NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - United Steelworkers Local 8888, a union for Newport News shipbuilders, has reached a tentative agreement with Huntington Ingalls Industries on a new collective bargaining agreement covering Newport News Shipbuilding employees.
The union says the pact would enhance wages, improve pensions, curb health care costs and bolster promotional opportunities in lower job categories.
The proposed agreement was finalized Saturday night and covers 60 months. The current contract would have expired Sunday at midnight.
Union members got their first detailed report on the tentative agreement Sunday afternoon at Boo Williams Sports Complex in Hampton.
The Local 8888 bargaining committee strongly recommended the ratification of the new pact. "The last two years have been like no others. The Worldwide Pandemic has changed all of our lives and required all of us to make significant adjustments and to reimagine our lives, including the way that we work. Through it all, the world’s greatest shipbuilders have delivered."
The union will hold a secret ballot vote for members-only to ratify or reject the proposed contract on Tuesday.
The union represents more than 10,000 workers at the Newport News shipyard.
