signaller

designer

shipfitter

material handler

laborer

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works

build good quality ships - the Navy loves BIW ships. Were teamed up with Northrop Grummon at the beginning. Northrop supplied many management tools that BIW lacked like web sites for data management and webex communication.
But as a white collar/ professional place to work it lacked the most basic infrastructure - no parking (your on your own), multiple office locations requiring you drive to these locations for meetings- but your car is halfway across town!
Passive agressive relationship between the unions and management and non-union professionals get caught in the crossfire. Union designers kept changing their procedures as things fell farther and farther behind. Management just ran around with a fire hose and making Engineering manage the huge backlog of design updates. Held up the entire design project. But if the designers didnt't get your changes done it's your fault.
Why the Navy didn't conduct process audits after BIW got the Zumwalt design project- good question. BIW had never done a major design project, the Navy never proved BIW could deliver on schedule. I worked for other defense contractors and process audits are common, particularly on new contract awards.
Hundereds were hired for the new Zumwalt ship design project. Hundreds were laid off when design project was completed. Those over 40 years old were laid off first. The new college hires were kept, work cheap and will work rediculous overtime.
I quit after two years with no pay raise. Found out after hired, I couldn't work 4/ 10 hour days as promised by an HR (yes, you guessed it!) union clerk. Never told me their 4/10 hour work weeks didn't include 3 day weekends. This was to make up for only two weeks of vacation/yr. You have to work 10 hour days to make up federal holidays which are taken to cover yard shut down between Christmas and New Year. One more detail not mentioned during my interviewed. Oh, yes, HR does not bother to participate in the interview process. It's all by email. And you can't ever reach your HR contact.
HR requires you sign an agreement to use their arbitration process in order to get interviewed - even for non union jobs. HR covers their own butts because they lie to your face.

Nothing was ever a problem because "you should be grateful you are not welding outside in the yard in January."

The employees call it B-I-DUB. It fits.

Management lies about everything; everything. We are currently behind schedule, coming off a nine week strike with a goal of doubling production, looking to hire another 1000 employees BUT we have been waiting for work to pick up for weeks at the facility I have been working. This resulted in demanning and I got sent to a different facility with a different schedule. A five day notice is required by contract, so, they count Thursday as one when you are delivered notice at the beginning of the shift which is 3 pm for me. That leaves only two week days to straighten out any details of your life; assignment starts Monday. Let’s qualify Monday. Monday is for miracles because if there are details you couldn’t get to on Friday, you will need a miracle worker on Monday to fix it. This is a prime example of the value the company places on human life (for mine it means not being able to get my child to sports we had planned) and the way they twist the language of the contract to justify mistreatment of their employees. Someone from HR could easily call someone Thursday morning to alert them of their demanning/facility change but they won’t be bothered. There is no attention to detail. ‘Mistakes’ often delay some type of payment to employees and always waste your personal time. 
Most front line supervisors have little to none shipbuilding experience (the company gives no incentive for mechanics to advance into supervision, in fact, they will lose vacation time and all seniority and be subject to ‘at will’ employment standards AND none of us trust management-very risky move). The mechanics know the best way to do the job but input is not sought out and ignored when offered. There is no sense of empowerment offered to employees that one would expect from an industry leader. 

If you are in Maine and young and don't want to move, BIW is probably a good choice for you. But if you are salaried and used to how other companies do things, I can't recommend it. I didn't last a year there, and to be fair that was largely my own fault. But the work environment is tough. Lots of onerous rules. We had to be in the office from 7 AM to 3:30 PM, M-F, no flexibility. Once I was forced to take 6 minutes vacation for being 6 minutes late. Oh, and a half-hour for unpaid lunch and not a minute more! Pay is good for Maine, but low compared to many other areas. 
BIW lost a big Coast Guard bid when I was there and management admitted they are among the most expensive of the Navy boat yards. So unless they radically alter their cost structure, they will lose out to cheaper yards, south or west. On the plus side, the government is motivated to keep the yard working, at least for now. 
The union is, well, a union. Focused on job and pay protection, not competing on productivity. 
Due to government rules and oversight, the company is hamstrung...can't innovate and can't make sensible changes like other companies can. The parent company is not going to invest...just looking for short term profit. I hope they prove me wrong.
That said, BIW's product is amazing and awe-inspiring and exciting to work on. Definitely the most enjoyable part of the job. Just stand next to one of those boats and see if you don't get a thrill.

Bath Iron Works is a good employer.  It is not unusual to have employees work there 30-40 years.  A front line supervisor's job there is one of the toughest jobs anyone can do.  The main job is managing a crew, usually 12-20 tradesmen.  The additional duties is managing planning, materials and design/engineering liaison.  The best part is managing a crew building Navy warships.  This includes on the job training, planning daily and weekly jobs to complete, calculating costs, and promoting an overall safety culture.
The cons of the job is the support divisions have no sense of urgency to meet schedules or support manufacturing.  For example, materials will not deliver in a timely manner and will not notify when they do or don't deliver.
Also since union benefits are better than a front line supervisors, it is near impossible to get experienced trades people to become management.  This makes it hard for current supervisors to advance because there is no one available to replace a front line supervisor.  For members of management, there is a poor quality of life balance. A typical work week is close to 50-55 hours long. Flex time is not an option.  Hours outside the core hours (7am-3:30pm) have no benefit for a manager.  It is expected most managers start their day before 6am.  Union jobs are much more balanced, with 40 hours being the standard, and overtime is optional.

I love my job here. I see a lot of people leaving nasty reviews, but this place has a boatload of opportunities to offer any individual willing to work. They offer upfront time off after probationary periods are up, a minimum pay of 24.50/hr, and if you truly need anything people will be willing to go through what they need to, to help you. Advancement is not hard so long as you re determined. So, with as much as this place has to offer, everyone who complains got too complacent with listening to the older ones gripe about how "this place sucks" . I've had my frustrations over the years here as a welder, but overall, this place is what you make of it. If you want a decent paycheck, decent employee incentive, decent PTO, then work here. If all you're going to do is complain, they won't stop you from leaving the gates. Just show up to work, do what you need to do, smile through the crud like at any job, and you will do just fine. This company will accommodate you, if something in your life is a hindrance and they move you all over the place, sit down and talk with your stewards. They will help communicate to the company that you have certain outside issues keeping you from moving shifts and so on if it is not satisfactory. We all have to deal with some crud on the outside, and inside the gates, just be an adult and communicate. 

Management 0/10: "see that thing you installed in accordance to the navy? Cut it off and reinstall it the same way." Nuff said....

Culture 4/10: lots of intelligence people but also a lot of people pulled from preschool. You'll see graffiti of .... "Childish" drawings and redtube stickers on a middle aged man hardhat.

Compensation 7/10: Pay is alright in spite of what people are saying. I make enough to own a home and have extra for outings. Vacation time is about average, first few years are bad but after 5 you get a fair amount.

Union 3/10: Grab your contract book and study it, you are your own rep. You pay a fee to have a union rep fall asleep at any disciplinary write up. The only time they do anything is during contract negotiations.

Overall 4/10: In summary, I find BIW and it's union can be very disorganized and lackluster. It would be great to have upper management view the facilities on the front line and stop elevating yes men to middle management. I personally enjoy the work I do but I have to block out the negative sides just to get by. I'm hopeful that 20 years later some of these things change.

In a typical day, I could do all four major methods of NDT, so it's a great place for variety, and you get to see most every corner of the yard. From plate steel to the nearly finished ship, this place is most enjoyable because of the pride you have being part of keeping the US Navy safe. 

I'm lucky because I went through an apprenticeship here and got to learn these ships inside and out as I learned NDT from great coworkers. 

The hardest part of this job for me is working within the confines of a union. While I respect time served in a job, I also value hard work and it's difficult to work so hard and not have any reward for it. It's discouraging and hurts moral of an entire shop to have others have to pick up someone else's slack. I won't say a union is all bad, but those are just my particular experiences in that department. The attitude of some throughout the company--both union and management--is a pervasive one of us vs. them, and it's not a productive one for working together to complete a common goal for the customer.

BIW completely mishandled their COVID response to the point where I and hundreds of others opted to either quit or go on strike. There is little room for advancement and you have to work there 15 years to hit the pay cap, which is 20k a year beyond what a typical designer starts with. You are not given enough time off a year until you work there for ten years.

The company takes every step they can to discourage you from using time off, penalized me for going to the ER (considered unpaid absence and therefore frowned upon), and work culture means that no one stays home sick. As a result my entire building likely had COVID in January 2020 and it was never acknowledged.

Work is boring and repetitive, you're graded like you were in school, there are long stretches of having to look busy, and the union is constantly trying to suck up to the company, so they will not stick up for you.

If you get hired these days it's only for second shift and you're on that shift for life. Say goodbye to a social life.

Was told repeatedly at orientation "this is the most money you've ever made at a job" and have been treated like a child by management since my first mistake four months ago.

They are so desperate for workers that they are hiring anyone for engineering specific jobs. My background is nowhere near engineering but am expected to understand what's going on at all times

Training is laughable, but at least it's there

Everything feels like it's just being tacked on to protocols, systems, and methods of people who refused to change their habits 30 years ago. Nothing makes sense and departments and teams often clash because of numerous arbitrary internal standards and practices.

If you're late by a minute they take half an hour from you.

What is the best part of working at the company?
They pay more than most other employees in the state. Theres a reason for it, but it cannot be denied .

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
A huge desire to make up schedule (good) leads to people lying to protect reputation and schedule (bad). It feels like there’s a proverbial can being kicked down the road and it’s only a matter of time before someone smartens up to how much is actually being done.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Hostile, managers are left to reign how they see fit regardless of ethical issues (substance abuse, inter office relationships) while other managers hold everyone extremely accountable. Very much a social club within the ranks.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Spending lots of time in meetings validating the existence of others jobs.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Signaller 144 salaries reported	$30.02 per hour
Designer 48 salaries reported	$34.05 per hour
Shipfitter 16 salaries reported	$28.02 per hour
Material handler 10 salaries reported	$29.64 per hour
Laborer 9 salaries reported	$27.67 per hour

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