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Boeing production workers in contract vot

Sept. 3, 2008, Seattle – The workers who assemble The Boeing Co.'s commercial
planes and some of its key components prepared to vote Wednesday on
the company's “best and final'' contract offer, with union leaders
recommending they reject the deal and go out on strike.

Despite $5,000 in signing bonuses and raises averaging 11 per
cent over the proposal's three-year span, leaders of the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have
said the offer falls short.
The contract covers more than 27,000 commercial airplane
production workers in three states _ about 25,000 workers in the
Puget Sound region represented by the union's District Lodge 751;
about 1,500 in District 24 in Gresham, Ore., a Portland suburb; and
about 750 in District 70 in Wichita, Kan.

Key issues include pay, outsourcing and retirement and health
care benefits.
On Wednesday, members are scheduled to cast two ballots: one to
accept or reject Boeing's latest offer and another on whether to
begin a strike. A simple majority is required to reject the
contract, and a two-thirds majority is needed to call a strike,
which would trigger a work stoppage at 12:01 a.m. PDT Thursday, when
the current contract expires.
Results of the vote are expected Wednesday night.

The average Boeing machinist earns $27 an hour, or about $56,000
a year, before overtime and incentives.
In 2005, about 18,400 machinists in the Pacific Northwest and
Wichita, Kan., struck for four weeks, forcing the company to halt
commercial airplane production. Gary N. Chaison, an industrial
relations professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said he
had been following developments closely and rated the possibility of
a strike at about 50-50.
“The parties are going right to the edge of the cliff,'' Chaison
said.

“This is a situation that's ripe for miscalculation.''
Boeing has about an eight-year backlog of deliveries and would
lose as much as $100 million a day in deferred revenue as well as
further delays in delivery of the new 787 commercial jet, analysts
said, adding that riveters, electricians, painters and other workers
would be hard-pressed to recover lost wages from plum jobs in an
otherwise bleak economy.
The union previously struck for 140 days in 1948, 19 days in
1965, 45 days in 1977, 48 days in 1989 and 69 days in 1995.

There have been no talks since Boeing's third offer was presented
last Thursday and none are scheduled, although both sides have been
independently in contact with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation
Service since negotiations began in early May.
Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for District 751, said word from
the rank and file indicated a strike vote well over the two-thirds
minimum.
“Certainly, what I have been hearing from the workers, it's not
goingSept. 3, 2008, Seattle – The workers who assemble The Boeing Co.'s commercial
planes and some of its key components prepared to vote Wednesday on
the company's “best and final'' contract offer, with union leaders
recommending they reject the deal and go out on strike. to be close,'' she said.
Boeing spokesman Tim Healy would not say whether the company had
made any security or other preparations for a strike.

“We're still optimistic,'' Healy said. “This is a very good
offer.''
Besides the wage hikes, the offer includes pension increases and
a three per cent cost-of-living adjustment, bringing total gains in
pay and benefits to an average $34,000 over three years, according
to the company.