The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com. George Edwards, a tinsmith at Bath Iron Works for 33 years, is the assistant directing business representative for Machinists District 4. He was a member of the negotiating committee for the International Association of Machinists S6 contract negotiations. When 87 percent of International Association of Machinists Local S6 members voted in June to reject Bath Iron Works’ attempts to undermine worker protections, they showed the company that they cared about the quality of jobs at the shipyard and that they would not be pushed around.