get off it, get something else or or improve something else. in order to do that. And that's part of negotiations. I mean that's whatever that's how we train people, down at the Winpisinger.. You know, negotiations is a moving product and the you're not always we're not always gonna get what we want, and the p certainly the company's not always gonna get what they want. But there's a time where you've got to stop arguing and move on for the betterment of the in entire membership. Those decisions can be difficult. And it can be contentious in our negotiations. you know, when we're meeting by ourselves. you know, but it sounds like your committee, you know, you were able to have the productive discussions and move things so that it was to the membership's benefit. so I I just say hats off to all of you. The you know, I'll just say as the international president of our great union, I'm very proud of of the work that all of you have done in this negotiations for our members. I hope you're proud. I hope our membership's proud of what they've been able to achieve with this contract. And it's truly historical. It's historical not only for Bath Ironworks and our members here at the local S6, but historical for the IAM, this collective bargain agreement. So hats off to all of you, hats off to our membership. Before we wrap
speaker-2: The only the only other thing I'd mention is is that as diligent as we were at the table and going and we were prepared. but we were also prepared if it didn't go our way. We were prepared to go on strike. We had our strike committee, we had signs. we even went as far as to pull a permit from the city of Bath to hold a rally. But you know, we were ready to go either way. And I think it speaks the membership being ready and having our back in the the committee and everybody being ready. And having all that stuff done gives the committee a little breathing room to know that hey, we're not gonna be scrounging in the event that this doesn't go our way and we don't get to a an agreement and we end up in a in a spot where we go on strike if the membership speaks and that's you know, we're prepared on night one. So there's a lot that goes into it, not just the negotiating committee, but Everybody else involved as well.
IP Brian Bryant: Yeah. I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up, Tim, because that's important because it it just says what I think is truly remarkable about our union there I am. Our members ultimately our members have the final decision. Yep. We can only put in the w the work, but it it's our members that decide. And in this instance they agreed with you. but in many cases they don't. We have many many contracts that have been settled through strikes that negotiating committees had recommended to the membership, but the membership said no. We appreciate what you've done, but that's not enough. The company owes us more and we're going on strike. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. that's not a that's a that's a decision the members make and that's what sets us aside, I believe, from a lot of different unions is is our members have the final say on on that. So all right, I appreciate you guys joining me today. with that, we'll wrap this up. This is another episode of Shift Change, the IM's official podcast. I look forward to future episodes. So tune in. I hope you're enjoying the subjects that we've been talking about. We've got many more coming. Look, this is a big contract for the IAM.. roughly forty four hundred in S six. We're probably gonna grow actually. But just as important and yeah I am and you'll hear in future podcasts you know, we wanna talk to our smaller shops that we have, you know, fifty, twenty five member shops because those negotiations are just as important. and that same amount of work goes into all of those. So you'll hear about that in future podcasts. but with that, Solidarity Forever and forward to future podcasts with all
