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Last week, Boeing purchased a plant from Vought Aircraft Industries, in South Carolina, that has been building rear fuselages for the companies 787. Many in Washington feared this meant that the company was setting the groundwork to leave Washington State. Those fears only escalated when the company effectively issued an ultimatum, saying they had not decided on a final location for their second fuselage plant, but their decision would be dependent on the machinists union agreeing to a no-strike clause in their next contract.
Washington lawmakers are doing what they can to mediate between the two, but it looks as if Boeing will not be budging on this one. The machinists have struck in 4 of the last 7 opportunities, including a two-month ordeal, this past winter.
As an outsider looking in (I have not affiliations with either Boeing, or anyone in the unions), it has always seemed that Boeing has bent over backwards to satisfy the demands of the union, while the union always is screaming for more. Last time they struck, I remember someone on the picket line bragging that each day of the strike will cost Boeing $100 million in sales and 1 cent per share in profit. On top of that, they were trying to get out a new airliner that is already years behind schedule, which has lead to a number of companies cancelling their orders.
I know the job of a union is to get more money and benefits for their members, but they didn’t seem to care that the entire economy was crashing. Why should they be immune? Why was an 11% annual raise insufficient? Why should they be unwilling to pay for a portion of their health benefits? Guess what? The economy is down. You should have been happy just having a job.
The whole mentality of the Boeing machinists union is displayed by the statue outside their headquarters (see the post’s picture). The statue depicts workers striking (not working).
So now, Boeing is tired of all the strikes and is threatening to leave. I can’t blame them. How efficient can your company be, if every 3-4 years, your employees stop coming to work for months at a time? The question then becomes, how stubborn are the machinist unions going to be? Will they refuse to work, and lose their jobs? Will they try to sue and lose their jobs? Only if they’re fools. I hope Boeing stays. The loss of Boeing would be a horrible loss for Western WA, but I don’t think I could blame them, if they did.