Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Machinists Rally for BIW Strikers in Maine

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of those stories every day. Here's today's story. Members of Machinists (IAM) Local S6 in Maine are entering their sixth week on strike against shipbuilder Bath Iron Works (BIW), but they are staying strong. On Saturday, IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. and IAM General Vice President Brian Bryant addressed hundreds of Local S6 members and community allies at a rally, saying that Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, “is showing the nation what corporate greed looks like.” Martinez said, “This company is taking our Maine jobs and subcontracting them to outside contractors who take their paychecks back to Alabama, Mississippi and other places outside our state….I think we need to stand up and question [BIW President] Dirk Lesko on this $45 million tax break.” Some 4,300 members of IAM are on strike in the largest current strike in the United States. U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon and allied elected officials also spoke at the rally.