--- title: "Shipyards in California and Maine Raise Pay to Keep Workers as Navy Seeks More Ships" description: "Contracts at NASSCO and Bath Iron Works deliver raises of up to 17% as the industry struggles to keep experienced crews." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-10-03T11:17:01Z modified: 2026-10-03T12:47:14Z url: https://rews.cc/a/shipyards-in-california-and-maine-raise-pay-to-keep-workers--2748ee language: en tags: ["infrastructure", "labor", "military", "economy", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Shipyards in California and Maine Raise Pay to Keep Workers as Navy Seeks More Ships *Contracts at NASSCO and Bath Iron Works deliver raises of up to 17% as the industry struggles to keep experienced crews.* By rews desk · October 3, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/shipyards-in-california-and-maine-raise-pay-to-keep-workers--2748ee ## In brief - Over 800 NASSCO workers in San Diego ratified a three-year deal with raises of 10%, 5% and 4% - More than 4,500 workers at Bath Iron Works in Maine won a 17% first-year raise and 4% in four later years - Senior Navy leaders have said pay must compete with jobs at Amazon or Buc-ee’s to keep shipyard workers - Average experience has fallen sharply; HII electrical supervisors went from 20-plus years on the job to about 4.5 - Half of NASSCO’s union members cross the Mexican border daily, some leaving home at 2 a.m More than 800 shipyard workers in San Diego ratified a three-year contract last week that raises their wages 10 percent in the first year, the second major pay victory in recent weeks for the unions that build the Navy’s ships. The agreement at General Dynamics NASSCO, which specializes in auxiliary vessels for the Navy, also improves retirement benefits and adds floating time off and worker protections, with raises of 5 percent in the second year and 4 percent in the third. Union leaders and shipbuilders told Business Insider the deal and others like it are meant to keep skilled workers from walking out the gate just as the Navy presses the industry to rebuild its capacity. “I think overall, it’ll bring the industry back to where it needs to be,” said George Edwards, the Eastern Territory coordinator of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The new contracts, he said, have “set the trend for where you’re going to see things going in the next couple years in shipbuilding.” The San Diego ratification followed a bigger win in Maine last month, where more than 4,500 workers at Bath Iron Works approved a contract with a 17 percent raise in the first year, a 4 percent bump in each of the next four and stronger retirement benefits. Charles F. Krugh, the yard’s president, said in a statement that the contract “demonstrates our commitment to retaining our experienced workforce and to our mission of building the highest-quality surface combatants that protect our country and our families.” Money sits at the center of it. San Diego’s cost of living runs nearly 50 percent above the national average, and low pay had sent workers to rival yards, said Robert Martinez, the union’s Western Territory general vice president. The raises, he said, will help the company cut “losses of skilled workers to other shipyards because they weren’t paying as competitively.” Senior Navy leaders have made the same argument. “I think this is really an issue of wages, to be honest,” John Phelan, the Navy secretary until late April, said last year. A welder who might earn as much at a Buc-ee’s convenience store or at Amazon but instead spends the day crammed into tight, uncomfortable spaces, he said, will not stay. Hung Cao, the acting secretary, told a congressional hearing in May that “we need to build ships, and we need to do it yesterday, so we will make sure that we protect our workers.” The churn has thinned out experience across the industry. At Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest American shipbuilder, the average electrical supervisor had more than 20 years on the job in the mid-1990s. By February of last year, that figure had fallen to about four and a half. “That’s a lot of lost experience,” Tom Moore, HII’s senior vice president of government relations, said at the time. HII said last fall that heavier investment in wages had brought “an increase in experienced hires,” and in March, union-represented workers at its Ingalls Shipbuilding division negotiated an immediate base-wage increase of 18 percent or more, with total wage growth of 35 to 47 percent through 2031. At Bath Iron Works, “maybe three-quarters of the shipyard has got about six years or less of experience,” Chris Wiers, an assistant directing business representative for the union’s District 4 there, told Business Insider. Hold onto those workers, he said, and the yard’s baseline expertise rises with their seniority. Organizing has been part of the change at NASSCO. Union membership there jumped from 21 percent to 67 percent during the talks. “There has been a change of culture in the shop. It’s becoming more of a union shop, and I think you feel the solidarity,” said Luis Silvas, a special representative for the union. “There’s a certain youth and passion that comes from believing in themselves, understanding that they’re skilled workers.” Pay is only one piece. Yards are also investing in infrastructure, hiring campaigns, training pipelines and transportation help, a life-or-death question for some workers. “50% of our membership at NASSCO crosses the border every single day,” coming from Mexico, said Richard Suarez, the union’s Western Territory coordinator. To make a 6 a.m. shift, some leave home as early as 2 a.m. to beat the border wait. The Navy, meanwhile, is bringing artificial intelligence and robotics into the yards, and workers want a say in how. The Bath contract sets formal processes for introducing new technology earlier, where before, employees came in near the end and confusion followed, said Tim Suiter, the president of Local S6. Now, he said, workers will be at “the forefront of the process.” The contract wins, Mr. Silvas said, show the people in these jobs “can make long-lasting careers because people can invest in themselves. They can invest in their families. They can invest in their communities.”