New 777 shifts irk workers

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, April 17, 2002

By Bryan Corliss

Herald Writer

The Boeing Co. is reorganizing shift start times on its 777 assembly line in Everett, a move that will do away with staggered start times for workers and largely eliminate the third shift.

Less than 1,000 workers will be affected by the changes, which will be implemented Monday, a spokeswoman said.

"It’s about our survival," 777 manufacturing director Mark Johnstone told employees in a memo announcing the changes. The move will increase daily productivity while cutting the need for costly weekend overtime, he said.

The changes are related to Boeing’s adoption of moving assembly lines. Similar moves with the 737 line in Renton were a contributing factor in the company’s Commercial Airplane Group’s improved profitability during the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Mike Sears told analysts and reporters Wednesday.

The airplane interiors shop in Everett adopted a similar shift schedule earlier this year, Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Heathers said.

However, some of the 777 workers involved say they’re unhappy with the move, because it will disrupt their long-established arrangements for taking care of their families.

"Our members aren’t happy about it," Machinists union district president Mark Blondin said recently.

The changes in Renton didn’t sit well, he said. "There was some real heartburn when that started and there’s still some hard feelings."

However, Boeing does have authority under the contract to set shift start and finish times, he said.

Under the old work schedule, the majority of 777 workers started their days on staggered schedules between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. They clocked out for the day between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., just as workers on the smaller second shift came into the factory. The third shift, the smallest of the three, ran from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

Workers say their understanding is that the staggered shifts were designed to improve traffic flow through Boeing’s gates by releasing workers in staggered batches every few minutes. But Heathers said it’s a tradition so old that no one really knows why it was started.

As of Monday, all first-shift 777 assembly workers, and those who directly support them, will work from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Second shift will be from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Third shift will continue to be from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., but only a handful of workers will be kept on that schedule, to handle "a few critical or disruptive processes," Johnstone explained in his memo.

The move will help clear up congestion where it’s most disruptive, Heathers said — around the airplanes.

Now, with one shift following right after another, and workers coming and going at different times, mechanics end up getting in each other’s way, she said.

The two-hour gap between shifts will allow another set of workers to bring in the tools and parts second-shift workers will need to do their jobs, Heathers said. And it provides time for first-shift workers to stay late to finish uncompleted jobs, with less need for weekend overtime.

That means less disruption in workers’ lives and big cost savings for the company, Heathers said. "Even a 1 percent reduction in overtime is a significant amount of money."

For the workers involved, however, it means some unpopular changes.

Some on second shift don’t like the idea of coming to work at 4 p.m., when northbound commuter traffic into Snohomish County is growing heavy, Blondin said.

Others prefer working the third shift, because it allows them to be home in the morning while their children are preparing for school. And after sleeping all day, they also can spend time with their families in the evening before work.

John Schotanus of Marysville said he’s never been fond of working second shift, but after doing it for 14 years, he and his wife have worked out a routine that allowed them to look after their children and his aging mother.

He said he applied for an exception that would allow him to keep working his old hours, but it was denied.

The combination of the shift changes and the ongoing layoffs means that "morale has just drastically dropped within the past month," he said. "People are not showing up. We’re having sick-outs."

It’s possible that the other Everett production lines will adopt a similar schedule in the future, Heathers said, "if it makes sense … It’s certainly being looked at."

However, they will probably start and end at different times from each other, to reduce the traffic impact, she added.

You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454

or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.