Machinists Hope To Mirror Airlines’ Recovery Merger Could Rebuild Membership Lost During Airline Slump
Years of chaos in the airline industry and a shift of jobs to subcontractors and overseas have been tough on the Machinists union.
With airlines hemorrhaging money in the early 1990s, the union often had to make concessions to financially ailing carriers. Cancellations or delays of new aircraft purchases and dwindling defense work cost tens of thousands of jobs in aerospace.
More than 100,000 jobs also were lost in the small aircraft industry, where steep liability insurance costs and soaring aircraft prices all but halted manufacturing.
Despite mergers with other unions, including the International Association of Woodworkers, Machinists membership tumbled from a high of 1 million in 1973 to less than half that now.
But as consolidations helped airlines and aerospace manufacturers become more powerful, merging with the Steelworkers and Auto Workers should help the Machinists, says David Olson, labor expert and political science professor at the University of Washington.
“The power of unions is always in numbers,” Olson says.
Seattle’s Boeing Co. has the largest district in the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. District 751 has about 26,000 members, down from a peak membership of about 39,000 in 1989. The union represents production workers at Boeing, which has cut about 60,000 jobs in the past five years.
The Machinists also represent about 5,000 workers at Boeing’s Wichita, Kan., plant. The Auto Workers bargain for about 2,500 employees at Boeing’s helicopter factory in Philadelphia.
Being a large district, 751 already has a certain amount of clout in the Machinists that stands to be enhanced by the merger, says 751 President Bill Johnson.
The Machinists have a long history of militancy, including a 48-day strike against Boeing in 1989 and a 1991 strike that spelled the end of Eastern Airlines.
In recent years though, union officials frequently have found themselves inside the boardrooms and financial dealings of troubled employers.
The Machinists and Air Line Pilots Association led the $4.9 billion employee buyout of United Airlines last year. Pay cuts and concessions also have been granted to USAir, TWA and Northwest Airlines.
With airline profits recovering and aircraft orders growing, the worst should be over, Johnson says.
Boeing declined comment on the union merger, saying it appeared to be an internal union matter.
xxxx MACHINISTS PROFILE Facts about the Machinists union: Membership: Current: 492,000. Peak: Just over 1 million, in 1973. Recent Low: The current level. Industries in which it represents workers: Ground crews for airlines, production workers in aerospace, shipbuilding, machine shops, auto parts, wood products, tool and die makers, clerical workers and municipal employees. Union wage: Averages $15 an hour unionwide, but a skilled machinist or mechanic can average $20-23. -Associated Press