I am pretty much as anti-union as anybody but there is a matter of degree here. I have watched teachers unions in this state go on illegal strikes (that cost them nothing becasue they always get to make it up) becasue they weren't the highest paid teachers in the state. These guys are not asking for the moon.
There have been previous contracts where they did ask for the moon and did strike over what was a good contract. This is not a good contract. It does not protect their jobs in any way. The company slashed the union guys after 9/11 with heartless glee. Now that things are looking up a little they could have offered a more neutral contract.
The previous contract was a major win for the company they got the union to actually reject the contract but by union by-laws they need a 2/3 majority to strike and they didn't get that. So you have a contract that more than half of the people rejected. And yet the company uses all these buzz words like"world class contract" etc.
We'll see which side wins, and/or which side goes whining to Big Stupid Government to intervene, or starts slashing tires or other goonish things.
I live in Everett, and this is the union bamboozling their membership. While I would agree that Boeing management has made their share of mistakes, and that their pay is on the extravagant side, they brought the company back to profitability, and they head-faked Airbus into building that monster plane, the 380.
Management also gambled on the dreamliner and won, plus they managed to extend the lives of the 767 and 747 lines all at the same time - saving the Renton plant and all of the jobs down there.
Here's the facts - their the best paid people in the region that don't have degrees. They have the best benefits, a retirment plan (what is that?), and now they get profit sharing to boot.
The machinists - those big-hearted, team-player types, who've commemorated the spirit of labor/management harmony by putting a bronze statue of workers picketing around a burn barrell - are handing the market to Europe.
I knew Boeing would rue the day they chose Everett to build the dreamliner. They could have set up a non-union shop in Texas and they didn't.
Morons to the last 14% of them.
You know what I'd love to see, Washington state repeal the closed shop law that requires union dues be paid in certain professions. I'd love to see how many opt in for that deal after the union would have to actually compete for members.
What is job protection? In my job, you work more hours and see more patients to get paid more. The gov't restricts our fees.
If Boeing is making too much profit, the labor should go where they're paid more. But I don't like unions and I don't like strikes.
Mob mentality and skimming union dues out of those salaries just gets ugly.