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The bosses at<\/span> a Maine shipyard are offering overtime to workers there if they attend a speech by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, according to workers at the facility.<\/p>\n Hegseth is reportedly set to tour Bath Iron Works on Monday and give a speech on the recently announced \u201cTrump\u201d class battleship, according to the Bangor Daily News<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the bosses reached out to workers for volunteers to attend the speech, however, few hands went up, according to one worker, who spoke with The Intercept on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The speech is slated for Monday afternoon, shortly before a shift change, which means that workers who attend would need to stay past their normal work hours \u2014 and anyone who shows up would be required to stay until the event is over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey issued a polling sheet this morning to see who would attend and, at least from my crew, there were no takers,\u201d said the worker, \u201cand not even a mention of overtime.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth has made his speeches a high priority during his tenure as secretary of the War Department, including one address<\/a> in which he railed against \u201cfat\u201d generals<\/a>. He later ordered the entire U.S. military to watch<\/a> the speech.<\/p>\n Devin Ragnar, a spokesperson for International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 6, which represents workers at the yard, confirmed that anyone attending the speech past shift change would receive overtime pay, but declined to discuss in detail how the arrangement was reached.<\/p>\n After the initial lack of enthusiasm on Friday morning, a later survey went out around noon that explicitly said workers would receive overtime if they stayed past the end of their shift, according to the worker.<\/p>\n \u201cThis company doesn\u2019t pay out for anything they don\u2019t explicitly have to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if that was always going to be the case\u00a0\u2014 a change to bribe folks to get a larger attendance \u00ad\u2014 or if union leadership grieved it by saying they can\u2019t mandate us stay past our shift and not pay us,\u201d said the worker, whose hunch was that management was looking to entice people to attend. \u201cThis company doesn\u2019t pay out for anything they don\u2019t explicitly have to.\u201d<\/p>\n Another worker who spoke with The Intercept expressed dread about the impending headache of Hegseth\u2019s visit, echoing how unusual the offer of overtime pay was.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019ll both interrupt the workday \u2014 which is very ironic since we\u2019re always being hounded about productivity and efficiency \u2014 and create a lot of\u00a0discourse that I don\u2019t want to have to listen to all day,\u201d said second worker, who also requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.\u00a0\u201cI was also a little angry because, again, there are lots of other things that we get denied paid time off for \u2014 snowstorms, events during work hours that aren\u2019t work-related, etc. But they\u2019re offering OT for this?\u201d<\/p>\n Representatives of Bath Iron Works did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t announced any trip for the Secretary and have nothing to add at this time,\u201d said Joel Valdez, the spokesperson.<\/p>\n Located in Bath, Maine, at the mouth of the Kennebec River, the shipyard is one of the largest employers in the state<\/a> and has long been one of the most reliable sources for steady, well-paying union jobs in the Midcoast region. A subsidiary of the defense giant General Dynamics, BIW plays a key role in building and maintaining U.S. Navy ships and has been the recipient of billions of dollars in government contracts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Charles Krugh, the president of Bath Iron Works, has signaled to President Donald Trump<\/a> that his facility is ready to take part in the construction of the \u201cTrump\u201d battleships.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica\u2019s warfighters deserve the most advanced, lethal and survivable combat ships we can deliver to protect our country and our families,\u201d Krugh said in December, echoing Hegseth\u2019s fondness for the term \u201cwarfighter.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n