By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

Bath Iron Works agreed Friday to abandon its plan to replace union maintenance workers with contracted help from out of state.

Instead, the 4,000-member union signed an agreement with management aimed at finding ways to cut the costs of materials and consumer goods used throughout the Bath shipyard.

“They’ve taken away the threat of scabs,” said Mike Keenan, president of Local S/6 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “Now, we can get back to doing what we do best: building ships.”

The agreement was reached Friday morning. Union members made it happen, Keenan said. He believes the deciding factor was a July 7 rally outside the shipyard, where an estimated 2,000 workers and politicians gathered.

Carrying signs reading “Save Maine Jobs” and “Stop Scabs,” workers protested the plan that would have replaced 24 union custodial jobs with employees from the Massachusetts-based company, UNICCO.

Workers worried that every job at the shipyard could be in jeopardy if management’s plan went through. Company officials said they needed to make the change to save money.

On Friday, BIW President Dugan Shipway told employees in a flier that he hoped to save as much money by getting help from the workers.

“Looking forward, the union and BIW management are committed to a path so in the next decade we are still able to say, Through these gates pass the best shipbuilders in the world,'” Shipway wrote.

Keenan celebrated the decision as a victory. He also promised that workers will do what they can to save money.

“We want to help the company stay competitive,” Keenan said. “Our door has always been open.”

In the past week, Keenan has received scores of e-mails from workers making money-saving suggestions, he said.

All the company needed to do was ask, he said.