Strikers Charge Boeing With Stalling Tactics : Pay Key Issue as Machinists Point to High Company Profits, Order Backlog
The president of the union representing 57,800 workers in the fifth day of a strike against the Boeing Co. accused the aerospace manufacturing giant Sunday of “stalling” and “playing games” about resuming negotiations.
Tom Baker, president of Local 751 of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said he could not guess when the two sides will return to the bargaining table, although the union is prepared to meet as soon as Boeing presents a new proposal.
Boeing spokesman Harold Carr said Friday that the company was prepared to begin negotiations as soon as the union’s leadership “consolidated” their positions on the issues of wage increases, bonuses and overtime.
“They are playing games when they talk about ‘consolidation,’ ” Baker said in a telephone interview. “They know what the issues are, where the hang-up is. . . . That’s all just game playing, stalling on their part, until they decide how to get back into the negotiations and deal with the problem.”
Federal mediator Douglas Hammond, reached at home Sunday, said he spoke with representatives from both Boeing and the union over the weekend “and nothing is scheduled.”
Meanwhile, Evergreen Airways Corp. of Taiwan said it signed contracts Friday with Boeing Commercial Airplanes, a division of Boeing Co., and McDonnell Douglas Corp. for the purchase of 26 aircraft valued at a total of $3.6 billion.
$1.93-Billion Order
According to the agreements, Boeing will deliver eight 747-400 and four 767-300ER passenger jets to Evergreen between 1992 and 1997, while McDonnell Douglas will deliver 14 MD-11 craft.
The total Boeing order, including options, is worth $1.93 billion in delivery-year dollars, the price Evergreen will pay when it actually receives the planes, Boeing spokesman Craig Martin said.
An overwhelming number of Boeing machinists voted Oct. 3 to reject the company’s proposed three-year contract and strike Oct. 4, the first walkout against Boeing since 1977.
About 43,000 stopped working in the Puget Sound area, 11,700 in the military aircraft division in Wichita, Kan., 1,700 in Portland, Ore., and a few hundred others at scattered sites around the country.
The Boeing offer included the first general wage increases since 1982--4% this year, and 3% in each of the next two years. It also provided for an 8% bonus this year and 3% the second.
According to Boeing, the lowest grade of machinists now earn a base salary of $24,805, while the most experienced earn $38,461 without overtime or bonuses.
Baker has said the union expected a double-digit pay raise this year to offset the lack of base increases since 1982, and in light of the record number of airplane orders that Boeing has stacked up, resulting in record profits.
But Baker declined Sunday to be specific about what the union requests are. “The company knows we can’t state publicly and wouldn’t state publicly what kind of pay raise would be acceptable to the membership,” he said. “Obviously, wages is the No. 1 issue.”
Baker said the union is prepared for a long strike, if necessary, but he would prefer a fairly quick settlement.
“The company has got a good, happy work force, one that’s loyal to the company,” Baker said. “The longer they are out, the longer it is going to take for (Boeing) to get the work force to being as productive as they normally would be.”
Backlog of Orders
Boeing has a backlog of about 1,600 airplanes on order, enough to keep production lines moving through most of the 1990s.
There were about 40 planes partially completed when the strike began, and Boeing officials have said they expect them to be completed by supervisors and other nonunion personnel.
The first planes finished during the strike rolled off assembly lines Friday--a 747-400 for Malaysia Airlines and a 757 for Ansett World Leasing of Australia.
