We want to point out that in an Aug. 16 Herald article, there was a mistake in a monetary figure that could greatly reduce community support (already lacking) for the machinists at Boeing. In a time when community support is already low, we don’t need inaccuracies to increase it any further.
In the front-page article titled “Boeing labor talks turn sour” retirees pension amounts were quoted as being $50 a week for each year of service. Wouldn’t that be nice! In actuality, it’s only $50 per month for each year of service. But then you have to subtract taxes and spousal deductions (if applicable), which would put it closer to $35 a month per year of service – a huge difference.
The Puget Sound area is more than happy to have Boeing employees donate money to charity, spend money at local retailers, and adopt families, seniors, and children in need at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Boeing employees purchase tons of food, gifts and essentials in addition to contributing to public schools and athletic activities. But when contract time comes around, all of sudden everyone starts pointing fingers at those same employees and writing letters to the editor calling us whiners.
The majority of the employees are not looking for any kind of wage increase, nor was that a main concern at last contract. We’re not stupid. We are and have been satisfied with our hourly rate of pay. Everyone just assumes that every contract we’re out for more money.
The main concern is, and always has been, retirement and job security. Our retirement plan is actually worse than any other retirement plan in the aerospace industry. Other large union companies provide retirement pensions far and above the retirement that Boeing provides. You would think that working at Boeing would leave you set in retirement age, but the fact is that it just doesn’t. As it stands now, 30 years of service would provide you with approximately $1,000 a month in retirement. That’s if you survive 30 years with the company.
It would be nice, for once, if the community would rally behind our union, rather than bad-mouth it.
We get enough of the uneducated opinions from the general public – who most likely have never worked for the company or a large union.
We don’t need errors in writing to add to it.
Lake Stevens
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