iMail - 10/7/2008 - International President Tom Buffenbarger joined IAM members this weekend on picket lines outside Boeing facilities in Everett, WA, Portland, OR and Wichita, KS, where the strike over wages, pensions, health care and job security is entering its second month.
“This strike matters to every IAM member in North America,” said Buffenbarger. “When a successful company like Boeing refuses to protect the jobs of the men and women who made those profits possible, we have no choice but to take them on.”
In a recent memo to Boeing employees, Boeing CEO James McNerney complained the strike was undermining the company’s “reputation for reliability,” a curious charge given Boeing's recent ethical blunders, outsourcing woes and delivery snafus.
“The fact is our members have bent over backwards for this Company to make them profitable,” said Aerospace Coordinator and lead negotiator Mark Blondin. “We have participated in every lean program, new initiative and offered alternative ideas - all to make them successful. It is our members who step up and get the job done for Boeing every time. We will continue to do that, but not at the price of our jobs.”
Despite a standing IAM offer to meet with Boeing negotiators and regular contact with the federal mediator, Boeing has refused to explore proposals on job security. The IAM is seeking written contract language to ensure that jobs historically performed by Machinist Union members will continue to be performed by IAM members.
“The IAM is not on strike to harm Boeing or its customers,” said Blondin. “However, we are on strike and our members have made it clear that protection of IAM jobs and the scope of IAM work is critical to getting a ratified agreement.”
