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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, October 13, 2008 Boeing, Machinists call off negotiations Herald staff The Boeing Co. and its Machinists union called off their latest round of negotiations Monday, according to a company statement. “We worked very hard to find solutions, and we are extremely disappointed that the talks broke off,” said Doug Kight, Boeing's lead negotiator, in a statement. “We want to resolve this strike so employees can return to work, but we cannot sacrifice our ability to continuously improve productivity and our long-term competitiveness for an agreement." Company and union leaders had rekindled contract talks late last week after more than a monthlong stalemate. The Machinists went on strike Sept. 6, bringing Boeing's commercial jet production to a halt. No new talks are currently scheduled. Approximately 27,000 employees in Washington, Oregon and Kansas are represented by the union. "The Union had hoped Boeing would come to the table looking to resolve this strike, which is in its fifth week; however, this was not the case," said Tom Wroblewski, Machinists' district president, in a statement. The union voted down the company's contract offer in early September. The Machinists say Boeing needs to better its offer in terms of wages, pension, health care and job security. Boeing's chief executive Jim McNerney last week said the company needs to be able to outsource to retain its competitive edge in the market. The Machinists want to be able to bid on work that Boeing wants to send out. The union has pointed to Boeing's troubles with its heavily outsourced 787 Dreamliner as reason the Machinists should be able to do more Boeing work in house. "The Company is attempting to put the Union in an unacceptable position to bargain away our members’ jobs," Wroblewski said. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out (No heading) GO IAM ! GO UNION ! The union is one of the few groups in America today with spine enough to demand they get health care and basic increases in compensation. Boeing has gotten generous tax concessions and reduced costs to do business here. In return it must create jobs here. The places where Boeing is outsourcing labor such as the Japanese aerospace companies have strong union-based blue-collar and white-collar workers, and they are growing in their work force and work well with their unions, because they have respect for their workforce. And any attempt by Boeing management to blame 787 delays on the unions is weak and transparent. These delays are due to Boeing management's own poor planning and coordination of suppliers, not because of the unions. It is the union-based workforce that has scrambled around the world fixing these supplier problems. Sando Paloa | Oct 13, 2008 10:20 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) This is not negotiating, this is a stand off at the expense of the union members and their families. Both sides appear to enjoy playing with fire during these difficult financial times. The union might want to up those strike checks to help all those struggling families. I hope Boeing is ready to retrain a lot of new people as I can predict a lot of those striking will be forced to look for employment somewhere else. The sand in the hour glass is running out. One thing is for sure, the initial proposed bonus will not cover the loss of wages at this stage of the game nor will it cover all the bad debt. It appears as though Boeing's strategy is to eliminate the union. They will out source union jobs until they have achieved that goal. The completive edge obviously does not mean American union workers, they mean no union and foreign workers. Its not all about out sourcing though and I am sure the union members would love to here how Boeing worked very hard to find solutions and what those solutions are. No union member can make a conscious decision unless they have all the facts. One thing is for sure, Boeing is losing credibility with its employees, customers, and Wall Street. L. Haggen | Oct 13, 2008 10:01 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Boeing Strike Well there go's the farm, and now what! another 90 day strike. What will be accomplished? Outsourcing is not on the table, so whats to talk about? Money, Health Insurance, Productivity, whats important. There's a whole bunch of people losing jobs ( King County ) losing homes, losing their retirement funds, and most importantly their future and their kids future. And you wanted what? ken taylor | Oct 13, 2008 5:32 pm | 5 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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