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Job Security Key Issue in Boeing Strike |
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As the Machinists’ strike at the Boeing Co. enters its third day, workers are prepared for a long strike if that’s what it takes to ensure that their jobs are not outsourced.
Some 27,000 airplane assembly workers in three states walked out Saturday after last-ditch efforts to reach a fair contract failed. A huge majority of workers—87 percent—voted to strike after their contract expired Sept. 3. At the request of federal mediators and Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire (D), both sides agreed to extend the contract for 48 hours to see if they could reach an agreement.
Job security is the key issue, followed by wages and health care, union leaders say. Since the mid-1990s, Boeing has relied increasingly on contractors around the world to build larger and larger sections of its airplanes.
In interviews with the Wall Street Journal, IAM members pointed to the 787 Dreamliner program as an example of the company’s increasing reliance on outsourcing. Boeing is using suppliers from places such as Japan and Italy to build much of the fuel-efficient new jetliner, with Boeing performing final assembly. But as the newspaper points out:
The plan backfired when suppliers fell behind in getting their jobs done, and the 787 program is now more than a year behind schedule. Boeing was forced to turn to its own union workforce to piece together the first few airplanes after they arrived at the company’s factory in Everett, Wash., with thousands of missing parts.
“If Boeing had let us build that airplane in the first place, it would be in service today,” said Dale Flinn, a 20-year veteran on Boeing’s 767 assembly line.
IAM President Tom Buffenbarger says the issue of job security is critical to workers. He told the Journal:
It’s time for Boeing to listen to us on this. The union just wants to be able to have a shot at making the case that our workers can do those jobs competitively before Boeing ships them out.
Machinists are prepared to stay out as long as it takes, says Mark Blondin, the union’s chief negotiator. (See video.)
This time around, the workforce is angry enough at Boeing that they have told us they’re willing to stay out until 2009.
Leaders of IAM District 751 in Washington state told workers in a statement on its website that it was their strong strike vote that triggered Boeing’s request to return to the table
and that same strike vote that will bring them back to the table at a later date.
Strikes are…the last resort when companies such as Boeing do not respect the workforce. Boeing lost respect, and this is one way to prove to them that they need to respect you as an important ingredient to the success of this company they have been put in charge of.
The contract covers workers at Boeing plants in Seattle, Gresham, Ore., and Wichita, Kansas.
Click here to get updates on the strike.
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