Bath Iron Works said it will cut 88 jobs over the next two weeks as demand slows for positions such as painters, grinders and welders.

“It’s part of the cyclical nature of our work. We have different needs at different times,” said BIW spokesman Jim DeMartini.

The shipbuilder, one of Maine’s largest employers, now employs 5,250 workers. The cuts represent less than 2 percent of its work force.

Forty-three jobs will be cut on Friday, and 45 jobs will be eliminated effective Oct. 5, DeMartini said.

The workers to be laid off are members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers’ Local S6. The jobs range from preservation technicians to welders and machinists, DeMartini said.

BIW, a unit of General Dynamics, will examine whether any of the laid-off workers have skills that apply to other jobs at the shipyard. If not, the workers will be placed on a recall list and brought back if there is demand for their positions, DeMartini said.

The shipyard recently won contract extensions that call for design, engineering, information technology and financial work on the DDG 1000 class of destroyers.

The DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class is the Navy’s next-generation, guided-missile destroyer. The first ship of that class is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2013.

Earlier this month, the last of the Navy’s original run of Arleigh Burke destroyers went to sea.

The ship, the Michael Murphy, will be based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.