Last Lenten vigil at BIW - up next more work on conversion

There were 30 of us at Bath Iron Works (BIW) today for the final Lenten season vigil.  Several commented in our closing circle that it will be sad not to have the vigil in the coming weeks because this Lenten series of vigils have been extraordinarily special - likely because of the extra people that turned out due to our GD corporate welfare campaign.

Our next BIW protest will probably be during the 'christening' of another destroyer at the shipyard though at this time we don't know when that will happen.  So stay tuned.

This morning's Bangor Daily News brought two significant pieces worth noting.  The first is a story called With tax break bill on way to LePage, Bath Iron Works announces 31 layoffs. As it turns out BIW announced the layoffs the same day they got the $45 million tax break approved in the Maine legislature.  Just goes to show that BIW/GD have no public relations skills and don't really know how to properly express their thanks to Maine taxpayers who will now fork over tens of millions of dollars that our state can't really afford.

The second item from the same edition was an editorial Lawmakers take big step in building a better tax break.  In the last paragraph of the editorial the newspaper wrote:

Opponents of the tax breaks, who spoke passionately at a public hearing, deserve credit for pushing lawmakers to negotiate a better deal for Maine. Lawmakers were right to listen.

It's always nice to be recognized and appreciated.  Our folks done good.

We are working on holding a campaign celebration pot luck that will be on Saturday, April 14 from noon to 2:00 pm. Don’t have a location yet but wanted to get the date out to everyone. Will let you know once we get a spot reserved.  We welcome all to join us for this special event.

In the meantime we will look for every opportunity to project our vision of a converted BIW to help us deal with our real problem - climate change.  Please help us share this vision with the public - without such a change our children and grandchildren have no real future on our Mother Earth.

Bruce