Local Machinists Union president announces retirement
Jan 14, 2014, 10:48 PM | Updated: Jan 15, 2014, 7:36 am
Boeing CEO of commercial airplanes Ray Conner, left, briefly greets Machinists union president Tom Wroblewski at a signing event for legislation to help keep production of Boeing's new 777X in Washington, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. (AP)
(AP)
Citing health concerns, Tom Wroblewski, the president of the Puget Sound area Boeing Machinists Union, said he will retire at the end of January.
Wroblewski made the announcement to the IAM District 751 Council Tuesday night. His last day will be Jan. 31.
He said the stress he felt in the past three months over the future of the 777X and its location put him in the hospital twice since Dec. 27.
According to the IAM website, the experience “changed my perspective on work-life balance,” Wroblewski said. “Your job should not destroy your health.”
“I am stepping down from a job I have loved for more than 20 years.”
Wroblewski was the union’s president and directing business representative for nearly seven years with two re-elections (in 2008 and again in 2012).
“We now have been awarded the right to build the 777X, and we must find a way to move this membership forward,”
Wroblewski said. “I leave here honored to have served this membership, knowing that I always had the best interests of this membership guiding me.”
On Jan. 3, area Boeing machinists narrowly approved a contract in which they conceded some benefits in order to secure assembly of the new 777X in Washington state. The same machinists rejected a Boeing contract proposal in November. Wroblewski had argued against a second vote, saying the offers were too similar. National Machinists union leaders pushed for, and got, the second vote.
Political leaders including Gov. Jay Inslee had pushed for the second vote, citing concern about losing the Boeing jobs to another state.
In this month’s vote, machinists approved an eight-year contract extension with a slim 51 percent vote in favor. Opponents of the contract opposed the idea of freezing the pension and moving workers to a defined-contribution savings plan. They also criticized increased health care expenses and slower wage growth.
Local union officials had urged their 30,000 members to oppose the deal, arguing that the proposal surrendered too much at a time of company profitability.
The union will select a replacement to serve out the remainder of Wroblewski’s term, which runs into 2016, spokesman Bryan Corliss said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
