NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 16 , 2016 | PAGE 7
Boeing terminates contract to paint aircraft after workers vote for union
147 Machinists-represented
workers will be terminated,
though many may be hired by a
new contractor from France.
Boeing is terminating its con-
tract with Commercial Aircraft
Painting Services (CAPS) —
the company that paints its air-
craft in Portland. Workers at
CAPS had just voted on July 8
to unionize with Machinists
District Lodge W24, and were
in the process of negotiating a
first union contract. But CAPS’
five-year contract with Boeing
was set to expire Jan. 31.
The contract is for painting
new Boeing planes after assem-
bly in Everett, Washington, be-
fore delivery to customers. The
work is supervised by Boeing
employees, and takes place in a
pair of aircraft hangars that Boe-
ing leases from the Port of Port-
land. CAPS sought to renew the
contract, but it was up against
These Portland airport hangars say Boeing, but the Boeing aircraft in them are painted by a contractor — with work-
ers paid much less than Boeing workers who do the same work in Everett. To address that, workers voted in July to
unionize. Now their company is being replaced by another contractor.
bids from two other companies,
and it lost the contract to STTS,
an aircraft painting company
headquartered in Blagnac,
France.
Painting of the Boeing air-
craft will continue in the Port-
land hangars, but under the di-
rection of STTS starting Feb. 1.
CAPS notified the State of
Oregon Dec. 1 that it will termi-
nate its 147 union-represented
employees effective Jan. 31,
2017, and 27 management em-
ployees no later than Feb. 28.
STTS operates in Europe,
Asia, and the Middle East, and
this would be its first operation
in North America.
In a Dec. 1 letter to CAPS
management and staff, STTS
Christophe Cador said the com-
pany’s top priority over the next
two months will be to recruit its
U.S. workforce.
“We need to meet with CAPS
management over the next few
days to agree appropriate proto-
cols but we would like to give
you, the staff, a more compre-
hensive presentation of the
STTS Group, our implementa-
tion plan for launching in Port-
land and our employment offer,
in the hope that some of you will
want to join STTS USA Inc, or
indeed any of our subsidiaries
around the world,” Cador wrote.
If STTS hires more than half
of the incumbent employees, it
would be obliged by federal la-
bor law to recognize the incum-
bent union.
UNION ORGANIZING
Merry
Christmas
Warm Wishes for a
Wonderful Holiday Season
and a very Happy New Year
from
OFFICE & PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES
INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 11
May your holiday be filled
with the joy of the season
from
OFFICERS, EXECUTIVE BOARD,
MEMBERS & STAFF
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers
& Grain Millers Local 114
Union for Fighters? Mixed martial
artists form union
Uber runs anti-Teamsters ad
during Seahawks game
Several top mixed martial arts fight-
ers announced Dec. 1 that they in-
tend to form a union — the Mixed
Martial Arts Athletes Association —
to pool their bargaining power and
get a union contract with Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC). Pro-
moter Bjorn Rebney, one of the fig-
ures behind the effort, criticized
UFC’s business practices as ex-
ploitive, and says the union wants a
benefits package comparable to what
NFL players have. The response so
far? Fighting words. UFC’s president
called Rebney “the biggest scumbag
in the history of combat sports.”
Since the City of Seattle passed a
unique-in-the-nation ordinance giv-
ing Uber drivers a way to unionize,
Uber has come out swinging against
Teamsters Local 117, which seeks to
represent them. The company even
aired a TV ad during a recent Sea-
hawks football game in which an
Uber driver says that with the Team-
sters union, he’d no longer have the
flexibility to run his business the way
he chooses.” Reality check: Drivers
decide when and how much to drive,
but Uber sets rates and all the rules,
including termination without re-
view. Time for a Uber union?