Boeing Machinists gather at ‘vote no’ rally in Seattle
Jan 2, 2014, 9:22 AM | Updated: 5:36 pm
At least 200 Boeing Machinists gathered at the Seattle headquarters of District Lodge 751 ahead of a vote on an eight-year contract extension to urge rejection of the deal.
Signs read “say no to Boeing blackmail” and “voting no again.”
“This proposal will destroy 78 years of hard-earned gains that we have fought for. So it absolutely has to get voted down,” yelled one machinist Thursday evening.
District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers calls the extension a takeaway offer saying it would freeze existing pensions and deny fixed pensions to new employees. The existing contract expires in 2016.
The union says the deal is little changed from the extension Machinists turned down by a two-to-one margin in November. Local union leadership refused to put the latest contract offer to a vote of the rank and file. The vote Friday by thousands of Machinists was authorized by the national union office.
Boeing is telling the union that approval will guarantee jobs for the Puget Sound region on its new 777X jet.
KING 5 reports that Boeing Commercial Airplanes human resources Vice President Alan May sent a letter to the homes of production workers saying that ratification will mean Boeing will agree to both fabricate and assemble the wings of its new 777X jet and build the new jet in the Puget Sound area. The letter says construction work will include building the fuselage, final assembly, and work on major components such as interiors and wiring.
Without the contract extension, Boeing says it will consider sending the 777X work out-of-state. Since Machinists rejected an initial contract extension, 22 states have submitted bids to secure work on the new jet.
The Everett Herald reports that Machinists will be voting in person at five locations in the Puget Sound area. Since the vote comes in the midst of Boeing’s annual holiday plant shutdown and many potential voters are out of town, the union has arranged for electronic voting as well.
There will still be thousands of paper ballots to count and the union has put out a call for volunteers to help tally them once polls close at 6 p.m. Friday.
