Workers Await Boeing Talks Outcome

When representatives from The Boeing Co. and the Machinists union go behind closed doors to resume negotiations, a third group with a stake in the talks - rank-and-file union members - will be left outside to picket in the cold.

But these workers will be the key to the success of any proposed contract. And they have a simple message for the company and their own union negotiators: Come back with a contract that leaves medical benefits intact, or don’t come back at all.

Although they are hopeful about the new round of talks, rank-and-file union members say they are just as resolved, just as angry and just as ready to extend the strike as they were two weeks ago, when they resoundingly rejected a contract proposal that their own leaders had recommended.

Job security and lump-sum bonuses continue to be major issues, but the line that many have drawn is over medical benefits.

“If they offer us essentially the same thing but with just a few improvements, they can forget about it,” said Arvetta Jones, who has worked at Boeing’s Everett plant for the past seven years. “I don’t think we’ll take anything less than what we have now.”

George Campbell, a machinery mechanic at Boeing’s Renton plant, said he has worked for several different companies. Once they start taking away benefits such as full medical coverage, “you end up paying the whole nine yards down the line,” he said.

“The last company I worked for did that, and they are nonunion now,” Campbell said.

Most Boeing employees are on a low-deductible medical plan that doesn’t require employees to contribute toward their premiums.