Inside
Meeting
Notices
See
Page 6
Volume 114
Number 23
December 6, 2013
Portland, Oregon
In a stand for the middle class,
Machinists reject Boeing offer
To show support for Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), Portland Public
Schools teachers and community supporters lined both sides of the Burnside
Bridge in Portland at evening rush hour Nov. 22.
Portland Public Schools
declares impasse, triggers
timetable for a strike
Portland Public Schools (PPS) de-
clared impasse Nov. 20, triggering a
timeline that could result in a teacher
strike as early as Jan. 6, when students
return to school from Winter Break.
Portland Association of Teachers
(PAT) bargaining chair Bill Wilson said
the district’s move came as a shock.
“We really felt we were making
progress,” said Wilson, who teaches
chemistry at Grant High School. The
two sides had just met Nov. 18, and had
talked about setting dates later in the
week.
At a press conference announcing
the move, PPS human resources direc-
tor Sean Murray said impasse is a “bar-
gaining tool” that the district used suc-
cessfully in 2010 to bring about
agreement.
Once impasse is declared, the two
sides have a week to deliver their final
offers. Then there’s a 30-day cooling off
period. After that, the district could im-
pose its final offer with seven days no-
tice, and teachers could strike with 10
days notice. The earliest a strike could
occur is Dec. 27, but schools are closed
for Winter Break until Jan. 6.
During the previous contract cycle,
bargaining lasted 22 months. This time,
exactly 150 days after the first negotia-
tion session, the district ended face-to-
face bargaining and called for media-
tion. Then 14 days after the first
mediation session, the district declared
impasse. Those two time frames are the
legal minimum under Oregon’s Public
Employee Collective Bargaining Act.
Why such a rush? Murray told re-
porters that prolonged bargaining “be-
comes disruptive to our students, our
schools, and community.” But neither
he nor Board Chair Greg Belisle nor
Superintendent Carole Smith had a con-
vincing explanation of how staying at
the bargaining table would be disrup-
tive: Murray and Belisle said it would
cause “anxiety,” while Smith said
drawn-out bargaining “distracts people
from the business of teaching and learn-
ing.”
“I think a strike would be much
more of a disruption to student learn-
ing,” said PAT President Gwen Sullivan
at a press conference called by the
union to respond to the district’s decla-
ration of impasse. And, Sullivan added,
any time PPS makes quick decisions, it
doesn’t end well.
Murray said the district is open to
further face-to-face meetings, and is not
looking to force a strike.
But the two sides will have a lot of
ground to cover if and when they meet.
Murray called the district’s wage of-
fer “competitive,” saying teacher
salaries would increase from 6 to 17
percent under its proposal. But Wilson
(Turn to Page 3)
Taking a stand for good middle class
jobs, rank-and-file members of the In-
ternational Association of Machinists
(IAM) on Nov. 13 soundly rejected a
long-term contract proposal by Boeing
Corp. that included large concessions
on pensions, wages, and overall work-
place conditions.
In exchange for all the takeaways,
Boeing offered a $10,000 signing
bonus, and it sweetened the early retire-
ment calculation for those close to re-
tirement. The company also gave a
commitment to build its new 777X air-
craft in Washington, though that guar-
antee wasn’t iron-clad in writing in its
proposal.
The 8-year contract proposal was ne-
gotiated secretly, and involved Wash-
ington state politicians.
The vote to reject the proposal was
67 percent in Everett, Washington, and
78 percent at the Boeing parts plant in
Portland, Oregon, where 1,290 workers
are members of Machinists Lodge 63.
Some 30,000 workers in Everett are
members of Machinists Lodge 751.
The turnout was one of the largest to
ever vote a contract, union officials said.
Machinists still have three years re-
maining on their existing contract. That
pact also was bargained secretly — and
presented to workers in mid-contract
(December 2011). The deal included a
signing bonus, wage and pension in-
creases, and a commitment from Boe-
ing to build the 737 MAX in the Ever-
green State. In return, workers agreed to
pick up more of the cost of their health
insurance premiums, and the union
agreed to drop a high-profile National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) com-
plaint it made after Boeing relocated a
Dreamliner 787 assembly line to a
nonunion plant in South Carolina. The
NLRB found Boeing did so in retalia-
tion against workers for striking in 2008.
It’s illegal to threaten or penalize work-
ers who engage in concerted activity.
Union members accepted the deal
— which extended their contract to
September 2016 — by a 74 percent
margin.
This time around, IAM leaders said
the talks were more like an ultimatum
than a negotiation. Boeing officials said
that if workers rejected their offer, the
company would look elsewhere to build
the 777X airliner.
According to Labor Notes, staff and
business agents of Machinists District
Lodge 751 initially were divided on the
proposal, voting 18 to 10 not to present
it to members, but they were overruled
Several hundred union and community members, including some from
Portland, rallied at Seattle’s Westlake Park Nov. 18 to support and thank
Machinists Union members who work at Boeing Co. for standing up for
middle class jobs. On Nov. 13 workers voted to reject contract concessions
Boeing said it needed to build its new 777X in Washington. Rallygoers called
on Boeing to do the right thing and build the new aircraft in Washington.
(Photo by David Groves)
by the international.
The threat of leaving Washington
prompted Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee
to call a special session of the Legisla-
ture, which in three days — and just
days before the union vote — granted
the company a $8.7 billion tax incentive
package through 2024. The incentive
includes money for workforce training
and a streamlined permitting process.
It’s the nation’s largest-ever state tax
subsidy for a private corporation.
Nevertheless, rank-and-file Machin-
ists were angry to be presented with
such a complex new collective bargain-
ing agreement — not a contract exten-
sion as it originally was presented —
under such pressure by public officials
and the company to accept it.
As Jeff Johnson, president of the
Washington State Labor Council ex-
plained, workers felt “extorted” by Boe-
ing’s offer.
Specifically, in exchange for a prom-
ise of keeping production in Washing-
ton, Boeing wanted to convert the de-
fined benefit pension system as of Nov.
1, 2016, to a 401(k)-style savings plan
(this from a company whose CEO is on
track to receive a pension worth more
than $250,000 per month). It wanted to
raise the share of health care costs
workers paid by more than 30 percent
over the life of the contract. It would
have required at least 16 years for a
newly hired Machinist to move from
the bottom of the pay scale to the top (it
currently takes six-and-a-half years).
And it would have limited wage in-
creases to 1 percent every other year to
2024. Maximum hourly pay tops out at
$35.25.
The modifications reportedly would
have saved Boeing about $2 billion over
the eight-year contract. The company re-
cently posted historically high quarterly
revenue and profit figures. And shortly
after the contract vote, Boeing an-
nounced it had pre-orders of 259 777X
aircraft worth more than $95 billion.
The Seattle Times reported that Boe-
ing is currently soliciting proposals
from about 15 U.S. locations for bids to
build the 777X. The list of sites includes
Long Beach, California; Salt Lake City,
Utah; Huntsville, Alabama; San Anto-
nio, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri, North
(Turn to Page 3)