Hundreds of workers are now on strike at U.S. Navy shipbuilding contractor General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, after they rejected the shipyard's latest union contract offer.

According to the Associated Press, the Bath Marine Draftsmen's Association (BMDA) represents 627 designers, clerks and technicians at General Dynamics. In a statement, the union said that General Dynamics' most recent contract offer does not adequately address concerns over wages, insurance coverage and retirement income security. This also comes weeks after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had visited the shipyard to tout the importance of boosting defense manufacturing.

“We had hoped the company took to heart the statements made by Secretary Hegseth here at GD BIW on February 9th, because our membership certainly did," union president Trent Vellella said. Vellella went on to claim that General Dynamics has made record profits off the union's labor.

A spokesperson for the company asserted that its proposal included "historic annual wage increases," including a 10.1% raise in the first year of the contract, and then 4% increases in each of the next three years. General Dynamics — which has a total workforce of 6,800 employees — said that it plans to keep its business operations running during the strike, and that it will continue negotiating with the BMDA to "explore opportunities to better align company and union objectives."

General Dynamics is one of the U.S. Navy's largest shipbuilding contractors. In 2023, it was awarded a major multiyear contract to build Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which are described by the Navy as the "backbone" of its surface fleet. The Navy also exercised an option in 2025 to add an additional destroyer to the shipyard's contract.