Machinists Cheer Prospect Of Return Union Members Fare Well In Contract, But So Does Boeing

For Boeing Machinist Ruth Danel, the outcome of today’s vote on a new contract was clear when Spokane union officials announced the tentative agreement at a Christmas party for 300 pickets and their families.

“If you heard the cheers, you’d believe it, too. I don’t have any doubt this contract will pass,” said Danel, who makes floor panels at Boeing’s Airway Heights fabrication plant. “We’re all dying to go back to work.”

Rank-and-file Machinists union members are the winners in the contract offer from The Boeing Co., labor experts say, having proven, among other things, that a strike still works.

But the package, reached Monday afternoon after talks nearly collapsed, might not be all that tough on Boeing, industry analysts said Tuesday.

Boeing factory workers, who struck nearly 10 weeks ago over issues of health insurance, wages and the future of their jobs, have an offer with significant company concessions on all three fronts.

“The big winners were the rank and file, who, against the odds and against some of the leadership in their union … and especially some perceptions of Boeing management, had a clear idea of what they wanted,” said Chuck Berquist, director of the Labor Studies Center at the University of Washington. “My hat’s off to them.”

“In an era of some highly visible defeats for unions, I think this could count as a victory,” said Harley Shaiken, professor of labor studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

Striking Machinists vote today on a new contract with Boeing that will give the union a voice in subcontracting decisions by the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer.

If the 32,500 members of the International Association of Machinists approve the contract they are expected to return to work immediately, ending a two-month strike that began Oct. 6 at Boeing plants in Seattle, Spokane, Portland and Wichita, Kan.

Boeing Chairman Frank Shrontz called for ratification with a warning that “this proposal represents the limits of a prudent contract.”

Union officials were confident Tuesday that the contract would be approved. Two weeks ago the strikers overwhelmingly rejected an earlier agreement that contained less money and fewer job protections.

The latest agreement provides a first-year lump sum increase equal to 10 percent of an employee’s base pay and an additional lump sum payment of 4.5 percent in the second year. Union members will receive base pay increases of 3 percent in each of the last two years of the contract, which expires Sept. 1, 1999. IAM members currently earn average pay of $20 an hour and that would rise to an average of $23 over the life of the new contract.

Boeing backed off plans to force union members to pay part of the premiums for their health care for at least the first 31 months of the contract. Union members will begin to pay premiums of up to $30 a month for family coverage if rising medical costs exceed the national inflation rate for health care. To lower the costs, union members will receive $1,200 if they agree to participate in the company’s managed care health plan.

But the biggest issue for the union was job security, particularly sending work to outside contractors. While 70 percent of Boeing’s sales are for export, 85 percent of the work is done in the United States, but only half of those jobs are at Boeing, according to the company.

For the first time, Boeing has agreed to give the union a voice in company decisions to ship work to outside contractors. The company agreed to give the union 90 days notice and a chance to bid for the work before signing any agreement with an outside contractor.

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