The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 37           September 26, 2005  
 
 
Strikers at Boeing brace for long fight
(front page)
 
BY DAVID ROSENFELD  
SEATTLE, September 14—As the strike by 18,000 members of the International Association of Machinists entered its 13th day, the company and the union are bracing for a long fight.

“When union negotiators say the two sides were miles apart, they are correct,” said Alan Mulally, chief executive of Boeing’s aircraft division, in a statement to company managers.

On September 1, some 86 percent of workers voted to strike, rejecting Boeing’s “final offer.”

“They’re sticking it to the young people, to workers just starting out,” said Al Noble, a 64-year-old production worker. “I absolutely won’t go along with that.”

The aerospace giant wants to end retirement health benefits for new hires. The union is pushing for a substantial increase in pension payments and protection of health-care benefits.

Workers say they are more confident to fight because Boeing’s profits tripled last year compared to 2002, when the union accepted concessions.

Several Northwest Airlines mechanics on strike here are regularly visiting the Boeing picket lines. Boeing workers have also extended the hand of solidarity, joining pickets outside Northwest’s airport hanger. Boeing engineers, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees, are walking the picket lines on their lunch hours and after work.
 
 
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How workers in battle transform themselves
Working-class response to Gulf Coast disaster at center of New York event on 9/11
Strikers resist Northwest ‘offer’ of deeper concessions  
 
 
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