Late August 7, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local S6 negotiating committee reached a tentative agreement with General Dynamic’s Bath Iron Works. While still subject to ratification by union members, the tentative agreement will allow the union’s members return to work building ships following a lengthy strike over wage disagreements and changes to the pension and subcontractor rules. According to General Dynamics, roughly 4,300 union members participated in the strike at its Bath, Maine shipyard, which began June 22.
According to General Dynamics, the proposed agreement covers the use of subcontractors, work rules for accelerating Bath Iron Works’ schedule performance, 3% wage increases in each year and continuation of existing benefits. In a piece on the IAM’s website, the IAM S6 said the agreement keeps existing subcontracting language, healthcare premiums, and senior preferences.
Dirk Lesko, the President of Bath Iron Works, said leadership worked “hand-in-hand” with the union negotiating committee on the agreement. In a statement, he said he hoped “our most valued employees” would “return to work soon so we can get on with our important mission of building ships for the U.S. Navy.” Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics, said she was “pleased to have reached an agreement” with the union and credited assistance from Peter Navarro, a trade advisor to the White House, and AFL-CIO department president Jimmy Hart for “bringing the parties together.”
IAM General Vice President Brian Bryant commended “the entire membership of Local S6” for their persistence. “Their strength and resilience allowed the negotiating committee to bring back this agreement.” IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. and IAM Local S6 President said they were “proud” of the striking workers.
A pair of dueling editorials published in June by the Portland Press Herald spelled out the terms of the disagreement. On June 17, the Herald published an editorial by Chris Wiers, president of the Local S6, in which he criticizes the company for attempting to “outsource jobs to out-of-state subcontractors, attack employee seniority provisions and dramatically increase employee healthcare costs.”
In response, Jon A. Fitzgerald, VP and general counsel of BIW, noted that the offer included wage increases to more than make up for the increased healthcare costs, and that changes to subcontract policies were to facilitate work unrelated to shipbuilding like shoveling snow. “It is our responsibility to ensure the competitiveness of one of the state’s largest employers,” he wrote, noting that BIW had recently lost a competition to build a new frigate. “This includes proposing changes to restrictions on our ability to muster and deploy every available resource.” On June 21, 87% of union members voted to approve a strike, which began the following day.
“We appreciate the hard work of all who contributed to this effort, including both the BIW and LS6 negotiating committees as well as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, who will continue to work with both parties to implement the agreement when it is ratified,” said Lesko.
Sometimes when you are a leader the most important thing you can do is tell things like they are.
And this is exactly the philosophy of Jaime Irick, PPG vice president, architectural coatings, U.S. and Canada.
While manufacturers have been addressing issues of diversity, inclusion and equity for quite some time, current events call for companies to specifically address the issue of systemic racism.
“This is not a moment, it’s a movement,” explains Irick.
In a very personal email, he took that message to his business, which consists of more than 6,000 people. He spoke of his family’s involvement in the civil rights movement in the 60s. And he expressed his disappointment that “after multiple decades, so many parts of our country are still deeply mired in racism.”
Irick called for action. “We can’t afford to stand on the sidelines. As human beings, we have an obligation to take an active role as to what’s going on in our country.”
And using the word racism is key. “I believe strongly in first embracing reality, and then defining what winning looks like,” he said.
To “win” by improving his team’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, he does what any good lean leader would do -- Irick worked at General Electric for over a decade where he was a GE company officer -- he determines the current state.
“We have been having frank conversations, up and down the organization,” says Irick. “As a black executive for about twenty years, I have always had these conversations and now everyone at the company is doing the same. We talk about perceptions and we talk about unconscious bias.”
Discussion is an important first step in an overall attitude change. In his email, he spelled this out. “…as a global company, and as individuals, we can make a difference and amplify this moment into a movement.”
Irick said that many employees have expressed to him how grateful they are to discuss this issue and want to see change happen across corporate America.
Irick Senior Leadership TeamPPG
Fostering change is nothing new to Irick. While at PPG he has created one of the most diverse teams at the company. “It’s not a coincidence that our team is performing well, as many studies have shown diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams. In fact, in today’s world, if a company wants to compete in the market and provide a fair return to shareholders, they need to be creating diverse teams.”
While evaluating the current state and improving it, Irick has a clear view of the future state as well. “As we hire people out of college, they are going to ask us, ‘what was your response to the George Floyd murder? Did you change your policies? Did you change the makeup of your teams?’”
Irick also sees this issue as being important to customers and suppliers. “There will be more stringent standards in the area of diversity.”
Being held up to stringent standards is something that Irick says PPG is more than capable of. “Continuously improving the company is core to the PPG Way,” Irick says. “We always strive to do better today than we did yesterday and as we approach the issues of racism, discrimination, and bias, we will do the same and continue to take authentic steps to ensure progress.”
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