As both an employee of Bath Iron Works and a Union local S-6 member, I want to respond to some comments made by Amy Volk in her column, published July 30.

For starters, this strike is not about money. If she would take the time to walk the line and talk with us she would quickly learn that the outsourcing of our work and the destruction of our seniority rights are why we chose to strike.

We do understand the scheduling issues, but we also understand that sometimes those are the result of the lack of properly trained front line supervisors who lack the ship building skills to lead their prospective trades. BIW’s use of its much lower starting pay grades to attract new employees just hasn’t worked, which has also affected schedules. We build warships and much of the work is extremely hard on the body and most “qualified” folks won’t do it for lowball offers.

The reality is that subcontracting will only serve to enhance General Dynamics’ BIW’s profit at our expense; it has little to do with scheduling.

Isn’t that worth fighting against?

She also missed the fact that 87% of the membership of IAM Local S-6 voted against the contract and 84% voted to strike. Those workers, of all different financial situations and interests, made it clear that what BIW wants to do is wrong and they are willing to fight for what is right.

She claims that we judge scabs (folks who cross a picket line) too harshly. How would she have us judge them? We are fighting to protect what is rightfully ours and those who do cross the line are snubbing their noses at us and saying that their financial situation or interest is more important than ours. So tell us then; how should we react to them?

BIW was deemed an essential industry in March by the U.S. Navy. BIW stayed open and 60% of the workers continued working despite an offer of time off and the ability to collect unemployment. Why? Well, because we understand the importance of our work and take pride in doing it in a professional manner.

She also failed to mention that Local S-6 has been meeting with the mediators; however, BIW has been slow to attend — if at all.

Unfortunately, her column seemed to be a typical Republican response to worker issues — blame the workers for all of the woes of the company and then chip away at their rights as workers.

Well, if standing up for my rights is being a bad guy, too bad.

We’ve had Democrats walk the line with us, but no Republicans. Perhaps Amy Volk should join us and learn some important things about us workers.

Joseph Mailey, Auburn