Slowdown Protests Boeing Talks

Boeing Co. production workers began a work-to-rule slowdown Monday to protest lagging contract negotiations.

A Machinists Union leader said some work, such as riveting, was down by as much as 90 percent at the company’s largest jet factory. A Boeing spokesman said there were no early reports of major problems.

Neither side would discuss specifics in a contract proposal presented late Sunday night by negotiators for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents more than 34,000 Boeing employees - about 26,000 in the Puget Sound area, 7,450 in Wichita, Kan., and 1,200 in Oregon.

Negotiators wanted to finish work on a three-year contract Saturday night. They still hope to wrap it up in time for a vote by midnight Thursday night, when the existing pact expires, but are prepared to continue through the weekend, Boeing and union officials said.

Key issues are job security, medical care and pay.

Robert Freeman, treasurer of Local A and a decorative painter at the 747-767-777 factory in Everett, said morale was worse than before Boeing’s last strike, a 48-day walkout in 1989.

Some workers are bucking 100 rivets in the time they normally do 1,000 because they’re so angry they have a hard time concentrating on their work, he said.

Russ Young, a Boeing spokesman, said he had no initial reports of production hangups.

“We’ve got faith in our employees’ integrity,” Young said. “We expect them to show up and work. They’re paid very well.”

Connie Kelliher, a union spokeswoman, announced the work-to-rule campaign Sunday night, meaning that nothing gets done unless every rule, regulation, guideline and authorization is followed to the letter.