Machinists want Boeing to share the wealth

SEATTLE — The last time The Boeing Co. sat down to bargain with its largest union, it was fighting through a steep downturn in business in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Three years later, the aerospace behemoth is riding a surge in commercial jet orders and has hired back thousands of laid-off and new employees — which means the Machinists will be asking for payback.

“Our members stuck in there during the hard times. … Now it’s on the upswing and we intend to share in the profits that the company is going to get,” said Mark Blondin, Machinists District 751 president.

Boeing maintains it offers stellar pay and benefits, but is facing intense cost-cutting pressure from financially crippled airlines.

“We have a competitor out there that offers great products and offers them at prices that are kind of unprecedented,” Jerry Calhoun, vice president of human resources for Boeing’s commercial airplanes division, said of Airbus SAS, the company’s chief rival.

“Whatever we can get back in terms of pricing and volume and margins, it’s really clawing back our competitive position.”

Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers open contract negotiations today by trading proposals for a new three-year deal. Preliminary talks will stretch through the summer. Round-the-clock bargaining is set to begin Aug. 15, and a vote is scheduled for Sept. 1, when the current contract expires.

The union represents about 18,000 employees in the Seattle area, Wichita and Portland, Ore.

It’s been 10 years since the union went on strike. In 2002, federal mediators stepped in after Machinists began voting to authorize a walkout.

The company’s final offer included an 8 percent ratification bonus; a 2 percent pay raise the first year and 2.5 percent the second and third years; and a 20 percent increase in monthly pension payments to retirees.