EVERETT
Picketing Machinists, a fixture for the last 52 days outside the factory gates of the Boeing Co., could go back to building jets soon if union members approve a tentative contract reached late Monday, Oct. 27.
“Our union has delivered what few Americans have — economic certainty and quality benefits over the next four years,” Tom Wroblewski, district president for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement.
The striking Machinists will vote whether to accept Boeing’s latest four-year contract on Saturday, Nov. 1.
Five days into discussions with a federal mediator, negotiators for Boeing and the Machinists hammered out a contract that gives union members the job security they crave while allowing the company the “flexibility to manage its business,” Boeing officials said. The offer includes a 15 percent wage increase over four years, a minimum of $8,000 in bonuses in the first three years and freezes health care costs at 2005 levels.
The Machinists’ negotiators unanimously urged union members to approve the contract.
“This is an outstanding offer that rewards employees for their contributions to our success while preserving our ability to compete,” Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement. “We recognize the hardship a strike creates for everyone — our customers, suppliers, employees, community and our company — and we look forward to having our entire team back.”
A federal mediator called Boeing and the Machinists to Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Oct. 23, to hash out a new contract. About 27,000 Machinists went out on strike Sept. 6, saying that Boeing’s offer failed to meet their demands for higher wages, better pensions and more job security.
“Each of you stood up and did your part to win this battle, which was a fight against more than just Boeing, but against corporate America,” Wroblewski said.
On the picket lines in Everett on Monday night, Machinist Wes Williams echoed Wroblewski’s sentiments. A 35-year Boeing employee, Williams always attaches an American flag to his strike sign.
“It’s about American jobs and our children’s future,” Williams said.
The new contract offer provides job security for 2,000 facilities and maintenance workers for the life of the contract and limits the use of outside vendors, the union said Monday night.
Most Machinists on the picket line Monday evening were eager to return to work. Linda Richardson, who started on Boeing’s 787 line in March, prepared for the strike by working a lot of overtime this summer on Boeing’s delayed Dreamliner.
“We all want to get back to work,” she said. “Nobody wanted a strike.”
James Dean, an 11-year Boeing Machinist, said union members wouldn’t have gone on strike if Boeing’s earlier offer hadn’t included takeaways. Dean was mindful of the strike’s wide impact.
“I don’t like to see the effects on suppliers or other businesses in the community,” he said.
The Machinists’ strike has taken a financial toll on Boeing. The company reported a 38 percent drop in its third-quarter earnings due in part to reduced jet deliveries during the strike. Boeing’s shares closed Monday at $42.36, down 6.37 percent for the day.
Resolving the Machinists’ concerns over outsourcing may give Boeing a head start in talks with its engineers and technical workers.
Negotiators for Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace were supposed to start contract talks in earnest today. Representatives for SPEEA and Boeing agreed Monday to postpone negotiations until Wednesday, Oct. 29.
“We agreed to this one-time delay with the hope that Boeing will use the time to conclude negotiations with the IAM,” said Ray Goforth, SPEEA’s executive director.
SPEEA represents 20,300 engineers and technical workers. The union’s contract with Boeing expires Dec. 1. Boeing intends to present its final contract offer to SPEEA by Nov. 11.
SPEEA’s Goforth has said his union’s members are frustrated at having to fix problems that arose due to outsourcing on Boeing’s new 787 jet, which had been delayed by 15 months before the Machinists’ strike began.
“Early indications are that these will be very difficult negotiations,” Goforth said in a statement Monday. “Engineers and technical workers are the life’s blood of Boeing, but the current regime at corporate headquarters treats them as mere vendors selling a service to Chicago. This disrespect has to end.”
SPEEA has staged only two strikes against Boeing since forming in 1946. But union leaders indicated Monday they may find more resourceful methods of putting pressure on Boeing than SPEEA has in the past, including using some of Boeing’s global suppliers against the company.
“Boeing’s global supply network creates a thousand possible chokepoints that can be leveraged if these negotiations don’t result in a contract that honors the contributions of SPEEA members to Boeing’s success,” Goforth said.
Michelle Dunlop writes for the Herald of Everett.
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