September 29, 2005
Boeing Strike Settlement Gives Boost to Union Leader Blondin
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Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. machinists, whose walkout idled commercial-jet production for almost a month, will likely return to work tomorrow after ratifying a contract that boosts their pensions, said lead union negotiator Mark Blondin.
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Approval would end the shortest strike by Boeing machinists in four decades, helping the world's No. 2 commercial-aircraft maker avoid further delivery delays that might give rival Airbus SAS an edge. A vote on the proposal, which also keeps workers' medical benefits unchanged, is scheduled to take place today.
Ratification would also be a win for Blondin, a Seattle-area native and third-generation Boeing machinist who took the helm of District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in 2001.
``Since I took office, right off the bat it's been nothing but bad deals -- the headquarters move to Chicago, plant selloffs, downsizing and the fallout from 9-11,'' Blondin said in an interview. ``If we get ratification on this contract, it will be the best day in office I've had in five years.''
The stalemate between Boeing and 19,000 striking machinists was broken last week when Blondin and the union's national president, Thomas Buffenbarger, met secretly last week in the Washington office of former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who had been hired by Boeing as labor consultant.
Since taking over the District 751 in 2001, Blondin has battled shrinking membership, failed labor negotiations and slumping demand for the planes that his members make.
The settlement comes at a time when orders for Boeing's planes are forecast to reach their highest level in five years.
Job Security
Blondin, 46, and Buffenbarger agreed to no wage increases in exchange for bonuses for the machinists. The issue of job security wasn't addressed, even as Boeing continues to cut costs under new Chief Executive James McNerney.
Outsourcing ``is just something we'll have to deal with,'' Blondin said. ``Job security is hard language to get into a contract.''
Boeing laid off 30,000 employees, including 8,791 machinists, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The slump in airliner demand that followed prompted the company to sell part-making plants that employed many of Blondin's machinists.
The number of workers at Boeing, which moved its headquarters to Chicago from Seattle in 2001, has dwindled to 153,837 as of July 7 from a peak of more than 230,000 in 1997. Membership at IAM District 751 has fallen 68 percent, to about 18,400 since its 48- day strike in 1989.
Earlier Failure
``Unions are trying to have better, longer-term care for employees in an increasingly global economy where jobs get moved overseas and unions are dwindling in influence,'' said Matthew Spahn, an analyst in New York at TCW Group, which owns about 3 million Boeing shares.
Less than 8 percent of non-government workers belonged to a union in 2004, the least since the 1920s, according the U.S. Department of Labor. Unions are struggling to maintain health- care and retirement benefits for their members ranging from grocery workers to airline pilots as companies they work for struggle to compete.
When the IAM recommended on Aug. 31 that workers reject Boeing's ``final'' offer and strike, some analysts were skeptical the leadership could persuade the rank-and-file to walk out.
Three years earlier, Blondin failed to rally enough member support to strike after rejecting Boeing's contract offer. The default ratification left workers with a contract that increased their health-care payments and offered less job security.
`Tipping Point'
``Mark has matured into a good negotiator,'' said Brian Ward, a mechanic at Boeing's 737 plant in Renton, Washington, who plans to approve the latest offer. ``He didn't pull any tricks and just said, `they aren't working with us. Let's go on strike.'''
Raised in Burien, Washington, near Boeing Field, Blondin spent 16 years as a machinist, assembling planes and parts. He weathered two strikes and a layoff that lasted from 1982 to 1985. Soon after taking the top job at District 751, Blondin dismissed the union's communications firm, preferring to speak directly to the members and the media himself.
``He's become a great politician,'' said Don McGillivray, a 777 mechanic. ``He's improving with time.''
Blondin visited picket lines every day during the work stoppage to bolster strikers' spirits, McGillivray said.
The strike ``was getting close to that tipping point where attitudes harden and people get angry,'' said union strategist Steve Sleigh, who sat at the negotiating table with Blondin in Washington.
Another Strike?
The end of the machinists strike coincides with the start of negotiations between Boeing and its 18,000-member engineers union, whose contract expires at the end of the year. The union has submitted a proposal asking for wage increases and a cap on medical premiums. Talks begin Nov. 1.
Boeing's revamped offer to the machinists backed away from a health plan that would have almost tripled workers' monthly premiums. The offer boosts machinists' pension payments by 16 percent to $70 a month for each year of employment.
``The machinists union has just achieved a lot of the things we are looking for and that's encouraging,'' said SPEEA President Charles Bofferding, president of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said in an interview. ``We understand that we ride their coattails.''
As for Blondin's plans?
``I've got a Harley-Davidson Road King,'' he said. ``It's been a while but I might be taking a ride on it come Friday.''
