BY BOB BRUNEAU
SEATTLE - The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has scheduled a solidarity rally in support of strikers at Boeing for Sunday, November 12, at Everett Memorial Stadium, north of Seattle.
No contract talks between Boeing and the IAM have taken place, and none are scheduled, since October 5, when 32,500 IAM members overwhelmingly rejected Boeing's three-year contract offer. Strikers and their families, other unionists and unorganized workers, community and church groups, and elected officials are all invited to turn out for the rally. IAM international president George Kourpias will speak at the event.
Picket lines remain solid in Washington, Oregon, and
Kansas.
Demonstrations of support for the strike continue.
Teamsters at Boeing are contributing $10 per member to the
union food bank. The last week of October, 150 members of
IAM District 142 from TransWorld Airlines, Southwest
Airlines, and Continental joined the picket line in front
of Boeing's corporate headquarters. IAM mechanics from
Alaska Airlines, along with members of the Association of
Flight Attendants (AFA), organized a car caravan to the
picket lines from the Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
The mood on the picket lines is bolstered by each expression of support for the strike. Motorists blow their horns and wave to strikers as they drive by. Truck drivers blast their air horns. Other workers display signs of support in car windows.
The IAM and Boeing's second largest union, the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA), held a joint press conference here October 23. SPEEA negotiates the contract that affects 20,000 engineers and technical workers at Boeing. SPEEA is opening up negotiations with Boeing on its contract, which expires December 1.
At the press conference, IAM District 751 President Bill Johnson stated, "We're working together with SPEEA to ensure that all employees maintain decent health insurance, pensions, and have jobs for the future....We won't let the company pit one group of workers against another. SPEEA has been extremely supportive of the Machinists strike in everything from walking the picket line to providing food and other supplies. We want to provide support for them as they enter their critical phase of contract negotiations."
As Boeing has scaled back its workforce, both unions have lost thousands of members. Seattle area membership in the IAM has declined from 39,000 in 1990 to the current 23,000. SPEEA's membership has declined from 29,000 in 1991 to 20,000 today. The issue of jobs is critical for both unions.
In an important move to strengthen the IAM strike, the Machinist District Council 751 voted to pay $100 a week strike benefits to some 400 members who are honoring the picket lines after being recently called back to work before the strike began. These union members would have normally not been eligible for strike pay until after they had completed 90 days membership in the union.
A group of retired Machinist members are meeting weekly to discuss a possible class action lawsuit against Boeing for breaking its pledge to pay retiree health insurance coverage. About 2,600 Machinist union members were enticed into an early retirement program this year. Part of that offer included company-paid health insurance through age 65. The contract proposal rejected by the Machinists October 5 contained sharp increases in health care costs for retirees, including those who enrolled in the "early retirement" program.
On October 30, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional director John Nelson ruled that "as a result of Boeing's bargaining, the strike has been an unfair labor practice strike from its inception."
The IAM had filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the NLRB October 10. The union charged that Boeing had made last minute changes in the medical care proposals during the negotiations, without enough time and details for the IAM to properly consider them. They also charged Boeing with unfairly including retiree health benefits into the negotiations and failing to provide the union with information on company subcontracting.
Boeing officials stated that they will provide the IAM with details of their proposed health care plan and will remove from contract negotiations the question of altering medical benefits for retirees. The company, however, plans to contest the ruling requiring that it provide the union with information on subcontracting.
Bob Bruneau is a striking member of IAM Local 751A at Boeing in Seattle.