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On second vote, SPEEA Technical Unit accepts Boeing’s offer SEATTLE — Technical workers at The Boeing Company approved a new four-year contract March 18 — a month after narrowly rejecting the exact same offer. The vote — 4,244 to 654 — puts an end to negotiations that have lasted nearly a year. The previous contracts expired Nov. 25, 2012. Both Technical Unit and Profes- sional Unit employees at Boeing are members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) Local 2001, an affiliate of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). Most work in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, but the union also represents 200 employees at the Gre- sham plant in Oregon, as well as work- ers at facilities in Utah and California. They bargain contracts at the same time, but the contracts are separate and inde- pendent agreements. Both units overwhelming rejected Boeing’s first contract offer in October 2012. The company proposed a small increase in wages, and called for an in- crease in members’ contributions to health insurance costs. A key sticking point was Boeing’s demand to switch new hires to a defined contribution pension plan, i.e., a 401(k). Union officials say the new retirement plan slashes benefits by 41 percent. Boeing’s own analysis shows a 33 per- cent cut. Induced by the overwhelming rejec- tion of its first proposal in October, Boe- ing agreed to extend the terms of the previous contract by including 5 percent annual salary increase pools, no in- creases to employees for medical cov- erage, and an increase to the retirement benefit. But it refused to budge on the pension change for workers hired after March 1, 2013. With Boeing announcing its last best and final offer, the union took the pro- posal to members for a vote in Febru- ary, with the recommendation that they reject them and support strike authori- zation. On Feb. 19, the Technical Unit — made up of designers, technical writers, planners and others — rejected the offer 2,868 to 3,203 and gave strike authori- zation. However, the larger Professional Unit, comprised of aerospace and elec- trical engineers, approved their contract 6,483 to 5,514. The Technical Unit and Boeing met with a federal mediator on Feb. 27, but Boeing refused to improve its offer. Union negotiators expressed to members that a second rejection likely would result in a strike. On March 18, the Technical Unit ac- cepted the deal by a margin of 87 per- cent to 13 percent. Technical workers and engineers hired after March 1, 2013 will now re- ceive the company’s “enhanced 401(k)” and not the defined benefit pension. During bargaining, SPEEA filed seven unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against Boeing. Two com- plaints — one involving alleged threats made to new hires during orientation, and another on the company’s code of ethics — were dismissed by the Na- tional Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 19, and are on appeal. Charges that Boeing refused to pro- vide the union with requested informa- tion during bargaining, and for threat- ening layoffs if contracts weren’t rati- fied, were sustained. The NLRB is now in settlement talks with Boeing. Three other ULPs involving the company taking surveillance photos of employees; seizing employee cameras and photographs of union marches; and banning employees from leafleting, are still under investigation, said SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth. Strike threat becomes empty weapon for union members (Editor’s Note: This article ap- peared in the Michigan’s Building Tradesman newspaper.) U.S. union membership has been in a steep decline over the past 40 years – so have strikes and lockouts. There were five — count ‘em, five — strikes or lockouts of significance in the U.S. in 2009. That was the lowest number since the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics (BLS) started keeping track in 1947. That number “spiked” to 11 in 2010 and 19 in both 2011 and 2012. Compare that to 40 years ago, when there were an average of 289 major work stoppages a year. By the 1990s, that had fallen to about 35 per year. A major work stoppage, according to the BLS, involves 1,000 or more workers. “The strike has almost disappeared from American life,” wrote Chris Rhomberg, an associate professor of so- ciology for Fordham University, for a CNN article. Judicial philosophies and politics have turned against unions. “We have essentially gone back to a pre-New Deal era of workplace governance.” “Before the 1930s,” Rhomberg con- tinued, “American unions confronted a legal environment that historians have described as ‘judicial repression.’ Dur- ing that time, federal courts repeatedly struck down workers’ rights to organ- ize and act collectively, making unions themselves all but illegal. “In 1935, the National Labor Rela- tions Act created a process for legally recognizing union representation and managing private-sector labor conflict. The result was historic democratization of the American workplace and econ- omy. The strike was a crucial part of this system: While the law was in- tended to reduce industrial strife, it also relied on the right to strike to protect the integrity of the bargaining process.” With weaker unions, that ability to effectively strike — and raise workers’ living standards — has been dimin- ished. 19 strikes in 2012 In 2012, there were 19 major strikes and lockouts involving 1,000 or more workers and lasting at least one shift, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics re- ported. The work stoppages idled 148,000 workers, higher than in 2011, when 19 strikes idled 113,000 workers. Over 40 percent (8 of 19) of the work stoppages occurred in November and December. The largest work stoppage in 2012 in terms of number of workers and total days idle was between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teach- ers Union, with 26,500 workers ac- counting for 185,500 days idle. The longest work stoppage was between Lockheed Martin Corporation and the International Association of Machinists Local 776, with 3,600 workers ac- counting for 172,800 days idle. The Lockheed Martin Corporation work stoppage lasted 48 workdays. The major work stoppage between the American Crystal Sugar Company and the Bakery, Confectionary, To- bacco Workers and Grain Millers re- sulted in 308,100 days idle in 2012, and nearly 445,000 cumulative days idle since beginning on Aug. 1, 2011. The number of workers involved in the work stoppage fell below 1,000 work- ers in December 2012 and will no longer be counted in major work stop- page estimates. (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 at Portland, Oregon as a voice of the labor movement. 4275 NE Halsey St., P.O. Box 13150, Portland, Ore. 97213 Telephone: (503) 288-3311 Editor: Michael Gutwig Staff: Don McIntosh, Cheri Rice Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non- profit corporation owned by 20 unions and councils including the Oregon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Ore- gon and SW Washington. Subscriptions $13.75 per year for union members. Group rates available to trade union organizations. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PORTLAND, OREGON. CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTICE: Three weeks are required for a change of address. When ordering a change, please give your old and new addresses and the name and number of your local union. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS, P.O. BOX 13150, PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150 PAGE 2 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS APRIL 5, 2013
