HeraldNet: Second Boeing strike looming? SPEEA gears up for negotiations -- updated



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Aerospace Blog

October 6, 2008

Second Boeing strike looming? SPEEA gears up for negotiations -- updated

Posted at 12:54 pm by Michelle Dunlop

Based on Boeing engineers’ comments in SPEEA’s latest monthly magazine, you might get the feeling that Boeing has a second strike brewing.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace is getting ready to head into serious negotiations with the Boeing Co. later this month. The union has been surveying members on SPEEA’s proposal, submitted in early September.

Last week, Boeing and SPEEA reviewed salary information, as Boeing’s negotiator, Doug Kight, wrote about in this memo. SPEEA officials have been frustrated by what they call a lack of information sharing on salary and benefits.

The comments from (unidentified) SPEEA members sound fairly similar to those of Machinists before the IAM started intense contract talks with Boeing earlier this fall.

From SPEEA members:

“No more offshore-outsourcing. The company is getting killed financially with the outsourcing.”

“I bet Doug Kight popped like a gerbil in a microwave when he read this proposal. I will not accept additional costs and risks snuck in the back door.’”

“I am very disillusioned by the tactics Boeing is taking .This management is destroying the best of Boeing.”

“At this time, I personally find no reason to work a significant amount of overtime because of how little we earn for being away from our families.”

“Looks like it’s time to get the walking boots out again.”

UPDATE -- 5:35 p.m.

Boeing has added some interesting video on its SPEEA negotiation page about the design and build of the next new aircraft.

In one video, Boeing's Mike Denton responds to the question of whether it would be best for Boeing to retain some production of the fuselage or wings on the next new aircraft. Denton's answer: yes, but Boeing hasn't determined which section, or how much of it, that will be.

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Just another scare tactic!
Everyone knows that McNerney is anti-union, and has throughout his career continuously attempted to break unions. His propoganda in the media is a blatant attempt to try to keep SPEEA from striking.

I am very tired of all of the comments, stating that the IAM leadership convinced 87% of our membership to strike. What a bunch of BS! The union merely acts as our agent. Contrary to what some people believe, we all looked at the contract, and made our own decision. We all voted for what we felt was in the best interest of ourselves, and our families. If the contract offer was so good, there is no question that we would have accepted it regurdless of what the unions recommendation was.

Boeing attempted to get 34% of our membership to vote not to strike, so that we would have had to accept it by default. Just like they try do every contract. There was a reason they stated that the ratification bonus would only be paid if the majority voted to accept the contract. Because they knew their last offer would never get majority acceptance. They knew before we even voted, that they were not going to have to pay that out! Just another underhanded tactic used by the management.

I really hope that the SPEEA union, understands what we are fighting for here. Those that say, it's unattainable are weak links in our workforce. We have to take a stand. If we all stick together, we will be successful in our efforts. It is the divide and conquer tactic that Boeing is attempting to use that will cost us all of our jobs, if we don't all wake up, and put a stop to it!
TBC 777 | Oct 7, 2008 8:20 am | 4 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

SPEEA
Don't make the same mistake the IAM workers made.
Do not let your greedy union bosses make up your minds for you by listening to their rhetoric. Of course they want Boeing to hire 20,00 more people so they can collect more dues and give themselves a big raise and bonus. They don't care about you or your families. Read over the contract offer yourself. If you need to, contact a lawyer if something looks suspicious. Make up your own mind before you vote. Don't join the flock like the IAM workers did. They hung themselves and are hurting their own families as well as the rest of the community.
Work Ethic | Oct 6, 2008 2:26 pm | 4 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Strikes and unions
Striking now will only make Boeing's management MORE likely to outsource jobs and move production. McNerney pretty much says so. And customers can move, too. In the mid 90s McDonnell's market share went from respectable (they outsold Airbus in 1996!) to next to nothing in only a couple of years. Don't be so naive to think it can't happen to Boeing--especially when management is hell-bent on being a "systems integrator" instead of a builder of aircraft and platforms. Management and labor are in this together and taking the company down will not solve the problem.
Tom Thumb | Oct 7, 2008 12:04 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

McNerney's comments!
If McNerney is really so worried about the companies reputation, then why is he continously causing rhetoric in the media? In the meantime, he is doing nothing to try to put an end to the strike! If you won't negotiate, then the blame falls on you, not the union. The union has been trying to get Boeing back to the table from day one, but boeing has refused.

We will never accept the last offer put out by the company McNerney. Plain and simple. Do you think you are just going to put the same offer on the table, and get us to accept it now? Try it! We will just vote it down again! You are very foolish, if you really think you are going to pass this contract off on us! It's not going to happen! Once this strike started, you just raised the stakes that much higher. I hope the company, and the shareholders send you packing! The sooner, the better!

Oh, and by the way, I like the way you have brought Richard Aboulafia into the equation. Nice touch, but we all know Boeing isn't going anywhere! The extremes you are going to, are so pathetic! Keep the propoganda going! In the meantime, we will keep the production lines shut down! All of Boeing's shareholders can thank you for their losses!
TBC 777 | Oct 7, 2008 8:48 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

Fear and intimidation....
Is afoot here.

This state used to be a working class state, and this country a working class country. This country was built off the backs of hardworking people, whose skills were learned, not from books, but from those who came before them and from spending hours and hours honing their skills. These are the jobs that enable others to enjoy a better life...yet some believe there is stupidity in hard work or dedication to keeping our own domestic sustainability strong?

There is no reason to put down those who have given their lives, their bodies, their health, their family's upbringings to providing this country w/ the safest and best planes in the world and who have, for nearly 100 years, put up their tax money, their paychecks to give the rest of our communities the opportunity to grow and thrive.

Engineering is seeing its own share of outsourcing. How can we effectively address problems when we have to wait for an answer to each and every question coming from Russia?

Now, the statements issued seem like nothing more than a veiled threat to keep the engineering group from expecting a fair contract as well?

Yet, in the gilded offices of Chicago, Jim McNerney will still earn his millions, with little regard for what happens on the factory floor, except to shoulder the embarrassment of a tarnished reputation to the customers. But this country and its manufacturing base will never be the same.

There are so many easier solutions to all of this, especially when the CEO McNerney has gone from company to company, collecting millions while watching them falter...GE, 3M, now Boeing. Perhaps it's time for the board of directors to question why the executive ranks continue to grow while the rank and file on the floor are being threatened w/ job losses.
CC At the Big B | Oct 7, 2008 8:12 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

The U.S.A. working class must continue to fight
The balance is correcting itself after many years of elitist greed in corporate America. Boeing executives have not yet accepted that it is their narrow thinking and policies that need to change to allow our economy to be healthy.

Most any bright main street worker would realize that our class has allowed the United State's industry leaders to rob the store blind. There is no justification for the management of Boeing to "earn" the obscene compensation that they do. The hard reality is evident now in the markets after years of this so called "trickle down" philosophy.

To me, it seems that rewarding the folks who actually build the company is the logical answer. It would pay more than enough dividends to allow for a comfortable retirement for all in the end. Why does anyone need more than that?

Boeing and the IAM should get real. There is no real need to outsource. And there is plenty of money for all if you'd stop sitting on your brains and spread the wealth more evenly. Listen to each other and come up with a common win solution. The "odd man out" needs to be the overpaid leaders.

Whatever the other contract details are, a cost of living adjustment for retirees needs to be included in any agreement for anyone who works their entire life for the good of all.
Joe Snow | Oct 7, 2008 7:14 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

McNerney's comments today...
By Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) - Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney says the Machinists union strike is undermining the company's reputation for reliability.

McNerney issued a memorandum to all Boeing employees Monday, saying repeated strikes could cause the nation's aerospace industry to go the way of auto makers in Detroit.

His note does not discuss three of the top four issues in the dispute - pay, retirement benefits or medical care - except in general terms. Instead, McNerney focused on the fourth, outsourcing and job security.

He writes that U.S. auto manufacturers damaged themselves in past years by agreeing to job guarantees, along with high wages and benefits.

McNerney adds, "we cannot sacrifice our long-term competitiveness for expedience in a short-term agreement to end the walkout."

So, by all accounts, the company is no longer interested in building airplanes in WA?

This decision being made by someone whose never built an airplane?

Excuse me, but I would think the state of WA might not want to hear that you don't care about decent paying jobs or keeping work here in the area.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I would also think it would behoove Boeing management to find out just why we're so unhappy about the idea of losing our jobs...heck, I don't know, maybe the shareholders could outsource his job as well and see how he likes it!

I am absolutely heartsick not to be able to go work at a job I really love and work w/ some of the finest, most skilled people in the world...skills that cannot just be taught to anything w/ opposible thumbs...there are decades of experience and know how being wasted outside those gates while he and the managers posture and primp!

And yes, sir, why will he talk to reporters but not the IAM?

Further, is this your position in order to scare the engineers into not going out on strike in December?
CC At the Big B | Oct 6, 2008 2:44 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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