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23 July, 2001The attempt to gain union representation among professional and office employees at Boeing will continue.
USA: The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reports that their organising drive to represent 17,195 white-collar professional and office employees at Boeing concluded on July 19 with the tally of ballots by the National Labor Relations Board. Employees voted 85 percent to decline union representation on this occasion (13,142 versus 2,329).
"No industry was ever successfully unionised the first time out -- not auto, not steel and certainly not aerospace," said the union's international president, Tom Buffenbarger, following news of the vote count for 16,500 office and clerical employees at Boeing. "Today's vote was one battle in the war, not the war itself. The movement to gain union representation among Boeing employees will continue."
The organising campaign reached out to people with almost no prior exposure to unions. The union's chief representative for District 751 in Seattle commented that as long as Boeing continued outsourcing and downsizing, the issues of job security, fair compensation and respectful treatment would only grow sharper.
The union said it would now focus on preparing the 2002 negotiations representing 27,000 IAM members at Boeing and intends to improve pensions, medical benefits and job security protections for its members. The current collective contract expires on September 1, 2002.
Source: IAMAW
"No industry was ever successfully unionised the first time out -- not auto, not steel and certainly not aerospace," said the union's international president, Tom Buffenbarger, following news of the vote count for 16,500 office and clerical employees at Boeing. "Today's vote was one battle in the war, not the war itself. The movement to gain union representation among Boeing employees will continue."
The organising campaign reached out to people with almost no prior exposure to unions. The union's chief representative for District 751 in Seattle commented that as long as Boeing continued outsourcing and downsizing, the issues of job security, fair compensation and respectful treatment would only grow sharper.
The union said it would now focus on preparing the 2002 negotiations representing 27,000 IAM members at Boeing and intends to improve pensions, medical benefits and job security protections for its members. The current collective contract expires on September 1, 2002.
Source: IAMAW