A group of 40 workers at a shipyard painting contractor has decided to stay union.
Specialty Finishes LLC applies paint coatings to marine vessel parts in Portland and Seattle under contract with shipyard operator Vigor Industrial Services, its parent company. Its workers voted to join Painters Local 10 in 2022, and the following year they ratified a union contract that raised wages $4.06 an hour over three years and improved their health insurance by adding them to the union-sponsored health trust.
Then this year in negotiations for a successor agreement, Local 10 got the employer to agree to further raises of 3.75%, 3.75% and 3.5%. But members voted down variations of that offer, three times, in part because their wages would still be lower than skilled Local 10 painters who are employed directly by Vigor under a multi-craft master shipyard agreement.
As the Specialty Finishes contract was nearing its June 30, 2026, expiration, some workers signed a decertification petition asking for an election to go back non-union. But in the resulting vote, held Sept. 16, the tally was 17 to 12 to remain in the union.
