Who is a specialist? In January 2023, the S40s and T04s won controversial specialist models.¹ This brought the number of trades covered by specialist agreements to 14.² These models let some mechanics progress to elite pay grades, but not everyone has access to specialist rates. This is unfortunate. At one time accessible to everyone, top pay is now locked behind management’s right to assign. Union leaders may make a big deal about winning new specialist models, but these are Pyrrhic victories. David Graeber explained, “Real power is not the power to win a contest, but the power to define the rules and stakes, not the power to win an argument, but the power to define what the argument is about.”³ Management may have lost in the narrow sense of paying a few S40 and T04 AA specialists, but management still won. For the price of a few AA specialists, management now controls the way we ask for raises. This model makes stewards beg to advance some employees at the expense of others. In the end, we argue amongst ourselves, “who is a specialist?” By getting us to ask this divisive question, the company has driven a wedge splitting the union in two. Those who have access to specialist models, and those who do not.

Chart A compares Grade 9 and AA specialist pay rates. The 2000 contract established the first AA rate. Today, that rate would be $33.82 an hour.⁵ This was actually below the top rate non-specialists received in the mid 1980s. Adjusted for inflation, first class mechanics’ wages peaked at $34.32 an hour in 1985.⁶ Painters, pipefitters, and most other trades were eligible for first class pay.⁷ This makes it the equal of Grade 9 today. Insulation paid slightly less at $32.67, but presumably, insulators made up the difference through piecework. A bitter strikes in 1985 preceded a sharp decline in real wages.⁸ The 90s brought stagnation and the elimination of piecework insulators once relied on.⁹ It should come as no surprise I02s and P10s feel bitter. They really were better off 40 years ago. 

It is clear that in 2000, AA specialists picked up where 1985 left off. AA wages have continued to climb ever since. At first, only E02s and O04s could progress to AA specialist. Today, 10 classifications have models to progress to AA. This includes 2023’s additions of S40s and T04s. Still, the effect the specialist models have on the shipyard remains the same. This structure removes most mechanics from the pool eligible for top pay. At the same time, it maintains the illusion that our wages have increased over time. Compare Chart A to Chart B, and you will see what I mean. Although top pay has increased over time, access to top pay has decreased. In 2000, Grade 9 P10s, P18s, and others made 13.4% less than in 1985. The gap is closing, but Grade 9 mechanics still make 6.5% less than 1985’s first class mechanics. They should have kept pace with the specialists. Instead, the specialist model picked up where 1985 left off. Some maintain the hope of advancing through the various specialist models. Unfortunately, management’s right to assign among other factors limit their opportunities for advancement. 

These limitations intersect with shipyard demographics in interesting ways, too. Specialist trades have far fewer women than non-specialist trades. Women make up 30% of insulators, for example, but only 5% of pipefitters.¹¹ That is not to say individual women cannot advance in pipeshop. One of my best friends, Krystal, is among the highest paid pipefitters on second shift and on her way to AA. Still, she got her start in P10, 17% female. Krystal would still be a Grade 9 if she had not gotten into the pipeshop. This could be an accident of history or reflect biases in BIW’s hiring practices. Justify it however you want. The specialist system reinforces the barriers women face at BIW.

You may be thinking, “I am a specialist already, so why should I care?” If I cannot appeal to your sense of solidarity, let me appeal to your sense of self interest. Consider what happened in 2022. Lower pay grades received as much as a 32% raise.¹² Meanwhile, specialists only received the 3% promised in the contract.¹³ Inflation hit everyone just as hard, so why the favoritism? This is precisely what happened to Grade 9 in 2000, but reversed. Smaller groups have smaller voices. No matter how special you think you are, you are just a badge number. You are at BIW’s mercy. For decades, there were only seven pay grades.¹⁴ Today there are 14. There are obvious skill differences between a Grade 1 and AA Specialist, but I challenge you to explain the difference between Grades 1 and 2. It’s time we bring everybody back together. 

Our Educator feared comparing pay grades would be divisive. Essays like mine will only make people angry, he promised. I sure hope you’re angry. We are already divided. Writing about our differences doesn’t make them go away, but it does get us talking. I hope we can have honest conversations about the injustices inherent in the specialist system. I hope these conversations lead to solutions. These may look like things we tried in the past, like contracts before 1988 limiting us to seven pay grades. I think we would do well to return to this system, but that is just my opinion. The future may look completely different. I don’t have all the answers. Be skeptical of anyone who says they do. It is only through cooperation that we can build toward a fair future. United, we can bargain for higher wages. Divided among squabbling specialists, we can only beg.

1. Memorandum of Agreement Between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: S40 Progression/Specialist Model (Bath Iron Works, January 2023); Memorandum of Agreement Between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: T04 Specialist Model (Bath Iron Works, January 2023). ↩︎
2. Agreement between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: August 21, 2023 to August 23, 2026 (Bath Iron Works, 2023), 30-32. ↩︎
3. David Graeber, “On the Phenomenology of Giant Puppets: Broken windows, imaginary jars of urine, and the cosmological role of the police in American culture,” in The Anarchist Library (2007).
   ↩︎
4. All dollar values are adjusted for inflation to October 2024 using the BLS inflation calculator. Raw data come from various sources. These include old contracts, MOAs, wage schedule cards, and correspondence between Bath Iron Works and its unions. ↩︎
5. Strike Settlement Agreement between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: October 23, 2000 to May 30, 2004 (Bath Iron Works, 2000), 27-28. ↩︎
6. Agreement between Bath Iron Works Corporation and Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and its Local No. 6: June 28, 1982 to June 30, 1985 (Bath Iron Works, 1982), 77-81. ↩︎
7. Ibid. Also, see Schedule A of any contract dated 1970 to 1988. ↩︎
8. Peter Perl, “Maine Shipyard Is Idle,” The Washington Post (July 1985). ↩︎
9. Agreement between Bath Iron Works Corporation and
   Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America District Lodge 4 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers AFL-CIO, and its Local Lodge S6: August 19, 1991 to August 21, 1994 (Bath Iron Works, 1991), 14-15; 1994 Negotiations Through Joint Teaming: August 22, 1994 to August 24, 1997 (Bath Iron Works, 1994), 48-58. ↩︎
10. These are ballpark figures from seniority lists I examined in September 2023. I counted male, female, and gender-neutral names. Using these data, I was able to approximate the ratios of women in different classifications. According to a women’s committee representative I contacted on December 17, neither the union nor the company maintain more accurate data. ↩︎
11. Strike Settlement Agreement between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: August 24, 2020 to August 20, 2023 (Bath Iron Works, 2020), 30-31; Memorandum of Agreement Between Bath Iron Works and Local S6: Mid-term wage rate adjustment (Bath Iron Works, 2022). ↩︎
12. Ibid. ↩︎
13. See Schedule A of any contract dated before 1991. ↩︎