(Photo: Boeing)
SEATTLE — A new labour contract that was approved in a close vote by Boeing machinists secures a major airplane contract for the Seattle area, but it also moves workers away from pensions.
National unio leaders, the states governor and the company all hailed Friday contract approval — which defied local unio bosses — as a vital boost to the regions economy.
The tight count exposed deep rifts in the once-powerful unio, but with plenty of states lining up to give Boeing exactly what it wanted to get work on the 777X, the aerospace giant had a tremendous advantage.
It shows that even a strong local is vulnerable and has a limited defensibility to slow the tide of concessions that has been going on across the country, said Leon Grunberg, a sociology professor at the University of Puget Sound who co-authored a book, Turbulence: Boeing and the State of American Workers and Managers.
He added Saturday, This is happening with a company thats doing very well financially.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers approved an eight-year contract extension late Friday by 51 per cent, a turnaround from November when the same workers voted down a previous offer by 67 per cent.
The passing margin was about 600 votes of about 23,900 counted, according to Wilson Ferguson, president of a local unit of District 751.
Ferguson said Saturday that the vote diminished the local unios power since it conceded some hard-fought benefits they wont be getting back.
Foes of the contract opposed the idea of freezing the machinists pensions and moving workers to a defined-contribution savings plan.
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The very fact that Boeing was making these demands in the first place just has to be seen as discouraging for average workers, said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at the University of Washington who has a forthcoming book What unios No Longer Do.
This is a very strong unio, and if you have a strong unio, being forced into givebacks of this sort then you can just imagine how little leverage other workers have when negotiating, he added.
But Richard Gritta, a finance professor at University of Portland, said Boeing needed to gain these concessions to remain competitive in the dog-eat-dog industry that has seen Boeing and Airbus trade dominance.
Its a very tough industry. To gain these concessions from labour is critical, he said Saturday.
Local unio officials had urged their 30,000 members to oppose the deal, arguing that the proposal surrendered too much at a time of company profitability. They had opposed taking a vote at all but were overruled by national leaders in the Machinists unio.
A number of political leaders, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, praised the vote, which supporters said keeps thousands of well-paying jobs in the state and solidifies Boeings presence in the Seattle area, wher the company built its first airplanes nearly a century ago.
Inslee, a Democrat, said the vote secured Washington states future as the aerospace capital of the world.
Some local elected officials had said there was no other choice but to vote yes.
Grunberg, the University of Puget Sound professor, said, Everybody was scared about Boeing moving this huge new production out of state, so I think there was tremendous anxiety about losing this production.
More than 20 other states moved recently to bid for work on the 777X, an updated version of Boeings bestselling 777. Boeing has said the 777X is expected to carry as many as 400 passengers and be more fuel efficient than the 777.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Friday said the decision wasnt an easy one and workers concerns about income and retirement security were legitimate. But the Democrat also said the agreement guarantees thousands of good-paying jobs and billions of dollars in economic growth.
Under the terms of the contract extension, Boeing said the 777X and its composite wing will be built in the Puget Sound area by Boeing employees represented by the Machinists unio.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner said Friday that the future of Boeing in the Puget Sound region has never looked brighter.
Lynne Dodson, with the Washington State Labor Council, the largest labour group in the state with 450,000 members, didnt see Fridays vote as an indication of declining unio influence. Its an indication of just how far Boeing will go, she said. Its more a reflection of corporate greed than of unio power.
Ferguson, the local unio leader, said Saturday morning: This was a turning point in the labour movement. Pensions were hard-fought battles to get in the first place. once theyre gone, theyre gone.
Their fear and intimidation worked, he added.
