Strike averted as submarine designers in Connecticut agree to contract with Electric Boat

GROTON, Conn. (AP) — The union for about 2,500 submarine designers at Electric Boat in Connecticut has tentatively agreed to a new contract with the company, averting a strike that would have begun Monday.

The Marine Draftsmen’s Association-United Auto Workers of America, Local 571, essentially the workers responsible for designing the U.S. Navy‘s nuclear submarine fleet, had threatened to strike earlier this month if the company did not make greater wage and benefit concessions.

The local’s negotiating committee announced the tentative contract agreement late Sunday, saying it contains “unprecedented” wage increases of more than 30% over the five-year term as well as increased retirement security. The deal now goes up for a vote by union members. Union officials did not say when the vote would be.

“We’ve been saying it all along: The company didn’t want a work stoppage, we did not want a work stoppage,” William Louis, president of Local 571, said in a video posted on union social media sites Sunday night. “And as we’ve been telling you for a long time, we have been working endlessly to get to the table with the company and have something put together that we both agree on.”

Electric Boat, a subsidiary of Reston-based General Dynamics, was recently awarded a contract worth more than $12.4 billion by the Navy for the construction of two Virginia-class submarines. The funding also covers improved pay for workers including the Marine Draftsmen’s Association. The contract offers options to increase the total of $17.1 billion, along with $1.2 billion for Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries and Newport News Shipbuilding.

“This package recognizes the essential role of the MDA members in the production of submarines for the U.S. Navy,” Electric Boat said in a joint statement with the union.

The union’s contract expired April 4, but leadership had agreed to continue bargaining with EB.

Electric Boat employs more than 23,000 people at his shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, engineering facilities in New London, Connecticut, and operations in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.

The company said its earlier offer included a 23.3% general wage increase over the life of the contract, plus benefits and an increased retirement package.