 Boeing machinists plan vote to end strike
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-29 08:01 Boeing Co machinists will vote within five days on a contract proposal to end an eight-week strike that shuttered the second-largest planemaker's factories and pushed the 787 Dreamliner further behind schedule. The agreement for a four-year contract, rather than the usual three years, addresses the concerns of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers over job security and compensation while retaining Boeing's flexibility to manage its business, the sides said in statements last night. The extended time frame would also buy Chicago-based Boeing an extra year of peace with 27,000 machinists in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas after their union struck four times since 1989. This walkout, which started on Sept 6 and is the third-longest in the IAM's 73-year history, idled Boeing's Seattle-area manufacturing hub and cut profit by about $10.3 million a day. "This is a victory for Chicago," said Michel Merluzeau, an aviation consultant at G2 Solutions in Kirkland, Washington. "These are concessions that are going to cost Boeing in terms of direct costs in the short term, but when you look at the strategic implication, it gives Boeing a fair amount of flexibility." Boeing rose 3.7 percent to the equivalent of $43.94 in German trading as of 11:15 am in Frankfurt. The New York- traded shares have declined 52 percent this year, paring Boeing's market value to $31 billion. Higher pay The agreement gives workers a 15 percent raise over four years, up from the 11 percent increase offered in the original three-year proposal that was rejected by 80 percent of voting members on Sept 3, according to a union summary. It also freezes health-care costs to employees at the 2005 level, rather than asking them to shoulder more of the expense. It also would give them bonuses totaling at least $8,000 in the first three years. Agencies (China Daily 10/29/2008 page17) |
