5 December, 2011
The US-based International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) gave full proof last week that collective bargaining is value-added, and Boeing workers no doubt in South Carolina took notice of pay, pension and job security provisions won by 28,000 aircraft manufacturing workers primarily in the state of Washington.
IAM District Lodge 751 reached terms in a ten-months-early labour agreement in US states Washington, Oregon and Kansas with Boeing that not only gives machinists improved work and life stability, it deflates a political flashpoint that became the biggest threat to the independent integrity of the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the government agency’s 76-year history.
The award-winning IAM contract, which will receive wide acceptance when workers vote on it on 7 December, means the IAM will withdraw a vile discrimination complaint issued by the NLRB against Boeing for public statements it made when opening a production line of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft in North Charleston, South Carolina, this year.
The NLRB determined that Boeing violated US labour code by boldly stating its anti-union bias in opening a factory in union-repressive South Carolina. Boeing’s action unleashed a political venom by Republican Party politicians both nationally and in South Carolina that turned into nothing less than a witch hunt to destroy the NLRB as the governing agency for American US labour law.
The IAM agreement now closes that debate and a new discourse should begin on the benefits and values of a collective agreement, particularly for Boeing workers in South Carolina right now who do not have one and will see their numbers increase from 1,500 to 5,000 as production on the 787 Dreamliner ramps up.
Pacific Northwest IAM Lodge 751 President Tom Wroblewski said the early agreement “secure(s) thousands of jobs while raising machinists’ pay and pensions.” The agreement preserves jobs by guaranteeing that Boeing will make the 737, 747-8, and US military aircraft tanker aircraft in IAM-represented shops in Washington and Oregon.
IAM Lodge 751 President Tom Wroblewski
In recommending the four-year contract extension to 28,000 skilled workers, IAM Local 751 said to membership: “What has resulted is an unprecedented commitment by Boeing to Puget Sound and Portland for the 737 MAX and the related manufacturing that’s currently being performed here. This will generate long-lasting security for our members. It also resulted in a Boeing commitment to the success and continuation of the other airplane programs where our members have shown time and again their expertise, productivity and quality, resulting in increased profits for the company.”
The agreement contains 2% yearly wage increases, and a US$5,000 ratification bonus, as well as continued cost-of-living escalators in the four years. It includes pension enhancements that will lift the monthly retirement benefit by US$91 through the life of the agreement.
And perhaps most significantly – and especially noteworthy to newly-hired South Carolina Boeing workers – the IAM negotiated and won job and work rights’ protections at full benefit levels for all future Boeing employees.
IAM and Boeing agreed to continued dialogue by creating bi-lateral committees to address opportunities and conflicts. IAM Vice President Rich Michalski predicted such an “approach and these committees can guide the new relationship going forward.”
Boeing’s main Puget Sound facility, in Renton, Washington, is the world’s longest-tenured aircraft factory, and the new labour contract will ensure 737 production and associated parts work in the area for two decades to come.
Boeing’s move to South Carolina and the NLRB’s labour law complaint saw Republican lawmakers spew unseemly rhetoric against both US trade unions and the US regulatory framework that governs labour-management relations.
The Republican-dominated US House of Representatives passed in September the reactionary “Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act” that if enacted would de-fund the NLRB and strip the agency of remaining powers. The IAM labour agreement effectively blocks this draconian bill from getting heard in the US Senate.