BATH — After a turbulent year for Local S6 officials, Bath Iron Works’ largest union announced Friday the results of the election of new officers, with Chris Wiers replacing current president Mike Keenan.
Official ballot results, verified Tuesday by a union official, showed Rocky Grenier and Jason Perry were re-elected as vice president and secretary-treasurer, respectively. Shawn Tardif was elected as conductor sentinel. Tom Darling, Rick Poulin and Bill Barrows were elected as trustees and Ray Gauthier was re-elected as chief steward.
Each will serve three-year terms.
The leadership turnover comes months after in-fighting picked up at the union, prompting accusations and finger-pointing among officials.
In March, Keenan charged Perry and Gauthier with incompetence, negligence and insubordination, among other things.
Keenan’s accusations against Perry spanned from failing to collect or file various tax forms to closing the office early to refusing to turn over documents to the union president.
Meanwhile, Gauthier was accused of not showing up for mandatory meetings, refusing to comply with directives and failing to properly review and account for lost time reimbursements for union representatives for which he was responsible.
Following Keenan’s accusations against Gauthier and Perry, 100 union members voted no-confidence in Keenan’s leadership. Keenan dismissed the vote, arguing that there were more than 3,500 union members and that he had heavy support.
A July 2 letter from the International President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Robert Martinez Jr. to Keenan confirmed all claims against Gauthier had been dropped.
Perry confirmed Tuesday the claims against him were dropped by a union trial committee as well. Because of his position as secretary/treasurer, Perry’s charges had to be examined on a higher level. Gauthier’s claims were reviewed at a local level.
Perry and Gauthier have characterized Keenan’s actions as politically motivated. The two called it retribution after they turned to the national organization for help dealing with Keenan, whom they said, did not comply with direction from the national organization regarding internal operations.
In July, overseer Tony Blevins replaced former Local S6 machinist union President Jay Wadleigh, who is now at the District 4 office in Lisbon.