Bad Boss, Bad Job: Why NOT To Work For General Dynamics / Bath Iron Works

  

Several of us camped out in front of a hiring event held by General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works at the Maine Bureau of Labor's Career Center yesterday. Based on Augusta Police and Capitol Police cruising by without stopping, we were on public property. Our goal: offering information to prospective job applicants about how GD/BIW profits from its support of Israel's Gaza genocide.

Current employees of GD/BIW wore t-shirts with the slogans depicted above -- reminding potential new hires of the shipyard's culture. 

BIW is a notoriously wretched place to work. Women hate it, young people hate it, and it's not difficult to see why. Still, as one young woman with the appearance of an education worker (she was carrying a tote bag with a famous children's book cover on it) told us, I need a job.

Our response: Of course, but there are so many other places you could work.

Top 5 reasons not to work at GD/BIW

#1 Genocide profiteers

One job seeker commented at our display, I did not know that General Dynamics owned Bath Iron Works.

#2 Terrible management

BIW stonewalls workers during contract negotiations and then hires outside the contract using loopholes to bring in workers from out of state.

BIW lives off taxpayers as it builds solely for the Navy, has lots of cash (in 2023 GD's CEO Phebe Novakovic was paid $22.5 million), and is indicating they are increasingly short of workers to fulfill the warship orders they've already received. 

They have an online job application for a multitude of openings. It would be shame if unserious applicants were to gum up the works.

 #3 Bad neighbors

From the Times Record August 13, 2024:

Bath Iron Works has withdrawn a pair of requests to rezone a section of Bath’s South End neighborhood after pushback from neighbors who want to know more about what the shipyard is planning.

BIW was looking to amend zoning for parts of the South End neighborhood because the company’s office building at 580 Washington St. is outdated and requires significant upgrades..

BIW has been acquiring real estate in the neighborhood along Washington Street as well as residential properties on Wesley, Bath and Middle streets since early 2023, according to city records.

#4 Health hazards

Any industrial job carries risks to workers' health. Former BIW tool shop worker the late Peter Woodruff developed aphasia (loss of the ability to speak) due to manganese exposure similar to the neurological problems experienced by others who worked with the substance. Woodruff was dropped by BIW's company doctor for raising the issue and lacked the deep pockets to take on GD's corporate lawyers pushing back on his claim.

#5 There are viable alternatives

The job market in Maine favors workers at the moment. That is, unemployment is low and myriad jobs working for the man (military, police, BIW) are experiencing persistent staffing shortfalls. The misnomer "best job in Maine" applied to BIW indicates that full-time jobs with benefits are rare and especially ones that offer a living wage. 

What are some alternatives?

The biggest employers in Maine are public education followed by health care providers like hospitals. Both need workers of all kinds, not just folks with college degrees. Many offer union membership to protect workers' rights and to engage in collective bargaining over contracts.

Paper mills still exist, like SAPPI in Waterville. Jobs there include ongoing education at your employer's expense.

Peace Action Maine Speaker Condemns Hamas & Is Booed Off The Stage

On Wednesday I was at a rally organized by the Maine Coalition for Palestine and DSA Maine in downtown Portland. It drew about 150 people and received some coverage from local tv channel WGME, including this comment from my friend Mary Beth Sullivan: 

So, we say one thing and do another. That doesn't represent the American people. The American people do not want this genocide to continue.

"Say one thing" referred to the Democratic Party convention hearing lie after lie from the current administration claiming they want a ceasefire while meanwhile shipping an additional $20 billion worth of weapons to Israel.

The program for the rally was varied and included speakers from several organizations that are part of the Maine Coalition for Palestine. There was a dabke dance led by Palestinian-Americans, a plea for humanitarian donations to help a family in Gaza, and a speech sharing the history of the British empire's intention to create a foothold in Asia via a Zionist homeland in Palestine even prior to WWI. 

One Jewish Voice for Peace member wore a baby carrier with the message "Jewish baby against killing Palestinian babies" and another spoke saying:

Zionism doesn't protect Jews. It never has, and it never will.

From the beginning, Zionism was dreamed up by European Christian white supremacists who intended to use Jews as a glove.. while their hands were dirty extracting resources and profits from Palestine.

A problem arose when a speaker from Peace Action Maine, attorney Seth Berner, stepped to the mic. After identifying himself and his organization (which is part of the Maine Coalition for Palestine) he opened his remarks with a reference to war crimes allegedly committed by Hamas on October 7. 

From the audience one of our group responded with, "Resistance to occupation is justified!" Berner was visibly irritated and asked if he should just stop speaking. I wanted to be sure that I had heard him correctly so I called out, "Did you say that Hamas committed war crimes on October 7th, Seth?"

"Yes, I did," he replied.

"Then I'm out," I said, and walked away from the rally to go sit in my car. As an attendee but not an organizer I didn't feel I could stop him from speaking, but I could register my disagreement and discomfort by leaving rather than standing by while such a claim was made.

As I departed Monument Square I could hear more comments being made from the audience, but not very clearly. According to Jessie Mathieson of Maine Labor for Palestine, the crowd began chanting, "When people are occupied / resistance is justified" led by coalition organizers. Berner stood down and did not deliver his remarks after all.

Mathieson commented further:

I think if he had gotten up there and started talking about the "Not Another Bomb" campaign or other electoral strategies -- that many of us know are wasted energy, but are still within the wheelhouse of organizers in the movement -- people would have let him speak. 

He was stopped from speaking because he was repeating the Zionist rhetoric about October 7th.

And we cannot let someone get away with that. He was emphasizing children being murdered and placing the blame for this escalation in genocide on what happened on October 7th.

Personally, I was not surprised that Berner took this approach. His organization has been dead wrong in their analysis of the proxy war NATO is waging on Russia via Ukraine since 2014. Also, in 2022, Peace Action Maine endorsed Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree despite her repeated votes to spend billions on weapons of mass destruction. (Pingree excels at making nice words come out of her mouth while funding violence against civilians.)

I believe based on years of observation that Peace Action Maine is completely in thrall to the Democratic Party. This puts them in a tricky situation as Dems now own the Gaza genocide. As a pro-imperialism party, Democrats are going to be wrong on their characterization of world events and I believe they are going to try and sneak those messages in when they see an opportunity.

Good on the people of Portland for calling this out.