MARCH 4, 2011:NWLP
3/1/11
10:09 AM
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Boeing wins $35B tanker contract
The Air Force has given a major
boost to U.S. job creation by awarding a
$35 billion contract to build the next
generation of air refueling tankers to
Boeing Co.
The announcement to build 179 new
767-based tankers — the largest con-
tract in Air Force history — was made at
the Pentagon Feb. 24.
Boeing said the contract will supply
50,000 jobs across the country — many
of them good-paying union jobs. The
airplane itself will be built in Everett,
Wash., with the refueling boom and
other military modifications made in
Wichita, Kansas.
Some 26,000 Boeing workers are
Obama renominates
union attorney
Becker to NLRB
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
Showing he won’t take Senate Republi-
can “no’s” for an answer, President
Barack Obama renominated former top
union attorney Craig Becker as a mem-
ber of the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB).
Becker serves in that post under a re-
cess appointment, which ends at the
close of this congressional session. A
GOP filibuster in the last Congress pre-
vented a vote on the former counsel to
the AFL-CIO and the Service Employ-
ees International Union. Republicans
objected to Becker’s union ties and
some of his academic writings.
No sooner did Obama renominate
Becker than Sen. Mike Enzi, (R-Wy),
the top Republican on the Senate Labor
Committee, said he would oppose
Becker again.
Obama also renominated Bill Boar-
man, former head of Communications
Workers of America’s Printing, Publica-
tions and Media Workers sector, for
Public Printer, which oversees the Gov-
ernment Printing Office — the world’s
largest publisher. Boarman currently is
serving in that post under a recess ap-
pointment.
represented by the International Associ-
ation of Machinists (IAM). The Society
of Professional Engineering Employees
in Aerospace represents another 24,000
employees at the company.
Boeing said the new tankers will en-
sure more than 11,000 direct and indi-
rect jobs in the Puget Sound area, with
an economic impact of $693 million
every year. Another 7,500 direct and in-
direct jobs are anticipated in Wichita.
Job gains aren’t expeced to be as ex-
tensive at the Boeing parts manufactur-
ing plant in Gresham, which employs
more than 1,500 workers.
“My understanding is we will not see
an increase in employment, but we will
see a gradual increase in production,
which means job retention for us,” said
Bob Petroff, assistant directing business
representative of Machinists District
Lodge W24. “After all, the first 18
tankers aren’t scheduled for delivery un-
til 2017.”
Some media reports quoted a Boeing
spokesperson from Auburn, Washing-
ton, stating that the tanker contract will
include enough work for about 45 em-
ployees in Gresham, and that the com-
pany expects to add 100 new jobs there
this year.
Boeing earlier indicated that the
tanker deal would create as many as 300
news jobs in Oregon, with an economic
impact of $14 million. Many of those
jobs, however, will go to area suppliers
and vendors.
The Air Force has tried for nearly a
decade to replace its aging fleet of
Eisenhower-era tankers, the equivalent
of a flying gas station. For much of that
time Boeing was locked in a competi-
tion with European Aeronautic Defence
and Space Co. (EADS), which builds
the Airbus.
“(Today’s) news, that after nearly 10
long years, the Pentagon has finally seen
the light and decided to order 179 Boe-
ing tankers, built by our Machinists —
(this) is certainly cause for celebration,”
said Tom Wroblewski, president of Ma-
chinists District Lodge 751 in Seattle.
“We’ve worked hard on Boeing’s behalf
for nearly a decade on this tanker deal.
In fact, we could have built and deliv-
ered an entire fleet of tankers in the time
it’s taken to settle this deal. As we’ve all
learned over the past 10 years, with the
tanker, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over and even
then you can’t be sure. But just as we’ve
said all along, the Boeing tanker is the
right one for America’s military, for our
taxpayers and for the U.S. economy. We
are the Fighting Machinists, and we’re
going to keep on fighting for the Boeing
tanker, right up ’til our members start
building the first one for the Air Force
up in Everett.”
A sampler of recent charges of employer labor law violations filed
with the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Hospital tears down letter from Congressman
At Springfield’s McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center, 340 sup-
port workers have battled for over a year to get a decent contract out
of the Tennessee-based parent company, Community Health Sys-
tems. So union members were heartened when their congressman,
Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), wrote to CHS urging the for-profit hospital
chain to negotiate a just contract, “because it is the right thing to
do.” DeFazio warned in the letter that CHS’ determination to short-
change employees by scrimping on wages and benefits is putting
the hospital’s reputation at risk. But hospital supervisors have been
taking the letter down from union bulletin boards since December.
That affront is one of eight violations spelled out in the latest charge
filed by SEIU Local 49. A Feb. 15 trial on three other charges was
postponed.
Yeah, times are hard, but show us the records
Is Ross Island Sand & Gravel going bust, or is the privately held
company trying to throw sand in the eyes of its 185 unionized
workers so it can pick their pockets? At a Dec. 28 contract bargain-
ing session, the company proposed over $10 an hour in concessions
— lower wages, fewer paid holidays, elimination of paid sick leave,
and less overtime. Such takeaways are necessary, company negotia-
tors said, because Ross Island has a serious cash flow problem and
hasn’t had profits since 2007. Teamsters Local 162, understand-
ably, asked for proof: an audit of the company’s records. Manage-
ment said no. That’s bad faith bargaining, the union charges, and a
violation of federal labor law.
Workers have the right to discuss wages
Fred Meyer has another court date. On March 15, company
lawyers will explain to a federal judge why Fred Meyer fired Bar-
bara Sideroff. The NLRB believes that Sideroff — an apparel de-
partment worker at Northeast Portland’s Hollywood West Fred
Meyer — was canned last August for talking to a co-worker about
their wages. The agency has been prosecuting a rash of such cases
in the last year. A similar charge was filed last month against Provi-
dence St. Vincent Hospital for banning co-workers from commu-
nicating about wages and conditions. That’s illegal under federal la-
bor law.
Throwing worker rights under the bus
First Student, the UK-headquartered multinational that specializes
in privatizing school bus operations, has racked up 121 charges of
U.S. labor law violations since January 2010 — nine in Oregon
alone. In Central Point, Oregon, First Student changed all kinds of
rules without bargaining with Teamsters Local 962, and termi-
nated workers for breaking the new rules. Local 962 also accuses
First Student of surveilling union activity, threatening pro-union
workers, and unlawfully giving anti-union workers an employee list
to help them pursue a decertification drive.
Donations accepted
for Workers’ Memorial
Scholarship fund
Each year, children in Oregon must
cope with a parent being taken from
their lives through a workplace death.
The loss can have a profound effect on
a family’s ability to finance higher edu-
cation.
The Workers’ Memorial Scholarship
fund was established by the 1991 Leg-
islature at the request of the Oregon
AFL-CIO to help surviving family
members reach their educational goals.
Private donations to the fund can be
accepted, but are not solicited by Ore-
gon OSHA. Please make checks
payable to “DCBS Workers’ Memorial
Scholarship Account” and mail your
donation to Oregon OSHA, c/o
Melanie Mesaros, P.O. Box 14480,
Salem, OR 97309.
PAGE 8
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
MARCH 4, 2011