I am a Boeing retiree of almost five years. I am grateful that I had a job with good benefits that allowed me to retire comfortably when combined with my Social Security.
The Boeing Co. has a time-keeping system that tells them at any time who, or how many people are on vacation. If asked, they could produce ahead of time (or now) a count of how many people were on vacation Jan 3 and 4. Most people were on vacation until Jan. 7. The Boeing Co. already knew the number of employees likely to be out of town. That number is in the timekeeping system. If the state cared about the fair vote of 30,000 Boeing employees and wanted to see the truth, it is there.
The governor and the mayors wanted the outcome that Boeing claims as a victory. The state is afraid to look at the blatant facts. The vote was called after vacation started on Dec. 21 for most employees, many of whom left town, and the majority came back to work Jan. 6. A vote on Jan. 3 was never going to be a representation of the Washington IAM751 members.
For three days of paid vacation at Christmas break, this year a Boeing employee could have a 16-day vacation. The Boeing Co. knew the ones who worked there longest and fought the hardest would be gone. The young and low-pay scale were at home. This vote was not honest and was designed to steal the contract.
An honest vote would have included “Union voter eligibility cards” mailed to union members in advance for a vote after Jan. 6. There were no cards mailed, requiring hours of lines in the freezing cold to prove your eligibility to vote. Then another line to place a vote. Many hours of waiting.
To the employees who sold out for the money now, know this, you sold your chance of having what I have for under three-quarters of what I get in yearly retirement.
I first went to work for Boeing in 1978 and it was the time of the best medical insurance. From that point on at every contract negotiation we lost something. This time we lost our belief in the honesty of our company, our union, our mayors and our state governor. Also lost, any sense of an honest vote.
Grace Hatch
Everett
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
