It’s easy to be jealous. It’s easy to look at that contract, expected to win Boeing Machinists’ approval on Thursday, and think out loud: “They don’t know how lucky they are.”
A boost in the company-paid pension plan, retiree medical coverage, no increase in health care costs, signing bonuses and lump-sum payments. Wow! These days, who gets all that?
It’s easy for jealousy to cross a line and approach malice. I’ve seen letters to the editor in essence telling Machinists to “get real.” Believe me, I understand that impulse.
I started socking away money – my money – in a 401(k) retirement plan at age 27. Yet, at 51, I fear I haven’t saved enough. So I’ve hiked my savings as a new laws allow, cutting deeper into my take-home pay. Health coverage costs more every year. There are cheaper options, but during medical rough spells, I’ve been glad I never chose to cut corners.
Jealous? Sure I am. But no one held a gun to my head; no one ordered me not to work for Boeing. There’s no sense playing coulda-shoulda, nor does it make sense to begrudge Machinists generous compensation.
Good for them, that’s what I say.
Don’t other area employers have to compete with the Boeing Co. for quality workers? I hope that means other companies will at least look closely at the benefits the aerospace giant offers.
Small companies obviously can’t approach Boeing’s benefits. Yet, if it weren’t for unions fighting for wages and benefits, I doubt many of the rest of us could even hang on to what we have.
Gil Guilloty, a 45-year-old structural mechanic at Boeing, was walking the picket line Monday on Everett’s Seaway Boulevard. He sees other ways that a better contract for Boeing workers would help people who don’t work there.
“We feed the economy here,” said Guilloty, who’s been at Boeing for 16 years.
“If we get a good contract, we spend more money,” agreed Max Sampson, 43, a Boeing Machinist and painter for the company.
Guilloty said he always wanted to work for Boeing, even while growing up in New York. “I want this company to succeed. I want to beat Airbus,” he said. Boeing recruited workers by touting its pay and benefits, he said.
“It’s been a good company for me,” Guilloty said. “I’ve been through three strikes. I’ve never been laid off.”
Guilloty thinks Boeing shouldn’t bat an eye at raising pensions from $60 to $70 a month for each year worked, as spelled out in the proposed contract. Boeing’s new chief executive, Jim McNerney, “is getting a $22 million retirement package,” Guilloty said. “That’s a hard pill to swallow.”
Outside Everett Station on Monday, 51-year-old Colleen Szekeres was waiting for a bus. The Seattle woman has been in janitorial services for Group Health Cooperative, but isn’t working now.
“A lot of places are cutting back on medical coverage. They should be happy. They’re getting a good deal,” Szekeres said of Boeing Machinists.
Like many Americans, as companies move away from traditional pensions, Szekeres is worried about Social Security and retirement. “I think most people will work until they’re 67 or 70. It’s getting really bad,” she said.
Dan Goodwin, 72, of Gold Bar doesn’t mind Boeing workers holding out for better benefits.
“I really object to what corporations are trying to do,” said Goodwin, who was also at Everett Station. “They’re trying to take away what workers had.”
Goodwin has no pension. His father, now in his 90s, still collects one after a life spent working for the Great Northern Railway.
It’s easy to be jealous. It’s hard to be happy for workers who get what you don’t have. Think, though. Think hard.
When a new CEO walks in the door fresh from 3M and immediately gets a supplemental pension benefit worth $22 million, at whom should your ire be directed?
Should you really resent some Boeing worker who’s been on the job 20 years and will someday get 70 bucks a month for each of those years?
We who don’t even have that deal should be happy that someone does. It’s good news. Otherwise, what chance do we stand?
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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