Chanting, "One Day Longer!" and "What do we want? Contract," demonstrators waved picket signs as they marched from the parking lot of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) to Boeing's executive offices. Demands of the action were: "Fair contract for SPEEA," and "Solidarity with locked-out Kaiser Steelworkers."
Some 18,000 engineers, computer programmers, researchers, and other technical workers struck Boeing February 9 after rejecting the company's two contract offers. The main issues behind the strike are inadequate salary raises, cuts in company-provided benefits, and anger at how Boeing is treating this section of the work force. They are represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), which joined the AFL-CIO last fall.
More than 3,000 workers at Kaiser Aluminum have been locked-out of their jobs in Spokane and Tacoma, Washington; Gramercy, Louisiana; and Newark, Ohio, for more than a year now. Their union, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), has been organizing a public campaign urging Boeing to stop buying aluminum from Kaiser, which has been running its aluminum refineries and mills with replacement workers.
Sam Thomas, who worked at Kaiser's Gramercy plant, marched alongside striking SPEEA members. "Its a great turn out," he said. "We're 100 percent behind SPEEA. We're fighting corporate greed, too, and we'll win."
"To see blue and white collar workers together has got to bother management," added Buck McGowan, a steelworker at Kaiser's plant in Spokane. Joe, an engineer on Boeing's F-22 fighter plane program, thought the march was "awesome. I've waited 21 years for this kind of unity!" he said.
The march and rally are the most recent signs of the staying power of the strike, which has surprised Boeing's management. Despite predictions that the strike would quickly fizzle, SPEEA's picket lines remain solid throughout the Boeing factory system up and down the Puget Sound of Washington state, more than two weeks after they walked out.
Most of those marching echoed the determination of Trent Mathias, who has worked at Boeing for three years as a technical worker. "I'll stay out however long it takes," he explained. Some carried signs that read: "Hey, Harry! We're still here!" One sign read, "Phil and Harry: Don't be a Frank Lorenzo! Remember what happened to him?"
These signs refer to Harold Stonecipher, president and chief operating officer, and Philip Condit, chairman and CEO. Frank Lorenzo was the head of Eastern Airlines, which went under after IAM members stopped his union-busting drive in a 22-month strike in 1989-91. Steelworkers from Kaiser plants spoke at the rally, as did several local politicians and union officials, who pledged their support. Strikers especially appreciated Bill Johnson, president of IAM District 751, who spoke out in solidarity with their strike for the first time since the walkout began. IAM District 751 organizes more than 30,000 production workers at Boeing.
Several SPEEA officials also spoke, including its executive director Charles Bofferding. He said SPEEA and the company planned meetings the next day with a federal mediator, in hopes of getting a decent contract offer. Bofferding expressed optimism that the union would secure a new contract. "This strike is not about beating Boeing," he said. "Its about saving Boeing."
Strikers received their last paycheck a week earlier, and their company medical coverage ends March 1. They have no strike fund, but began a Striker Relief Fund at the start of the strike, which has raised $118,000 in two weeks to help defray expenses of those most in need.
Strikers remain upbeat, and the march and rally were a strong expression of their unity and seriousness. "Boeing is just being mean," stated Betty, a 55-year-old striking programmer from Boeing's Kent factory. "But," she continued, "they'll come around, or they won't get us back." She said she was on strike "for a decent contract, not to save Boeing."
The strike is having an economic impact on the company. Since almost all of the engineers who must certify Boeing's jets as safe and air worthy are on strike, the Federal Aviation Authority's (FAA) personnel must now sign off on each plane. This is leading to substantial delays in the delivery and final sale of airplanes to customers.
In addition, assembly of the planes has begun to back up and bottlenecks are developing because Boeing is unable to quickly resolve mistakes and make changes in the manufacturing process that require engineering approval.
Despite the bosses claims that there are no safety problems, strikers are raising this issue. SPEEA, for example, sent a delegation of striking engineers to Washington, D.C., to talk with the FAA, the Department of Transportation, and other federal bodies about their concerns. Boeing is especially sensitive to this issue now, in light of the recent tragic crash of Alaska Air MD-80 off California and a recent exposé around the 737 rudder problems.
The MD-80 crash on January 31 resulted in the death of all 88 people aboard. The subsequent investigation discovered mechanical problems with the tail's horizontal stabilizer and jackscrew that tilts the stabilizer up and down. Boeing inherited the MD-80 when it merged with McDonnell-Douglas, the original manufacturer.
The February 19 Seattle Times carried a front page article alleging that for years Boeing's management covered up design and mechanical problems with the 737's rudder control system. Recently acquired documents show that Boeing waited until after two 737's--a United Air flight near Colorado Springs in 1992 and a US Airways jet near Pittsburgh--crashed killing all aboard, to acknowledge the problem. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has ruled that the Colorado crash was caused by the rudder jam created by a defective control system. The article is based on documents released after a lawsuit against Boeing and its rudder-parts supplier, Parker Hannifin Corporation, by the families of two of those killed in the 1994 US Airways crash. The suit was settled out of court for $25.5 million.
The article also alleges that the FAA, after being made aware of the problem, agreed to keep the information secret at Boeing's request, for "proprietary reasons." Boeing denies that it did anything wrong and said it did all it was required by federal safety regulations.
The day this damning article came out, Jason, a technical researcher who was walking the picket line at Boeing's Frederickson factory, remarked, "We talk about airplane safety all day. We want to built the best product possible." Reports of Boeing cover-ups, he said, mean "our efforts are sabotaged." He said concern for airplane safety is "probably the best reason to win our strike," against Boeing.
After three fruitless days of discussions with a federal mediator, talks between Boeing and SPEEA broke down February 26. "The company's latest offer was a step backward," stated Charles Bofferding. Boeing's latest offer includes a medical benefits provision little changed from the one rejected by 98 percent of the union's members.
Scott Breen is a member of the International Association of Machinists who works at Boeing.
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