Union chief scolds Boeing

  • Bryan Corliss / Herald Writer
  • Friday, April 23, 2004 9:00pm
  • Business

EVERETT — The Boeing Co. should be fighting Airbus, not its own employees, the leader of the union for engineering and technical workers said Friday.

Instead of "everybody coming together, working together to make the best damn aerospace company in the world," the Boeing strategy seems to be "where they can, get rid of the unions," said Charles Bofferding, executive director for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

"This is old-school, antiquated thinking," he told about a hundred union members who gathered for a lunchtime rally outside Boeing’s main office complex in Everett. "We will help save the Boeing Co. from the misguided leadership of a few."

The rally was intended as a show of support for about 3,400 SPEEA members who are negotiating a new contract in Wichita, Kan.

Negotiators for the union and the company will meet with a federal mediator on Monday in hopes of advancing the talks, which have moved slowly since the employees rejected Boeing’s first contract offer by a 3-to-1 margin.

The vote came weeks after workers in the Wichita Professional and Technical Unit rejected an effort to decertify the union.

Bofferding said Friday he believes Boeing management is trying to punish the workers for deciding to stay in the union.

The talks don’t have a direct impact on the Puget Sound workforce. SPEEA members here have a contract with Boeing that precludes a sympathy strike should the Wichita group decide to walk out.

However, a Wichita walkout would hurt morale and lower productivity, Bofferding said. Boeing can’t get the best out of its workforce if "employees feel you’re going to kill them first chance you get," he said.

The contract for Puget Sound engineers and technicians represented by SPEEA expires in December 2005. Bofferding said he doesn’t expect the company to take the same bargaining approach here, given the strength the union showed during its 40-day strike in 2000.

"If they do, we’ll kick their butts," Bofferding told workers at the rally. "We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again."

A Boeing spokesman in Wichita could not be reached for comment Friday.

Since the talks started, Boeing has confirmed that it is seeking a buyer for its Wichita commercial jet facilities.

Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.

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