Contract talks between the Boeing Co. and the International Association of Machinists will enter their final phase Monday when negotiators for both sides check into a SeaTac hotel for two weeks of around-the-clock bargaining.
Union negotiators say they’re pushing for improvements in pension, health care and job security – items identified as top concerns for the approximately 18,000 Machinists during surveys this spring.
“We are working hard to see that they’re addressed to your expectation,” union district president Mark Blondin told his members in a message last week.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Alan Mulally, in a statement to employees last week, called this year’s labor talks “crucial for maintaining our momentum and securing continued growth and prosperity for everyone associated with Boeing.”
Negotiators expect to wrap up talks by Aug. 30. The IAM’s contract expires Sept. 1.
The two sides are taking a different approach in this year’s talks, after a contentious session in 2002 that saw more than 60 percent of Machinists reject Boeing’s contract offer, just short of the two-thirds majority needed for a strike.
There will be fewer public announcements and press conferences, union spokeswoman Connie Kelliher said. Blondin does plan to update union members on developments during the first week of talks at a rally set for Aug. 21, she said.
Bargaining teams have been meeting regularly since June, when the union presented Boeing with its contract proposal.
Blondin told his membership last week that there has been some agreement on secondary issues, but Boeing had not delivered any written proposals on the major ones.
“I believe we will begin to see some substantial movement … when we begin intense around-the-clock negotiations,” Blondin wrote.
Mulally said Boeing’s goal is to “reach contract agreements that work for everyone: employees, customers, investors and our great communities.”
The company says it already offers one of the aerospace industry’s top pensions, and that Boeing employees on average pay less for health care than workers at similarly sized companies.
About two-thirds of the union membership showed up for a strike sanction vote last month, the largest turnout ever, and 98.5 percent of them voted to sanction a strike, should talks fail.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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