Boeing strikers vote down concession contract

by Chris Lindberg

This article was reprinted from the December 2, 1995 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

SEATTLE - "It's our turn now," chanted hundreds of Boeing machinists at the headquarters of Machinists Union District 751 when President Bill Johnson announced that strikers had rejected Boeing's contract offer on November 21. "We still have a labor dispute," Johnson told the group over roars of "Strike! Strike! Strike!"

Earlier that day while Machinists were voting on an offer which provided little in the way of real job security and still demanded that Boeing workers shoulder part of the costs of health insurance, five Boeing executives became eligible for $2.5 million in stock bonuses .

Frank Shrontz, chairman and CEO of Boeing Company, and company negotiators were expecting the "same-old, same-old" when they forced the union leadership to put this latest offer to a vote. Fully expecting ratification, Boeing supervisors brought pizza to the picket lines on the day of the vote and a Tacoma News-Tribune headline said, "Strike likely over."

Shrontz got his wake-up call later that afternoon when, after 47 days on the picket line, strikers rejected the company's offer by a 61-to-39 percent margin and vowed to stay out through Christmas, New Year's Day and to last "one day longer than Boeing."

For Patrick White, a 34-year-old mechanic at Boeing's Auburn plant, the fight is to save family jobs. "We don't want them to take back our medical benefits" he said, " and we don't want them to offload our futures."

Garth Hansen, another striker, brought his entire family to the picket line on Thanksgiving Day. "I want my sons to know what I'm striking for. So that someday if they choose to go into blue-collar work, they'll be able to make a living wage," he explained .

"We will not accept any take-aways," Machinists spokesperson Connie Kelliher told the World. "We want the company to know we are not going back until we win."

Workers simply do not accept that the company needs concessions, Kelliher added. Boeing has about 60 percent of the world market for jet transports and has amassed profits in excess of $6.6 billion this decade, despite a relatively weak market . "We've given up a lot," Kelliher said, "what will the company give up?"

Johnson said job security was a major issue with union members. "We got some language on subcontracting, but they don't feel there is enough teeth in it because they don't trust the company anymore." Since 1990, Boeing has eliminated 18,000 union jobs in plants in Washington, Oregon and Kansas.

The union stepped up its activity immediately after the contract was rejected. On the Friday after Thanksgiving strikers, who have lost a collective total of more than $150 million since the strike began in early October, were joined by other unionists and supporters the Friday after Thanksgiving to petitioned in shopping areas to save jobs for their community through a fair contract for the machinists. On Saturday,Nov. 25, a group of Machinists in Everett picketed the home of Boeing's chief negotiator, and on the following Monday, thousands swelled the picket lines telling scabs to go home.

"Workers are going to unite in this country. We are sick of corporate greed," Kelliher said.

- BJ Mangaoang contributed to this story.